I realize you are not a defender of FEMA but a realist. It's my personal belief that if I need assistance, I'll get it from my friends and family if they are able, I don't even count on local assistance. It will be a small network of friends and family that will aid if needed. I also plan my life with emergencies in mind...this is a "live, drink, and be merry" society even those who have little don't appear to participate in any planning...e.g. plan for exiting home if it is on fire. Simple, simple stuff, FEMA, Government agencies, State, and even city are not on the list of dependable and able to provide levels. I don't live in a particularly wealthy area and we would be the last to receive any response, even from the electric and phone companies.

Well said, Outlooker, Btdt, and Moogie. We have often discussed personal responsibility vs. reliance on government support on this board. Overwhelmingly, we all agree that the federal government's role is to supplement local government's efforts in a disaster. And the local government's role is to supplement individual efforts. Aid from either federal or local government doesn't eliminate our personal responsibilities, it simply enhances our chances of successfully mitigating the effects of disaster. And in reality, American disaster victims have come out far better than their counterparts all over the world. This includes residents of New Orleans, who were victimized both by Katrina and some failures in government response. That being said, it isn't wrong for taxpayers to expect help from their government - both local and federal. And to that end, it is worthwhile for government to continually reassess their performance and make changes for improvement. At the club where I work we meet every year at the beginning of hurricane season, and go over our hurricane plans in detail. When a storm is heading our way we meet on a daily basis to continually update our plans and make sure all bases are covered. After the storm is over we meet again to evaluate our response, and make suggestions for next year's plans. Government agencies (on a much larger scale) could and should do the same.

That is pretty amazing, Abby, I wish we were united like that in Charlotte at the neighborhood and club level. The government turns over every four years, it's just like the large bank I work in...every four years, someone new waltzes in and reprioritizes the bowels of rice, who gets what, how much, and what matters and what doesn't matter. The taxpayers are bipartisen (we all are) and sometimes don't respect the lessons learned for each tenure. I wonder if a non partisen web site that was pro-active in lessons learned, planning, oopsies, screw up, etc. might help a general communication plan for us lowly individuals. Pets, etc. How hard would it be? How neat would it be...How life saving might it be. Knowledge shared is the lifeblood of survival...not whining and complaining (and I do my share on the island of misfit toys :) ) That would be so kool.

I think Moogie, btdt, yourself and some others here often provide good input, Abby. :) I don't believe the Feds are the bunch of misfits that many out there want to promote them as... but I do believe they are the last people I really want to bet my life on. lol No it isn't totally wrong to expect help from the government we pay taxes too, but we have to realize that this tax money is spent on all sorts of things.. both good and bad. The US Government spends alot of money on things which they shouldn't be spending money on and much of that is "our" fault. And the more we get dependent upon the government, the more they have to spend, which means the more we gripe because taxes go up.

I actually believe communications speed has outrun physcial capabilities. (unless you want to bomb someone)..information, hysterical reporting, fact and fiction have avenues that travel faster than the actual infrastructure needed to respond. It's interesting that people will believe unsubstantiated hysteria on the internet, than look for a way out for themselves. Let's be realistic, we cannot afford a government that is 364, 24x7 in a plane ready to respond. That would be saying I walk around my house with a fire extinguisher in my hand all the time in case of fire...and with my never ending luck, no fire, but a flood....so do fire extinguishers float :)

The internet does have it's drawbacks. It can almost instantly spread rumours and misinformation from New York City to Tokyo, Sydney, London, Frankfurt, Moscow, Baghdad, and practically every city in the world. What a wonderful creation man has wrought, eh? LOL The thing is this, to be efficient you don't need to walk around your house 24/7, 365 days a year. You only need to place the fire extinguisher(s) in place(s) which you can get at quickly and easily. :) A good place to put the fire Extinguishers are in, or near, areas most prone to fires such as the kitchen or workshop. The same goes for the government, they don't have to be geared up and on alert all the time. That is what prepositioning is for and emergency plans like recall plans used by our military. Now if you want to talk of efficiency, the military is pretty efficient when it comes to reacting. Not only do they have some people working 24/7, 365 days a year but they also have a pretty good system of getting their people notified to come to base. A Military Base of 10,000 people can have the bulk of their people on base with-in an hour after being told to recall the troops. That is pretty amazing when you think about it.. I'd like to see civilians do things like that. :)

