JINSA Report #514 Prior Response

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September 2, 2005

JINSA Report #514

Prior Response

Sometimes we see an article about American security lapses and
vulnerabilities and we say, "Even if it’s true, did they need to tell
the enemy about that?" But this one is running 24/7 on cable. As the
U.S. approaches the 4th anniversary of 9-11, we remain clueless about
planning for major disasters in American cities.

This is the second large-scale urban disaster in America since the San
Francisco earthquake. Broader than 9-11, an entire city is uninhabitable
and streams of refugees face long-term displacement. Our first impulse
may be to blame the government for failings real and imagined. But our
second should be more realistic. The government could no more "make" the
Gulf Coast ready for Katrina than it could have "made" New York ready
for 9-11. And the government will always turn out to have done things
wrong before the fact and will never get there immediately after with
the necessary relief.

Disaster planning is a local function, starting with our personal
responsibilities.

We used to understand that. We have forgotten what we used to know about
protecting ourselves from what we knew was out there. We used to call it
"civil defense." Some of us remember drills in school and block captains
in the neighborhood. Shelters were marked and people had supplies. You
were your own first line of defense; your neighbors were next.

So, how prepared are YOU for a (hurricane, blizzard, fire, tornado,
flood, terrorist attack, swarm of killer bees)? Do you believe the
weather forecast? Do you believe the terror alert system? What about
your family? Can you get grandma out of town? Do your children know
emergency safe places/people and phone numbers? Have you checked the
food and water you stored after 9-11? Papers, passports, medicine?

Go up the line. How prepared are your local public officials? How do you
know? Have they discussed evacuation routes and contingency plans at a
town meeting? Did you attend? Would your police do better than the New
Orleans police? What makes you think so? If you are unhappy with the
response of the National Guard, do you really want to wait for soldiers
anyhow? Ours is a big country, so maybe you think some other State's
Guard will always be able to come and help, but what if the disaster is
in multiple cities? Your local police have to be able to do the local
job and if they can't, what are you doing about it?

What are you demanding of your mayor, your police chief and your town
council? Of your school board in case disaster strikes during school
hours? Of your State Legislature and your Governor? Of your Congressman
at his/her district office? Of your Senator at his/her home office? If
your Senator says the Supreme Court nomination is his/her top priority -
dump him/her.

Katrina is an unmitigated disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast. It
shouldn't turn out to be a look into the future for the rest of us.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3143
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