Please help me with this Question...

[Jokinomx]

Below are the parishes that White House declared a state of emergency..... on August 26th, 2005.

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

>snip<

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

>snip<

The entire page can be found at....

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/2005082...

and a link to a map of Louisiana...

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/louisiana_map.htm...

My QUESTION is why was Baton Rouge and New Orleans Parishes not included in the list of parishes? There are other southern parishes not listed also....

Does this have any impact on the response and who was responsible?

Just wondering.....

[boardwalk]

1. Governor Blanco's declaration was dated two days after Bush declared.

The WHite House release was on 8/26/05. You can see it at the white house press release web site.

Governor Blanco's press release was dated 8/28/05; two days later. You can see it at Lousiana's Gov web site.

There were initial phone conversations/emails that the White House used for their release.

At that time Blanco had not made a determination what to do about Orleans Parish and whether FEMA would be involved and as a result it was left off the White House press release on 8/26/05.

[JuniperLea]

2. i call bullshit

off to search for a time line... the 8/28 letter was a follow up

[chalky]

8. Got you covered. See response #7.

n/t

[pacalo]

4. In any case, I could not believe my eyes when I read the WH press release.

Whoever wrote it didn't bother to look at a map of Louisiana. All the states that were most affected or could have been affected by the hurricane were left off the list for assistance.

And it's still posted on the WH site for all to see -- I think I'll make a copy for my files quickly before this evidence of inept leadership disappears.

[Jokinomx]

5. It just doesn't make sense to me......

That all the northern parishes were listed and not some of the southern ones. The fact that this was two days before Blanco's statement... still doesn't answer how anyone with a brain could leave out ANY parish let alone those in the southern part of the state.

It just bothers me that this was the case.... since the decision to make LA a emergency zone...it seems fishy that the parishes that needed the help the most were not included.

As we all know now how critical those couple of days were. Would things have gone any different had the "missing" parishes been included?

Most likely not....but I would like a satisfactory answer to exactly why this was handle in this manner.

[chalky]

7. Did you even read past the date on that letter?

Second to last paragraph of the first page:

In response to the situation, I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005, in accordance with section 401 of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas and the remainder of the state to support the State Evacuation and Sheltering Plan.

And what is section 401 of the Stafford Act?:

All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State. Such a request shall be based on a finding that the disaster is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments and that Federal assistance is necessary. As part of such request, and as a prerequisite to major disaster assistance under this Act, the Governor shall take appropriate response action under State law and direct execution of the State's emergency plan. The Governor shall furnish information on the nature and amount of State and local resources which have been or will be committed to alleviating the results of the disaster, and shall certify that, for the current disaster, State and local government obligations and expenditures (of which State commitments must be a significant proportion) will comply with all applicable cost-sharing requirements of this Act. Based on the request of a Governor under this section, the President may declare under this Act that a major disaster or emergency exists.



So on the 27th, we get the FEMA press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, today announced that Federal resources are being allocated to support emergency protective response efforts response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina.

Brown said President Bush authorized the aid under an emergency disaster declaration issued following a review of FEMA's analysis of the state's request for federal assistance. FEMA will mobilize equipment and resources necessary to protect public health and safety by assisting law enforcement with evacuations, establishing shelters, supporting emergency medical needs, meeting immediate lifesaving and life-sustaining human needs and protecting property, in addition to other emergency protective measures. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18447


So, to summarize: she declared the state of emergency on 8/26 per Stafford, which kicked off FEMAs involvement (thus the 8/27 press release), and formalized the request on 8/28.

[Jokinomx]

9. Excellent work chalky!!

Thanks for helping me understand in better detail the sequence of events...

I see that Blanco made her declaration that put the entire state of Louisiana in a state of emergency.

I see that the President and Fema responded the next day with the same lists of parishes being affected.

Do you think this was just an oversight by incompetent individuals that do the press releases? Who would have put this list together in the first place? The way it looks to me is that those parishes that weren't on this list wouldn't be eligible for assistance from Fema. Which of course we know they should be.... but did this affect the response by Fema.... I guess it shouldn't have...but in light of how slow they were to actually respond to the disaster, it justs makes a person wonder.

I don't know maybe I am over reacting to this "slight" oversight by the WH and Fema. Since they do say in the first paragraph of both documents "in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina."

Anyway... I do appreciate the assistance with this matter. Thanks Again...


....



Jokinomx

[chalky]

10. Maybe the REAL question is why was FEMA going off a press release

instead of the actual documents?

[Jokinomx]

13. Agreed....

When we heard Brownie say on Thursday that he didn't know about the situation at the Superdome..... maybe you hit the nail on the head.... Brownie must have just read the same list of counties and got confused to where New Orleans really was...LOL.. They weren't on the list... so they must not need Fema's assistance.

[me b zola]

12. Great work, thanks for catching that so quick

Say, where has our new little friend gone?

[fooj]

3. The prick left off St. Bernard Parish, too.

[pacalo]

6. Here's a map of Louisiana parishes in order to see just how inept

the WH release was:

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

[Jokinomx]

11. Thanks 8_year_nightmare!

As I see it... nearly all the SOUTHERN parishes are omitted. I don't know how to feel about this. Is this just an oversight by someone or a real look into how the WH and Fema wanted to respond?



Jokinomx

[pacalo]

14. My first thought was that it reflected the disconnection & disinterest

of this administration: Why didn't they consult a map of Louisiana's parishes before they wrote this release? I can only imagine their "thoroughness" on other matters.

[Jokinomx]

15. I do think your correct about this...

Poor work by those putting out the information. Thanks for your input.....

[pacalo]

16. And thank you for raising the question...

After all, one of the responses you got gave us a first-hand peek into how the freepers are rationalizing this.