A powerful event is taking place this week and I’m not talking about Hurricane Katrina and the incredible damage that nature’s fury has wrought.
No, I’m talking about something even rarer and more unique.
I’m talking about an effective, streamlined and intelligent reaction to the disaster, and, stay in your seats, it’s coming from government no less.
In the past it would take weeks or months for federal relief to find its way to disaster areas.
There were forms to fill out and guidelines to meet. Property owners were often caught between the rock of needing their mortgage paperwork to qualify and the hard place of losing everything, paperwork included, to the disaster.
Government often proved to be the ponderous uncaring stereotype talked of on bar stools and written on by columnists.
Not this time.
Fueled by September 11th and the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are doing things in response to Katrina virtually unheard of in American government.
First off, the government partnered with the American Red Cross and other relief agencies to work under a single emergency disaster plan, the first time such a plan has ever been implemented.
The agencies will be doing the work on the ground supported by supplies and oversight from the public sector.
More than 200 emergency response vehicles were sent to safe cities near the hurricane’s path either before or as Katrina did her damage, ready to move in as soon as it was safe.
It’s a plan capable of bringing 300, 000 meals to victims in the affected areas every single day.
“I’m not saying it’s perfect,� local Red Cross Director John Fuhrmann told me, “but you won’t believe how much better we’ve gotten in the last few years.�
And it may even be contagious. Mayor Rick Filippi held a press conference as what was left of Katrina took aim at western Pennsylvania.
Last year the remnants of Ivan caused sewer backups in some 200 homes, forcing the city to pay some homeowners and implement a cleaning and maintenance program.
At the press conference Mayor Filippi promised to secure overtime for sewer workers to respond to problems day or night, set up a hotline for property owners to report problems as they happen and outlined what had been done in the system to prevent a repeat of last year.
It was public service being effective, being proactive and being responsive to the immediate needs of citizens.
Who knew I’d live long enough to see it?
Government can be an easy target sometimes and I’ll chime in as freely as the next guy in the face of naked greed, power hunger or outright incompetence.
But fair is fair, and while there is nothing that can be done to stop the angry hand of nature, what’s being done in response to that anger has so far been nothing short of astounding.
UPDATE-Sadly, the initial optimism about the response faded as the full scope of Katrina's damage became known. The states' sluggishness in calling for help coupled with lag time from the feds between the storm ending and help arriving led to more deaths, a situation even President Bush called "unacceptable."
While we have learned much in terms of fashioning a response to a natural crisis, one of the hardest lessons of Katrina is that we still have a long way to go.
Scott