SFGate / The Chronicle are running a story comparing federal response in 1906 to the federal response in regards to Katrina in 2005. I knew this was coming and am only surprised that it took SFGate / The Chronicle this long to squeeze it out.
The Great Quake: 1906 - 2006. As with Katrina, federal role caused discord
"Though separated by 99 years, controversy over the federal response to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans last summer shows that time may pass and technology may advance, but dealing with a disaster remains a challenge.
In 2005, federal officials from President Bush to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to disaster agency director Michael Brown were criticized for inaction that may have cost lives in the federal government's response to Katrina."
"The nation watched in horror as thousands of New Orleans residents weren't evacuated despite warnings of the approaching storm, as many were stranded for days at the Superdome and nearby convention center as hundreds drowned. "
No mention of local or state responsibility for the lack of evacuations. No mention of Mayor Nagin and the hundreds of buses that he should have used to evacuate his citizens or the evacuation order he should have issued earlier (he issued it the night before the hurricane hit).
No mention of the National Guard troops that Governor Blanco should have ordered in earlier or the request for mutual assistance that Governor Blanco should have made, nor her rejection of a Title X federalization of National Guard troops.
Oh no, only a critique and lambasting of the federal response.
Typical Chronicle / SFGate "quality"
