Opinion

Real lesson

TBO.com
Published: November 8, 2012

After Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the northern Gulf Coast in 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the George W. Bush administration receive shrill, nearly hysterical, criticism for the federal government response to the disaster. Not only were FEMA and Bush accused of reacting slowly to the destruction in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, many insisted that the response would have been better if the bulk of victims hadn't been the poor and minorities.

At the time, we begged to differ. Not because we were interested in defending FEMA or Bush. Instead, we were concerned a message we had been trying to hammer home in this space for three decades would be lost in all the outrage — real or faux. That message is that major hurricanes cause massive damage and the people unfortunate enough to be caught in them can't expect help to reach them within days, let along hours, after the disaster has struck. We have been preaching this message because the professionals whose job it is to plan hurricane recovery efforts had been telling us this for decades.

As we learned last week after Superstorm Sandy hit the New York metropolitan area, the high winds and floodwaters associated with extreme weather sweep away order and the normal comforts of life, and getting back both is a slow and frustrating process. This is why people who live in coastal areas have to be prepared to be on their own for many days after a disaster, no matter who is the president.