Waffle House and FEMA

Another example of the professionalism of FEMA. It is true, sad and also absurdly funny - FEMA relies on the menu choices of Waffle House to determine the severity of hurricanes in the US. Yup. Crazy. Read this Wall Street Journal article if you dare. Click here

Radio and Landlines Best Ways to Communicate During Disasters

An interesting article appeared in today's New York Times about a radio DJ in the Catskills who acted as a conduit of information for people strapped throughout this area of New York.  Tropical Storm Irene skirted New York City, only to deluge mountainous New York and Vermont regions with tremendous amounts of rain, causing an estimated 1 billion dollars in damage to towns, farm land, and infrastructure such as roads and bridges--in upstate New York alone. Irene knocked out cell phone towers and the power, leaving battery-operated radios and landlines as the only means of communication for people who watched entire towns and bridges wash away with the force of the water, or who were stuck in the upper stories of their homes, unable to leave.

From the New York Times article:

"About 9 a.m., power and a number of the region’s cellphone towers were knocked out, leaving thousands without any way of communicating. WRIP’s backup generator kicked in, and the phone, an old-fashioned land line, started ringing. It has not stopped since.

For days Mr. Fink, who was soon joined by his colleague Joe Loverro, played matchmaker, soothing stranded residents, taking down numbers to relay to rescue workers and passing on information about makeshift shelters and closed roads. The two personalities and other WRIP employees guided listeners through the arrival of the National Guard, carrying emergency supplies, to towns like Prattsville, and kept people apprised of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s trip on Wednesday to that community, which was devastated by the storm.

People listened, first from radios powered by batteries or generators, and later from their cars as they drove around to survey the damage, which may top $1 billion in New York alone, Mr. Cuomo has estimated.

'I don’t know any emergency numbers, and I really would love to know if anybody can tell me what is happening in Hensonville,” one frantic caller, Joan, said that Sunday. “My son I know is in his house, probably on the second floor, and the neighbors are in their house and I don’t know any number.'"

The article is worth reading, but it is also an important reminder of a few key things one should do to prepare for a disaster:

• Make sure you include a radio, along with extra batteries if needed, in your emergency supplies kit or go bag.  Look into crank radios, which do not require batteries. 
• Important radio stations to know: National Weather Service SW 162.4 to 162.5 AM 700; Office of Emergency Management AM 750 FM 89.8; remember to scan throughout the dial for both pirate and local stations which become information resource hubs.
• Make an emergency contact list with useful numbers and information (such as radio stations, landline locations) and keep it in a waterproof pouch/bag and keep it in your go bag.  Most of us no longer remember numbers, and when your cell phone dies and the power is out, you won't have access to the information on it. Also note, that cell phones in areas outside of the disaster range should still work properly.
• No power means no internet, no cable, no VOIP (voice over IP) phone lines. Landlines might be the only means of communication, so, if you do not have one, note down who in your vicinity has access to a real landline (not a cable or internet-based line) which will be useful when you need to get in touch with friends, family, and comrades.
• Remember that pay phones should theoretically work after a disaster, so make sure you have quarters in your emergency supplies/go bag.  "0" for operator should also work, even if you do not have change on hand.

If you have questions on what other supplies you'll need in your go bag, or how to put one together, click here.

Are Prisoners Expendable during Disasters? FEMA Says Yes.

This week's disgraceful lack of planning for the more than 12,500 inmates at Riker's Island—as other parts of the city were evacuated for Hurricane Irene—is the rule not the exception when it comes to FEMA's thinking (or lack thereof) for the more than 2.3 million adults and 90,000 juveniles in US prisons. This indifference to over 1% of the population of the US is disgraceful and some prison-reform organizations have rightfully called it a crime against humanity. This callous indifference to the incarcerated is not new or unknown. The Orlean's Parish Prison (OPP)—the good folks in charge of the prisons and jails in New Orleans—have been subjected to over 20 lawsuits from prison groups, lawyers, families and prisoners themselves.

The ACLU report describes a history of neglect at OPP, one of the most dangerous and mismanaged jails in the country. This culture of neglect was evident in the days before Katrina, when the sheriff declared that the prisoners would remain "where they belong," despite the mayor's decision to declare the city's first-ever mandatory evacuation. OPP even accepted prisoners, including juveniles as young as 10, from other prison facilities to ride out Hurricane Katrina . As floodwaters rose in OPP buildings, power was lost, and entire buildings were plunged into darkness. Deputies left their posts wholesale, leaving behind prisoners in locked cells, some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests. Prisoners went days without food, water and ventilation, and deputies admit that they received no emergency training and were entirely unaware of any evacuation plan. The prisoners were finally evacuated by order of the state after four and a half days of fear and chaos. The ACLU report follows the prisoners as they were transferred to jails and prisons around Louisiana. Thousands of the male prisoners were first transported to the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, where they were placed outdoors in a yard with inadequate food, medical care, adequate sanitation or even cots.

Here are just two stories from the transcripts of the ACLU lawsuit against the OPP:

"Renard Reed, a guard at OPP's psychiatric ward who reported to work before the hurricane out of a sense of camaraderie and shared responsibility. Like many other guards, Renard was locked in during his shift to prevent desertion, and was then ordered to go to the roof with a shotgun and shoot anyone trying to leave one of the flooded buildings. He was still stranded at the prison long after the prisoners were evacuated."

"Ashley George, a 13-year-old girl housed in OPP's Youth Center, who was moved to an area adjacent to an adult male holding area where the men watched her use the toilet. As the building began to flood, Ashley spent days in water up to her neck. Adult prisoners rescued Ashley and the other children from the waters. After being taken to the bridge for evacuation, Ashley was lucky enough to be given a bag of potato chips and water. She reports again being forced to relieve herself publicly and that pregnant girls received no assistance or treatment."

Most of Riker's Island is only 20 feet above sea level and connected to Queens by a single bridge. In addition there is a 800 bed floating jail barge—the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Facility—anchored off the north tip of the island. It has no power to move and no propulsion engine. So what is the plan for these nearly 13,000 people (some who are simply awaiting trial because they can't pay bail)? "We are not evacuating Rikers Island," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference in which he was demanding the evacuation of 400,000 other New Yorkers and shutting down the subways, buses and airports. Technically Riker's has no flood rating (the famous A, B, C system for determining flood areas) but all the surrounding islands, including uninhabitable ones, are designated an obvious A level—the highest chance of flooding. On late Saturday, just hours before the hurricane was to hit NYC the mayor's office released a statement to stem off complaints from the Legal Aid Society, city council members and prisoner advocacy groups. The statement simply said there was “a sound emergency plan” for Rikers and the prison barge. As of now no one has seen this plan, no details have been released and reporters' attempts to get more details have so far been rebuffed. Mayor Bloomberg's lackadaisical post-hurricane response,“Well, we didn't lose any prisoners or jails,” seems woefully inadequate.