Let me begin by saying that I am a Hurricane Andrew survivor. I know what it is like to have your world turned upside down in a major way.

Katrina has taught me to look HARD for things to be thankful for. Yeah, we were thankful to be alive and for our house to still be standing...even if a good part of the roof was trashed. But we also had dry land under our feet. I cannot imagine how much worse things could have gotten had we the flooding that the folks in Gulf got.

It took FEMA and the other state/local agencies time to get assistance to those in need after Andrew hit. They were maybe a day faster than they were in New Orleans...no water to deal with may be reason they were faster...but they also had a smaller geographical area to deal with.

I'm NOT a FEMA apologist. People died in the aftermath of Katrina, people that would have been saved if there had been help sooner.

BUT THE TIME TO HAVE SAVED THEM WAS BEFORE THE STORM HIT. Once all hell breaks loose, it is just too damned hard to get to everyone who needs help all at once.

In the case of Katrina, just take out a detailed map and look hard at it. You'll get the shivers just trying to comprehend how to help that many towns and ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN THEM in a reasonable period of time.

A nuclear bomb wouldn't have impacted that much land.

IMO, a more comprehensive EVACUATION PLAN is what's needed...especially for those without the means to flee. Also, a BETTER flood prevention system...local officials are to blame for that colossal failure, not FEMA.

As for those taking shots at the President for the slow relief, some of it is fair, some not. Unless there's more to the story, Mike Brown is seriously underqualified. But the President is not a racist, as idiots like Kanye West and Al Sharpton have claimed. Outrageous comments like that are simply the stuff of radicalism and are not helpful.

Americans (and maybe the world) need to come to grips with the fact that this is one of the great human disasters in history. Was anyone truly prepared for it? No. Could anyone be truly prepared for it? I don't know.

After what Andrew taught me, I just don't know....


rabbit