Jun 29 2008
FEMA and the Flood: Where is the Praise?
You know those forwarded emails you get that noboyd really knows the origin of? I got one yesterday that made me thin, a lot, so I decided to share it with you.
The Email:
As you watch the flooding in the Midwest, have you noticed that there
People who could sandbagged and others packed trucks to move their precious belongings to higher ground. Not one called for Coast Guard helicopters to rescue them, though there were a few rescued from levees that broke while they were trying to help themselves.
Oh, and by help themselves, we mean work at protecting their communities, not help themselves to the local liquor store or electronics store.
Was FEMA more ready? Maybe. But maybe it’s just that the people were different and listened to the warnings. Maybe it was that the governors of Iowa and Illinois and Missouri sent in the National Guard to help as soon as the tragic events began to unfold.
Regardless of what caused the differences, they are very pronounced and we need to try to find out what makes the difference. Why were FEMA officials the bastards of New Orleans and the unsung heroes of the Midwest? Why haven’t we solved the crisis on New Orleans, even three years later? Millions and millions of dollars have been dumped into the city and still the crime rate rises out of control. Cedar Rapids had 40 square blocks flooded and no one has been mounting concerts or celebrity campaigns to save the farmland.
But wait until the fall when the price of corn is through the roof…then will anyone remember that it was flood water and not the farmers who minimized the avaialble corn?
The problem in my mind is the attention span of the average American citizen. Before the crisis is even over, the television cameras move on and unless there is a controversy, the destruction falls from people’s attention and the victims suffer in silence.
Maybe, we just need to convince the farmers to loot up the place a little before going back to saving their homes and their communities…
