Question about FEMA re: the Carolinas

[Siwsan]

Did trump* sign a 'presidential' order sending FEMA to stage, ahead of time, so they can rush into the Carolinas and bring disaster relief?

Someone sent me a video of a woman claiming she met some FEMA workers at a doughnut shop, and that's what they told her. My response was, if true, they are lucky. And it's too bad he wasn't that concerned with the people of Puerto Rico.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Would it take a presidential order?

Can't FEMA take some initiative in pre-allocating resources to areas in harm's way? You know, unless it's an island, especially the kind of island that is surrounded by water.

But if the area is in the contiguous 48 states, and has golf courses, FEMA should be able to move right in.

[Siwsan]

3. Things took a weird turn

And I'm calling the whole claim into question, now, since my response was met with copy of trump*'s recent lame tweet, whining about how the number of deaths in Puerto Rico were in the teens.

My response was lengthy, has gone unanswered, and will be my closing remark to the person who sent me the video, on this topic.

This whole thing came from a 'shirt tail' cousin. We met just once and never discussed politics but she sent me a FB friend request, which I accepted. Since she's been seeing my posts, she knows my politics and really should have known better than to think that tweet would have any credibility. Oh well. Live and learn.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. "Truish"-- Trump declared an emergency and no doubt somebody snuck something...

else on his desk to sign.

Needless to say, how this one is dealt with will be compared to Puerto Rico.

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/14/647504863/hurricane-florence-to-test-fema-trump-administration

FEMA says it has positioned millions of bottles of water and meals, along with blankets, cots and other supplies. Urban search and rescue teams are in place, along with what the agency calls incident management assistance teams to "ensure there are no unmet needs."

More than a dozen other federal agencies are involved in the preparation efforts, underscoring what's at stake for the region's residents and the Trump administration. With the president already facing low approval ratings, how he's judged in the response to Florence may well affect Republican performance on the ballot in the midterm elections in less than two months.

[Siwsan]

5. I've come to realize that video was sent to me as a challenge

Got it from someone I've only recently met (a 'shirt tail' cousin). I had no direct knowledge as to her politics, but suspected they were different from mine.

Her response to my Puerto Rico comment was to send me a copy of trump*'s recent tweet, challenging the number of fatalities. I responded with facts. She responded by shaming me.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Hate it when that happens. Not much more you can do now, but...

I sometimes have fun asking for the suspect info in the "original Russian".

[Siwsan]

7. She now has a synopsis of my political activity history

I get the feeling she is pretty politically naive. Scary that she accepts trump*'s tweets as credible.

This situation always cracks me up because I'm very up front about my political leanings. I think this is the 2nd or 3rd person who has taken umbrage at my posts. If someone is offended, they can unfriend me. I think it's hilarious they think they can convince me that trump* is worthy of my respect.

[Lee-Lee]

4. Remember, most disaster response is on the state and local levels

FEMA has been stockpiling supplies at Ft Bragg, far enough inland to ensure they don’t get damaged yet close enough to get to the areas needed.

In the case of Maria they stockpiled on ships and in Florida at airfields because there wasn’t a safe place in PR to stage them. Staging supplies that get destroyed is counterproductive.

But 99% of the response is state and local. FEMA is there to provide supplies and help facilitate Federal response. FEMA doesn’t take the lead, doesn’t run things, and FEMA workers don’t go out actually rescuing people or handing out supplies.

NC has been moving resources from the western part of the state east to stage ahead of the storm. They have moved ambulances, fire engines and other equipment along with cops, firefighters, paramedics, water and urban rescue teams, National Guard and other volunteers. They will make up 99% of the response. Any supplies staged or brought in later by FEMA will be distributed by them.

The truth is the folks at FEMA run this with pretty much no input from the White House, and follow the same playbook every time. But FEMA isn’t the lead in disaster response, they only serve to respond to the needs and requests of the local responders.

FEMA workers don’t go rescue people and they don’t distribute supplies. FEMA brings in supplies they have and hands them over to local responders, and when they say they need more help FEMA coordinates bringing in more responders from other states (if the state hasn’t done it, NC generally has very good working relationships with agencies in other states so they do this directly without FEMA) and FEMA coordinates Federal assets like military responses, but still hands control of them on the ground to the local authorities. FEMA will coordinate the issuing of the disaster response contracts that go out immediately after to pay for hauling debris off and immediate response work like that. You will see big trucks with grapple cranes on them loading debris up and hauling it off, these are companies with FEMA contracts and they will coordinate their response.

The FEMA workers who stage close and then rush in working with people directly are all almost entirely doing nothing but helping people get started applying for Federal Disaster Aid. FEMA has thousands of on-call workers who do this, they come on the job only when activated and go out to help people process the paperwork. That is likely who these people were.