Is America Prepared for Disaster?

[maddezmom]

Is America Prepared for Disaster?

By Brian A. Jackson
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Wednesday, May 30, 2007; 12:00 AM

How prepared is America for the next terrorist attack or natural disaster?

Government and the private sector have spent billions of dollars since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in an effort to make America more secure. The money for this ramped up security has come from all of us, collected in the taxes we pay and in higher prices for the goods we buy.

Ordinary citizens see the extra security when we encounter more barricades around buildings, have to remove our shoes at airport security screenings and see extra security guards at shopping malls.

Far less visible measures have been implemented as well. For example, governments at all levels have prepared new emergency response plans, formed new response teams and outfitted them with equipment.

But despite all this, there is no satisfactory answer to a very basic question: are we prepared enough? Simply measuring how much America spends on homeland security won't answer the question. It's important to determine if the money is spent wisely and effectively.

~snip~

The United States should get beyond just talking about what we are spending for homeland security and learn how we can actually measure the effectiveness of what we are buying. Only at that point can we decide how confident we should be that the national preparedness system will be able to deliver the next time disaster strikes.



more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052901710.html

[dave_p]

1. Is disaster prepared for America?

If I was it I'd steer well clear.

[murielm99]

2. Oh, yeah, we're prepared.

Just look at how well the Katrina mess was handled.

I wonder who is going to be doing a great job the next time around.

:mad:

[Sherman A1]

3. No

Considering our esteemed MisAdministration can't find it's plate with it's fork, I think not.....

[Briar]

4. America is very good at exporting disaster

ask the Iraqis.

[Possumpoint]

5. Disaster Preparation

starts at home. How well are you prepared? Do you have enough non perishable food and water for every member of your family including pets to go the 8 or so days it takes the government to start reacting. Do you have a safe room in your house? Do you have a pre-arranged fall back meeting place for family members if your current residence is unlivable? Etc., etc., etc.

Don't count on government's help. Fact is they will be overwhelmed and slow to react to a large disaster, count on yourself.

[leveymg]

7. Do you really want to live that way?

Where do you live? My house is 10,000 yards from the Pentagon. My next door neighbor's house has a fallout shelter that he's converted into a wine cellar.

Living in dread of the end is no way to live. Constantly preparing for crisis perpetuates crisis.

[Igel]

9. No, one doesn't 'constantly' prepare for crisis.

You work out a fire escape plan from your house or apt., and designate a meeting place. If you get there and people in your house haven't gotten there, you know somebody's still inside. Not fearmongering, just common sense.

In Los Angeles, I kept water and food in my studio apt. just in case there was an earthquake. If a million people need help, you can be fairly sure that you are not at the top of the list. When the emergency folk get to you, 5-6 days after the earthquake, it's best to have been able to eat a bit in the meantime.

In Rochester we kept extra blankets in case the power went out (and it did for 24 hours once, just not in winter) and food that didn't require heating or refrigeration. The food came in handy.

Now I live in Houston, where we get hurricanes. I'm a bit smarter. We have food for our family of three for more than a week; the young'ns willing to drink more than just milk, so the ultrapasteurized milk's been used up, but we still have food in cans and packages, water for a week (in sealed containers), and a camp stove with propane, so we can cook what's in the fridge, if we can find the fridge, or boil water if our potable water supply runs out. The food--and a tent with sleeping bags along with bug repellent--is in the safe room with a Coleman lantern, radio and flashlights, and extra batteries. The food we cycle through over the course of a year so it doesn't get to old and spoil, and the rest of the stuff we use for camping.

Nary a bit of fearmongering and panic, no constant crisis. In fact, I feel a bit better knowing that if something happens my son won't starve--we may have to fend off the idiots who decided a stick of chewing gum and a bottle of beer was sufficient hurricane preparation, but that's a problem we can't address until the time comes.

[leveymg]

6. Build it, and it will come

This Administration is as obsessed with maintaining its Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and Islamic jihad as the McCarthyites were with the Global Communist Conspiracy in the 1950s. Both wasted billions of dollars and sacrificed millions of lives on foreign problems that could have been better resolved through diplomacy.

Like McCarthy and his allies, the Right-wing today engages in an ecstatic orgy of inquisitions, purges, loyalty oaths, domestic surveillance, show trials, and destruction of the Constitution. They continue to erect a monolithic national security state to perpetuate their mission. When one threat ceases to exist, another must be created.

The GWOT is a cynical grab for national power and wealth by oil and defense companies that manipulate mass hysteria. Of course we aren't prepared, "the twilight struggle" is never done, it must continue -- forever -- to enrich Right-wing corporate interests.

[yy4me]

8. Sure we are prepared, Halliburton is not building

Detention Centers here to house us. Disaster? Sure! Natural. I doubt it!

[ShortnFiery]

10. Prepared or not, we're enduring it now. DISASTER: The entire Bush Presidency. n/t

[reprobate]

11. Of course, the administration is prepared for disaster. Remember the executive order

that allows Commander Guy to take over the government as a dictator if a disaster happens.

Now that's being prepared!

And how come we don't hear about this on the media?

[Demeter]

12. Isn't It a Little Too Late for PREPAREDNESS?

Preparedness would have been appropriate pre-9/11.

[tom_paine]

13. Sure the Empire is prepared

Halliburton Homeland Security Detention (Concentration) Camps : Check.
Extralegal brownshirts (Citizen Corps VIPS, Nationalized Neighborhood Watch, etc.) in place to manage the populace at the ground level with Loyal Bushies: Check.
All laws necessary to suspend the Constitution, empower local Loyal Bushies, remove habeus corpus and basically creat a legal entity with little difference from Nazi Germany: Check.

Oh my yes, the Empire is READY.