I figured you, and a few others here, knew I am not a defender of FEMA.. but others reading my posts may not. :) Sometimes I look at my posts and think "I wrote that?". lol However I do think what is fair is fair and I would be one of the first to speak badly against FEMA if I thought the major fault didn't lie elsewhere. We can't fix problems if we are too willing to automatically blame the wrong things. :) Hey it works for me. lol You hit the nail on the head, this is a "Live, Drink and be merry" society and too many out there are too tied up with the now to worry about tomorrow. When you discuss emergencies and such, too many people are too quick to defend why they can't pre-plan to find out how they can pre-plan in the most painless way possible.

At this point I think it would be helpful for us all to know tha in times like these, is FEMA going to be there to help pick us up, or is the director going to sit there and crack jokes. I'm sorry I know it is some peoples way of venting their stress but there wasn't any time for him to be worrying about how he looked on television. He knew of the disaster well before it happend. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9756145

I don't mind any politician wanting to look well on TV. I don't believe ANYONE could have predicted the perfect storm of governor ineptitude, local ineptitude, and FEMA ineptitude. I love the governor's telecast three days before it hit asking all to pray it would be a level three..it appears she knew welllllll in advance none of the plans in motion for over a year would work. No, FEMA will not be there for you. No, the state won't be there for you, and no, the city won't be there for you. These agencies are for mass management. If you want personal treatment, I recommend again, plan for yourself and get the neighbors involved. No agency will do what you want, be prepared for yourself and your family. My gosh, you have a year to plan for the next season, spend your money well, use your time wisely.

It looks like FEMA may be there for me! I may qualify for a FEMA sponsored low-interest loan from the SBA to repair my house. If I do, it will be a godsend. :) I really didn't have a problem with Mike Brown's emails. It's expected and understandable that he would be concerned about his appearance. And it's expected and understandable that he would crack a few jokes. Neither detracted from the recovery effort. What did detract from the recovery effort was poor planning and coordination both on the local and federal level. These problems were in the making long before Michael Brown emailed a friend about his wardrobe. Off topic question: I finally had phone service restored today, and since I have a DSL connection, that means I'm finally able to get online with my own computer (I've been communicating from work since the hurricane until now.) But the internet is going on and off, and when it's on it's slower than dial up. I've tried to respond to several posts, and as soon as I hit reply, the internet goes out! Do any of you have satelite or cable internet connections? What do you think of them? Are they more reliable than DSL?

Off topic question: I finally had phone service restored today, and since I have a DSL connection, that means I'm finally able to get online with my own computer (I've been communicating from work since the hurricane until now.) But the internet is going on and off, and when it's on it's slower than dial up. I've tried to respond to several posts, and as soon as I hit reply, the internet goes out! Do any of you have satelite or cable internet connections? What do you think of them? Are they more reliable than DSL? --------------------------------------------------------- Well given the magnitude of the damage it might take some time for your local phone company or where ever you get your DSL through to get it back up and running normally. I personally prefer to have a cable Ether Net connection myself. It is less likely that you will get interference due to approaching storms.

I hope to hear you get your low interest loan...didn't realize FEMA offered that. DSL is very dependent on phone lines, and they will be working on them for a long time probably, you will get impacted. I go with DSL as it is less expensive...hands in prayer over your loan.

