Resonant Information - FEMA cut emergency communication lines - Comments

Sure it will. Let's see how

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:27:39 -0500

Sure it will. Let's see how they do when the Avian flu starts killing 10's of thousands of Americans.

We live in a "JIT (Just In Time) society that doesn't have the ability to do that effectively.

fema sucks

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:32:05 -0500

fema sucks. how do you live in the middle of a swamp with fish and gator swimming in front of were you use to live,and they say you dont have enough damage.

Another great interjection by FEMA...

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 14:17:18 -0400

I am a member of a DMAT team and as with any "orginization" there are always things that make you say umm..... Take care of your own first before you help others I always say.....

Updated: 10-04-2005 10:01:23 AM
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX (AP) -- The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue
team has been suspended from a federal agency because it sent armed
police officers to protect firefighters during the recent hurricanes
in the Gulf Coast.

At issue is a rule in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Code
of Conduct that prohibits Urban Search and Rescue teams from having
firearms.

Phoenix's team that deployed for Hurricane Katrina relief and again
for Hurricane Rita included four police officers deputized as U.S.
marshals.

The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Hurricane Katrina
survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded sections of
New Orleans.

Phoenix officials now are threatening to refuse some of the most
dangerous deployments in the future or possibly even pull out of the
federal agency altogether, unless the rules are changed to allow teams
to bring their own security, even if that means police with guns.

Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said his department also is
questioning the federal agency's ability to manage working conditions,
security and communications.

''Our priority has to be the safety of the firefighters we're
sending,'' Khan said.

Phoenix police were added to the team about a year ago, and officials
say they are essential to protecting firefighters and FEMA's $1.4
million worth of equipment. Firefighters do not carry weapons.

''This is crazy,'' Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said Monday. ''This is a
rule that was designed before the world changed, pre-9/11. You can't
stand on bureaucracy if we're going to protect and save lives, and
that's what these teams do.''

FEMA relies on 28 elite teams like Phoenix's across the country to
perform specialized rescue operations immediately after terrorist
attacks and natural disasters.

After Hurricane Katrina, firefighters faced deployment to areas
plagued by looting and lawlessness. Twice, Phoenix's team was
confronted by law enforcement officers who refused to let them pass
through their communities and told them to ''get out or get shot,''
Gordon said.

Phoenix's team was demobilized unexpectedly on Sept. 26 after members
were seen embarking on a helicopter sortie with a loaded shotgun while
assigned to help with the aftermath of Rita.

In a letter to Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini dated Sept. 29, FEMA
said Phoenix was placed on ''non-deployment status'' essentially for
including armed police on the team without approval.

Gordon has sent a letter to FEMA officials requesting that the Code of
Conduct ''be changed from an unrealistic 'No firearms allowed' to a
common-sense 'No firearms allowed except for U.S. marshals integrated
into the USAR team.'''

Doing anything useful?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 17:00:44 -0400

Doing anything useful? Let's see, I spent 2 weeks in LA doing relief aide with FEMA - I am a member of a DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) and we converted a high school into a hospital while the local hospitals were not able to take all the patients (we supplemented for them, which is what FEMA does - supplement not first responders).

FEMA is not military, we don't carry weapons! I talked with some of the members of the two DMAT teams that were in the Superdome (these are veteran DMAT members that have been deployed before) and they were shell shocked by how the people in the dome were treating each other and the relief workers (threats of being killed, raped, etc). If you wish to look for blame as to what happened in the Superdome, try the Mayor as it was his plan to house people there and also his inadequecy to not know well enough that there was no food, no pottable water, no supplies waiting for these folks. Where was the Mayor during all this, why he was safe and dry somewhere else.

Also, the DMAT\DMORT\VMAT teams are all made up of VOLUNTEERS that have to leave behind thier families and full time jobs to respond to a disaster. I had approximately 2 hours to tell my boss, tell my wife, get my stuff and get to the airport - I didn't even get to tell my kids goodbye.

FEMA is a SUPPLEMENTAL organization, FEMA does not act as first responders (that is the local Fire, Police, and the like). THere were 19 DMAT teams waiting for Katrina to make landfall and then moved on the "states" orders to FEMA for where to go and what to do.

