Federal, local officials at odds over disaster preparedness

[Rose Siding]

McClatchy Newspapers
snip>
The results of the $5 million attempt by DHS to determine whether states and cities have adequate emergency plans are troubling, and they offer a glimpse of serious behind-the-scenes disagreements among government officials over how prepared the nation is for another catastrophe.

DHS challenged the self-assessments of almost 60 percent of the states, cities and U.S. territories that participated in the review, according to the internal records obtained by McClatchy Newspapers.

The documents, which Homeland Security officials refuse to make public, reveal that, in most of those cases, the federal agency gave the states and cities significantly higher marks than they gave themselves.

The differing assessments reflect continuing confusion over how states and cities need to handle a catastrophe and what types of disasters they should be prepared to handle. That, in turn, threatens to undermine the federal government's $18 billion effort to help them prepare for disasters and terrorist attacks.
...
Foresman (, Homeland Security's undersecretary for preparedness) said he thought some state and local officials might be skewing their assessments because they were afraid their funding might be cut.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15102172.htm

[melnjones]

1. This is why we need to be prepared as individuals and families...

I'm not talking the whole terrorism thing really, but the natural disaster or pandemic flu threats are valid and real and we cannot count on the government.

[alfredo]

2. Blame the states for the assessments. Maybe the Feds are

rating the states better so they don't have to spend money on them.