Nagin suggests "laxative" approach to disaster preparation

[Thom Little]

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says municipal officials should to speak up and fight what he calls "constipation" in Washington, something he says is getting in the way of preparing for the next Hurricane Katrina.

Nagin says local officials need to be the "Ex-Lax" that draws attention to the lack of an effective national response plan to disasters on the magnitude of the August 29th storm that devastated his city.

The mayor spoke this morning at a meeting of the National League of Cities in Charlotte. Some three-thousand local officials are attending.

FEMA Deputy Response Director Michael Lowder defended the agency's storm preparations at the meeting, but agreed Congress needs to change the law that governs the agency to help it cope with future disasters.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_KATRINA_NAGIN_NCOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-09-11-25-01

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Someone needs to tell Lowder that there is nothing wrong with the laws

that we have right now. It's the personal that has to change and their attitudes toward helping people. Laws had little to do with the deliberate withholding of assistance that the Federal Government has decided to inflict upon their own people.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i think putting FEMA under Homeland Security's umbrella was a big

mistake and IIRC it will (literally) take an act of Congress to change that

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Yes, a big mistake

Instead of focusing on search and rescue, all they cared about was securing property. They forgot they are suppose to be there to help save lives.

[_dynamicdems]

6. I agree, this was a HUGE mistake. n/t

[KamaAina]

4. That one's going straight on a Mardi Gras float

which will leave a trail of viscous brown goo behind it, all the way down St. Charles.

Just you watch! :-)

[DeltaLady]

5. rofl!

:party:

Hope to be home by then so I can see it!