Idaho may be better prepared to deal with disaster

[IDemo]

Idaho appears better positioned to deal with catastrophe than Louisiana handled Hurricane Katrina.

I met with 25 police chiefs in Twin Falls at their semi-annual meeting on Wednesday. While acknowledging a Katrina-scale disaster would overwhelm any response, the chiefs said they would do a far better job.

Bill Bishop, director of the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security, agrees. "Fundamentally, the problem of responding decisively and swiftly is a human problem," he said. "We work the issues at all three levels of government and, generally speaking, we have a strong local-state-federal relationship."

More -->> http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050918/NEWS010702/509180321

[xray s]

1. they are ready for a potato worm invasion

how would these rubes know how the hell they would respond to a storm like Katrina?

they are in IDAHO for criminy sakes!

[Erika]

3. Only a very small part of Idaho produces potatoes

The southern irrigated desert occupied by redneck right wingers who vote 98.6 GOP.

Sun Valley/Blaine County boasts a democratic record and a home of John & Thereza Kerry.

Boise, the largest city by far, has a democratic mayor.

Idaho is the 5th highest state for earthquakes.

[xray s]

4. I'd like to see how they would respond if Boise was leveled by a quake

And Bush took his sweet ass time to come back from his vacation to do anything about it.

I really think the smug criticism these guys are giving the first responders in NOLA is disgusting.

But then, the news was reporting yesterday that FEMA was diverting ice trucks from NOLA to Idaho.

I kid you not.

[IDemo]

5. xray s responds in typical fashion of anti-red state DU'ers

With a brain-fart, biased with the self-importance of equally shit-for-brained DU'ers.

[xray s]

14. I am not an anti red state DU'er

Luoisiana is a red state.

I am anti assholes who criticize first responders in NOLA from a nice safe distance.

Anything to distract attention from the miserable failure of the Horse Judge and his minions at FEMA.

[melody]

2. yeah, right, wait till 50% of their "first responders" are dead

To think FEMA had to have it pointed out to them that relying on local law forcement/emergency services in a catastrophe was unwise...

Somebody needs to clue in the brothers in Idaho, too.

[ecoflame]

7. Where is it that 50% of the first responders

were dead in the Hurrican Katrina fiasco?

And to which 'brothers' are you referring here?

[melody]

8. 50% of first responders in New Orleans were killed or seriously hampered

...by circumstances. That's just a crude guess that has been bandied about (I get this from my sister who's a local there).

By "brothers", it was a joke because Idaho is predominantly white, and so am I, so these people who would not be normally called -- oh, never mind. If you have to explain a joke, there's no point in it.

[ecoflame]

11. The media & the police chief kept talking

about cops 'walking off' the job. I wondered, what if rather they 'walk off' but died.

[ecoflame]

6. I see those who don't know crap about Idaho

are out in force.

We've had disasters here - one, a huge flood when the Teton Dam broke.
http://tinyurl.com/9dxck http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/p211/p211.html

We've had earthquakes.

We're not as heavily populated and that's probably to our advantage. Boise is approximately 225,000 or so and it's the largest city.

As stated here: "We know that we're three days away from help, anyway," said Mountain Home Chief Tom Berry. "We're not in an urban area with lots of equipment and manpower, so we're going to take care of what we can with what we have for as long as we can."

Many who have grown up here know that you're dependent upon each other at the local level especially, city = county = state. Our resources overlap simply because of the population level.

[melody]

9. These guys were using the opportunity to diss Democrats in LA

That's all this was about - a pissing contest. When Boise is hit by a 7.9 earthquake or a Cat 4.5 hurricane, then they can compare wang sizes with real authority.

The largest quake you guys have ever had was a 6.2. In Southern California, we ride those out on the sofa.

That said, you have more ground movement because of your foundations, so you tend to have more widespread damage than we do in our smaller quakes, and *certainly* the people of Idaho have gone through their own travails. But none of us know anything to compare to what the Gulf Coast is going through right now.

To compare relatively "preparedness" is a rude joke, imho.

[ecoflame]

10. Wang sizes, huh...

Well, we won't have a hurricane or a tornado on the level of anyone else - geography. I know we're up there in earthquake hazard as far as nationally. We had a 7.3 in 1983,'84 - somewhere in there that was centered in Challis.

http://www.idahogeology.org/Services/GeologicHazards/Earthquakes/

[melody]

12. That one, I forget about it, it happened when we were clustering here

It's hard to remember out of the area earthquakes when the local ones are happening.

Still and all, that's a serious matter and I'm sure your people did admirably, but it still can't compared (nor did Northridge) with what the Gulf Coast is going through now.

When Northridge hit, we were very fortunate to have Bill Clinton in office. FEMA did amazing things under Clinton.

[ecoflame]

13. No...I wouldn't compare

anything I've experienced. The people in & around Idaho Falls might have some understanding of what the people in New Orleans experienced as far as the flooding which engulfed the town.

The devastation, especially along the coastline of Mississippi and inland, is un-fucking-believable.