Chertoff: Emergency Reforms Are on Track
I guess the below would be good news, if buried in the article there wasn’t this quote from Trina Sheets, executive director of the National Emergency Management Association. “To be honest, we haven’t seen the hard proof yet of what is actually taking place.We’re hearing about these things, but we haven’t seen any new policy or organizational changes, or new procedures being announced for states to be prepared to implement.”
Systems to track supplies, aid victims and deliver quick information to all levels of government during a disaster will be ready by the June 1 start of the hurricane season, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday.
The changes are among 11 top emergency response priorities identified by the White House after last year’s plodding federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
Chertoff said all 11 reforms will be in place by the hurricane season’s start. But he noted that much of the success or failure in responding to disasters will depend on how well state and local officials work with Washington and have their own emergency plans in place.
“This is a case where we … all hang together or we hang separately,” Chertoff told The Associated Press. “We’ve got to be operating jointly, we’ve got to be in partnership.”
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