There was failure at every level of government on this Natural Disaster, everyone has learned from this and it will make this country stronger.

They're not.

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 19:30:35 -0400

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Broussard

Subsequent news reports identified the son in the story as Tom Rodrigue, Jefferson Parish's emergency services director. Rodrigue's 92-year-old mother, Eva, lived in the St. Rita's nursing home.[2] It appears from a CNN interview with Rodrigue that he made phonecalls to the nursing home on Saturday, August 27, 2005, and on Sunday, August 28, 2005, urging that the home be evacuated.[3] That evacuation did not take place, and at least 30 residents of the nursing home drowned on Monday, August 29, 2005.[4]

Mainstream media sources so far have not offered any explanation for the apparent discrepancy between reports that the nursing home's residents died on Monday, and Broussard's account of Rodrigue having phone conversations with his mother during the ensuing week.

Explanation of Communication Lines being Cut:

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 15:52:28 -0400

If you want an explanation, try this one:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/nola-s08.shtml

9/2 Army Times

Zed — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 03:06:44 -0400

The story is here:

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1077495.php

Not to discredit all of it

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:54:20 -0400

Not to discredit the entire post, but item #7 is wrong, if for nothing else there was no Army Times on 9/2, only 8/29 and 9/5

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-ARMYPAPER-pastissues.php

Actually, radios are expected to fail

Zed — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:53:29 -0400

Sheer traffic alone is enough to render radio communications difficult, and a lot of other things can disrupt radio communications. Strong active radar scanning can cause bursts of noise. Good disaster planning has lots of different fallback methods for maintaining communications, all the way down to physical runners.

FEMA cut phone lines

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:41:16 -0400

Sorry, I don't have any more information than what I've read online. But this reported incident sounds eerily like the problems fire and police had on 9/11 in the Twin Towers. Their radios, which usually worked just fine, were jammed by something that day. Not coincidentally, FEMA was in New York City fully one day prior to 9/11 for a so-called training session.

Oklahoma camp on standby now

Zed — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 19:14:27 -0400

It appears that this entire thing may have just turned into a non-issue. The people they were expecting got taken care of elsewhere, so the camp is now only being maintained as a standby in case another group suddenly needs it.

Hat tip to Amygdala.

Oklahoma camp

Zed — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:57:05 -0400

Okay, after spending some time looking through that thread, I'm not willing to pass judgement on it, though I do plan to post a bit later. Initial thoughts:

1) It appears to be possibly prepped to handle a quarantine. There appears to also be some confusion as to whether or not you can leave at all, or whether or not you can leave as long as you're willing to sacrifice your spot.

2) I think the focus on jealousy issues is a mistake; human beings tend to rise (and descend) to meet expectation. Opening with the public presumption that they are expected to behave like animals is something likely to bring out the worst, rather than the best, in the refugees. Making everyone come past armed guards as they enter isn't exactly going to contribute to making these people feel like they're with friends.

3) There are certain limitations on what you can allow if you're going to overload a living facility, and it appears that this one is going to be overloaded.

4) The fact that the camp is so far from civilization, and that apparently no provisions have been made to help anyone who does want to leave permanently get somewhere else does make me worried.

Link to the story of 'detainment camp'

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 14:13:44 -0400

Here you go: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/fema.html

Water truck reference found

Zed — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 23:05:05 -0400

It's over at Red State, where it is claimed that Sharon Weber at Wal-Mart's public relations office (479-273-4314) claimed that FEMA directed the water trucks to another location that needed them more. I may try to call tomorrow and find out exactly what location that would be, and where she got that information (I have a sneaking suspicion that she called FEMA, and that she's repeating what they told her to say). Somewhere in Mississippi, perhaps? I can't think of any place that was in greater need than New Orleans, though.

worldpeace

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 22:53:21 -0400

we need to get to the bottom of this

FEMA cut emergency communication lines

Zed — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 13:19:51 -0400

I may be straying into tinfoil hat territory here, but I'm starting to wonder if FEMA was given directions to reduce the impact on neighboring areas by killing as many New Orleans citizens as they thought they could politically get away with.

They cut the Jefferson Parish emergency communication lines in New Orleans. The sherriff reconnected them and had to post armed guards to keep them from being cut again.