I've figured out why FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- has been failing in its task to help those who are victims of disaster. We've misnamed the department.
FEMA is doing exactly what its name requires -- it is managing emergencies. What we need is an agency that prepares for disasters and acts rapidly when danger threatens.
The problem has shown itself most recently in the agency's plans to move trailers to Tennessee and Arkansas where tornadoes displaced families. FEMA has decided to hold off on the effort for at least a month while the portable homes are checked for formaldehyde. In the meantime, victims are left without shelter.
And it's not like the agency didn't know there might be problems. The trailers were used after hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005 and suspicions were raised about the safety of the homes. Now FEMA wants to move people left homeless in those storms out of 35,000 trailers while it investigates the problem. At the peak of those storms, more than 144,000 people used the trailers as temporary housing.
Health problems associated with the housing has also led to various lawsuits filed in federal court in New Orleans against the manufacturers of the trailers by occupants who have suffered health problems. They were combined into a single legal action in November 2007.
Formaldehyde isn't the only problem. Apparently rough roads can bring FEMA to it knees. Last fall when fires destroyed homes in Southern California, the agency promised homes to the victims. Many of those people are still awaiting aid, but FEMA says the roads are too rough to get the three-bedroom fabricated homes to a suitable location.
It would be easy to look at these situations as failures, but FEMA is living up to its name as a manager of emergencies. The agency clearly doesn't believe its job is to prepare for predictable disasters such as floods, tornadoes and fires where they frequently occur, then deliver aid as quickly as possible.
Perhaps if we renamed the agency, we might get the type of service that most people expect it to deliver. So, what name might be appropriate?
How about "We're Here To Help Because We Care."
We create disaster agencies because we care about people and we want to relieve suffering in a time of crisis.
That's the job that needs to be done and FEMA, through its repeated failures, has shown that it just doesn't care.
-- Jim Grinstead
Comments