Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff insisted again Monday that his unwieldy agency isn’t slighting natural-disaster preparedness in favor of anti-terrorism efforts. We’d like to think that’s true, and we hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency reforms Chertoff announced Monday will ramp up quickly – the 2006 hurricane season starts in 3 1/2 months. He promised the agency will improve logistical capabilities, internal communications and its ability to find and aid victims quickly – all necessary reforms.
The latest glitch in FEMA’s plodding effort in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast affects about 12,000 people still living in hotels, 5 1/2 months after Hurricane Katrina.
A federal judge gave the agency the go- ahead Monday to end direct payments for hotel rooms. FEMA promises to continue other forms of aid, but lawyers for evacuees say the promised amounts aren’t adequate. One would have thought that Chertoff had enough time to figure out how to get these folks into temporary housing.
Two government reports released over the weekend revealed that FEMA wasted millions of dollars intended for hurricane recovery. Among the findings were that some hotel rooms were rented at full retail rates and that up to 36 percent of applicants for emergency cash assistance provided bad identification. Auditors haven’t yet put a dollar figure on the amount of fraud.
Realistically, some waste and fraud after disasters is unavoidable. On the other hand, it’s not as if FEMA hasn’t rented hotel rooms before.
It also seems to have trouble with trailers. One of the reports found that of the 25,000 trailers FEMA bought to house evacuees, nearly 11,000 are being stored in (believe it or not) Hope, Ark., and are deteriorating because they’re improperly stored.
Chertoff spoke in response to testimony Friday by Michael Brown, former FEMA head. Brown said he told the White House and Homeland Security about the severity of the storm the day it hit. Top officials have maintained they didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until later.
That “day late” attitude seems to persist in Washington, and the finger-pointing is sure to continue. In the meantime, victims struggle to recover.
In New Orleans, the first Mardi Gras parade kicked off over the weekend. Some will question the wisdom of holding Mardi Gras events this year, but Arthur Hardy, a scholar of the festival, understood the importance of maintaining the tradition. “It’s almost like you laugh to keep from crying,” he said. “It’s a chance to say, ‘This can’t keep us down.”‘
