"noting that the federal plan advises state and local emergency managers not to expect federal aid for 72 to 96 hours"
And 5 days is more like 120 hours, if I calculated that properly. If FEMA had been there in 72 hours, things in the Superdome wouldn't have gotten so badly. They had enough food and water for that. The other areas, like Biloxi, Gulfport, Slidell didn't even see a response that quickly, the lack of TV cameras seemed to make a difference. The "M" in FEMA stands for management. They take on the responsibility of coordinating things on a regional, state and national level. There were resources prepositioned in a lot of places. In Bryan/College Station there still are 10 tractor trailers filled with medical supplies, generators and food and water that were never authorized to move for either Katrina or Rita. The same was, and in many cases still is, true of a lot of supplies. My point is that we were supplying significant aid to Sri Lanka and other places with in a 2 to 3 days in the wake of the tsunami. Yet the Gulf Coast was more remote than that...
While it is true that FEMA, more specifically DHS, isn't a first responder, they are definitely an early responder. According to the NRP, DHS doesn't have to wait until help is requested, although Blanco did that well in advance of landfall, but can act at any point they feel a disaster is imminent.
My complaints about FEMA have never been that there weren't there as first responders. It has more to do with them being totally non-responders. Here we are, more than 3 months after those two hurricanes, and there still is a stunning lack of activity. There was little coordination, and when supplies actually made it to an area, the authorization to distribute those supplies often took days. Which is something that makes absolutely no sense at all.
Here is the NRP.
dhs.gov
Most of it organizational in nature. On page 342, it details federal response to a catastrophic incident where the local and state authorites are overwhelmed.
Federal Response
?? In accordance with NRP provisions for proactive
Federal response to catastrophic incidents, the
NRP-CIA employs an expedited approach to the
provision of Federal resources to save lives and
contain the incident.
?? Guiding principles for a proactive Federal
catastrophic incident response include the
following:
?? The primary mission is to save lives, protect
property and critical infrastructure, contain
the event, and protect the national security;
?? Standard procedures outlined in the NRP
regarding requests for assistance may be
expedited or, under extreme circumstances,
temporarily suspended in the immediate
aftermath of an incident of catastrophic
magnitude, pursuant to existing law;
?? Preidentified Federal response resources are
mobilized and deployed, and, if required,
begin emergency operations to commence
life-safety activities; and
?? Notification and full coordination with
States occur, but the coordination process
should not delay or impede the rapid
mobilization and deployment of critical
Federal resources.
?? Upon recognition that a catastrophic incident
condition (e.g., involving mass casualties and/or
mass evacuation) exists, the Secretary of
Homeland Security immediately designates the
event an Incident of National Significance and
begins, potentially in advance of a formal
Presidential disaster declaration, implementation
of the NRP-CIA. Upon notification from the
Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC)
that the NRP-CIA has been implemented,
Federal departments and agencies:
?? Take immediate actions to activate,
mobilize, and deploy incident-specific
resources in accordance with the NRP-CIS;
?? Take immediate actions to protect life,
property, and critical infrastructure under
their jurisdiction, and provide assistance
within the affected area;
?? Immediately commence those hazardspecific
activities established under the
appropriate and applicable NRP Incident
Annex(es), including the NRP-CIA; and
?? Immediately commence functional activities
and responsibilities established under the
NRP ESF Annexes.
?? NRP-CIA actions that the Federal Government
takes in response to a catastrophic incident
include:
?? All Federal departments and agencies and
the American Red Cross initiate actions to
mobilize and deploy resources as planned
for in the NRP-CIS;
?? All Federal departments, agencies, and
organizations (e.g., the American Red
Cross) assigned primary or supporting ESF
responsibilities immediately begin
implementation of those responsibilities, as
appropriate or when directed by the
President;
?? Incident-specific resources and capabilities
(e.g., medical teams, search and rescue
teams, equipment, transportable shelters,
preventive and therapeutic pharmaceutical
caches, etc.) are activated and prepare for
deployment to a Federal mobilization center
or staging area near the incident site. The
development of site-specific catastrophic
incident response strategies (as detailed in
the NRP-CIS) that include the
preidentification of incident-specific critical
resource requirements and corresponding
deployment/employment strategies
accelerate the timely provision of critically
skilled resources and capabilities.
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