Thanks, Moogie! :) I hope so, too. My neighborhood was pretty severly impacted by Hurricane Wilma. I'm one of the lucky ones who's house is still standing. However, the roof is shot. Since the roof was damaged, water got in. My ceilings caved in and now the floor is buckling. Both my carport and my mailbox are gone with the wind (no big loss), and the siding literally blew off one side of the house. The walls on that side of the house don't appear to me to be too sturdy. The storm blew off two of my plywood shutters, and the windows behind them broke. There is sill damage to most of the other windows. The front door literally was blown off it's hinges. I put it back on, but it no longer fits exactly right so I'm holding it in place with a hasp and a padlock. I called Operation Blue Roof right after the storm. They took my name and number and said they would get back to me. They haven't yet, however I've put up tarps to prevent any more water from getting in. I didn't do the world's greatest job, but it will do for the time being. I also called FEMA, and they have two programs that I may qualify for. One is a grant program that I really don't want. It provides up to $26,000 in grants to repair the house to it's previous condition. The second program is run by FEMA through the SBA, which offers low-interest loans of up to $200,000 to rebuild, which is what I really want (I don't think I need that much.) First, I'd rather borrow money than take a handout. Second, I don't want to restore my property to its former condition. My home was what I could afford when I bought it, and I've managed to raise my children in it and have paid off my mortgage. The land alone is worth more than the replacement value of the home. But it's an older house that wasn't hurricane safe in the first place (obviously), and I'd like to replace it with something that is. I think I can afford that now, and the low interest loan would make it possible. The whole thing with FEMA is it's all dependent upon an inspection of the property, and I'm pretty sure that my property meets the qualifications. They've been in my neighborhood, and I know several people who's homes have already been inspected. Some of them applied after I did. I've called them several times, and they are always very nice over the phone, but I have no idea when the inspector will come and I'm getting a little anxious, although I don't suppose I have any right to be.

Of course you have the right to be anxious, Abby. It's your home and you have the right to wanting to get it back into shape in a reasonable time. You may also find that "the infamous They" demand that if you take the loan then your house has to be up-graded to being more "Hurricane Proof".

The "Infamous They" may very well demand that the house be upgraded to hurricane proof. That's what I want to do, too. It would be wonderful if it all worked. If it doesn't, I'm going to mortgage the land and do it anyway. It's time. I just opened my email and saw the forecast track for Gamma. Honest to God I thought it was a joke. It's not. At the moment, I'm not a real happy camper. :(

I saw that. We are just going to have to watch this one... it probably won't be a bad one.

I heard something on the News tonight that I chuckled over. The man giving a report on this new Tropical Storm was telling us about the storm and then said 'there's some good news for the Carribean, the tropical storm formed a trough going to hit Cuba.". I looked up from the stove and said "Say what?" I then repeated what I heard and I was told that was very close to what he said. I laughed and said "I am sure that made thousands of Cubans happy that the Carribean is going to be lucky cause the storm is going to hit Cuba!". :) I was told "It's not like reporters and Newscasters haven't mis-spoken before, just about everyone does at some point in their lives." I replied and said "Yeah, but when they do it.. no one really notices or raises a fuss. If that was Bush, Clinton, Nagin or any other Politician.. the media and a thousand people from Hollywood would latch onto it and the media would run the story for days. Life is really unfair... unless you are in the media." :) Well the Carribeans can be happy, at least, Cuba is going to be hit again. lol

The whole thing with FEMA is it's all dependent upon an inspection of the property, and I'm pretty sure that my property meets the qualifications. They've been in my neighborhood, and I know several people who's homes have already been inspected. Some of them applied after I did. I've called them several times, and they are always very nice over the phone, but I have no idea when the inspector will come and I'm getting a little anxious, although I don't suppose I have any right to be. ++++++++ Hang in there. Some of us in Louisiana are still waiting for insurance adjusters ( like me) FEMA was pretty quick to respond to my application and had somebody there in about 5 weeks after the storm. You will get a phone call befoe the FEMA inspector shows up or you are supposed to get one. They will need information like your mortgage companys name, insurance company. They also prefer that the actual homeowner is home when they come if you cant be make sure someone over the age of 18 is. FEMA has called me at 10:00pm at night so the inspectors are working pretty late. Where are you living now ? Apply for a FEMA trailer now if you want one. Make sure your home has power and water. If it doesnt make that your priority.

Abby, I just read this off NOLA.com Housing The Army Corps of Engineers, as part of their FEMA-assigned mission of providing temporary repairs to roofs damaged by Hurricane Katrina, has a toll-free number for affected victims to call for information - 1 (888) ROOF-BLU (766-3258). sounds like if your roof is in need of repair from katrina they will take care of it..

It looks like FEMA may be there for me! I may qualify for a FEMA sponsored low-interest loan from the SBA to repair my house. If I do, it will be a godsend. +++++++++ Great news for you. Here and I am not sure how its working there , it is in everybodys best interest to be turned down for the loan because if it is, you automatically qualify for grants up to 26,000 from FEMA.