Why haven’t we heard about "failure" in Mississippi?
Posted by: McQ on Sunday, September 11, 2005
The QandO Blog
Because this is how it is supposed to work:
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The day before Hurricane Katrina came ashore in Mississippi on Aug. 29, the Mississippi National Guard had already been planning for the likelihood of a disaster.
"During hurricane season our operations personnel are constantly monitoring storms in the Atlantic," Mississippi Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Powell said. "The Friday before the storm hit, we were tracking the storm. "
Two days before the storm hit, the Mississippi soldiers knew the storm's path would take it through the state's coastal communities and officials began alerting units, primarily military police and engineers, Powell said.
Officials initially activated 750 people, and the Guard also activated its emergency operations center in Jackson, Miss. Members of the forward EOC, a team that moves into a disaster area and coordinates operations with other agencies, were also notified and reported for duty by noon the day before the storm landed.
Less than a day after the storm slammed into the coast, military police and engineers from the Mississippi Army National Guard were moved to the state's three coastal counties.
"The military police were there to provide support to local law enforcement, and the engineers were used for search-and-recovery mission support and evacuation support," Powell said.
>>>
And because that all worked as it was supposed to at the state level, we heard nothing about the failure of FEMA in Mississippi, did we?
Oh and for the record:
Despite the force commitments from the global war on
terror, Powell said, the state has more than ample
personnel to cover the disaster operations. National
Guard Bureau officials said Mississippi had 60 percent of
its Guard force available for storm response. Guard
Bureau reports indicate that 14,600 Guard personnel are
in Mississippi participating in relief operations.
Imagine that. And for a little more on what they did and how they did it:
Powell said that the mobilized force of 4,000 Mississippi
guardsmen are working closely with county civilian
authorities, who identify the needs of the community and
dispatch the Guard accordingly.
My goodness, a properly functioning EOC and state government which apparently understands how this is supposed to work, both of which took the bull by the horns and passed along to the Fed only those requirements for which they needed support. They were in charge from the very beginning, maintained control of and managed the operation and it shows.
"I'm extremely proud of how our National Guard has
responded to these hurricane-support efforts,"
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said. "I've seen them in
action on the coast, and they're doing everything
possible to help protect lives and property throughout
the state. "
It appears both the governor and the National Guard of Mississippi understood and did their jobs the way they were supposed to be done without trying to pin their failures and shortcomings on another agency who had no legal control of their state's disaster relief effort.
Go figure.
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