Is America Ready for its next great disaster?
By DANNY HENLEY
of the Courier-Post
Web Posted on April 19, 2006

Tuesday was the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake which killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Is the United States ready to deal with a disaster of that scope?

Duane Burghard, a Democrat running for the Ninth Congressional District seat, contends that the federal government is actually less prepared for disaster today than it was a few years ago.

"Despite all the money we have spent on the Department of Homeland Security, our ability to effectively respond to a major crisis remains inadequate to the task," he said. "And with our National Guard and reserve forces overcommitted overseas, we lack a critical resource to help us deal with crisis at home."

Scott Baker, a spokesman for Republican Congressman Kenny Hulshof, says there is no disputing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to handle well the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"Yes, certainly there are improvements that need to be made, no doubt about that," he said. "We are frequently in contact with emergency management folks and people who are responsible for not only a reaction to such a devastating event, but responsible for trying to prevent that."

In the wake of last month's tornado outbreak in Missouri, Hulshof had the opportunity to see FEMA in action and gauge its post-Katrina response, according to Baker.

"He had a chance to visit a couple of the counties that were hardest hit by tornadoes. He visited not only with federal and state emergency officials, but with a lot of the local county folks. One of the things that he saw was that there was very good communication between all the parties involved and very good coordination in responding to these disasters," he said.

Burghard contends that congressional oversight of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security has been lacking, suggesting that in regard to FEMA "the primary disconnect, which is the separation of preparedness and response functions, has not been addressed at all."

Baker says that Congress has indeed been focused on how FEMA does its job. He adds that as a result there have been improvements.

"With the response to Katrina, there has been quite a bit of congressional investigation into how FEMA conducts its business," said the Hulshof spokesman. "There was quite a bit of criticism, that was warranted, leveled at FEMA. I think we have seen improvements out of that in terms of oversight expectations and personnel."

Burghard calls for FEMA to be restored to its pre-2002 status, where the director reports directly to the president.

This story can be found online at The Hannibal Courier