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By Douglas M. Henderson, FSA, CBCP
The failure to address the levee repair situation in New
Orleans has turned a disaster into a catastrophic event.
Yes FEMA was fairly well prepared to distribute non-perishable
food, water and other survival supplies. These materials were pre-positioned
in nearby safe areas with transportation equipment, personnel and plans
for deployment.
But what about the big-picture levee problem? New Orleans
is (or was) protected by an earth levee system. It is known that earth
levees can break after saturation and under extreme hydraulic pressure.
This happened during the Missouri and Upper Mississippi river floods during
the 1990's.
Why wasn't there a plan in place to repair the breaks? Why
weren't sandbags, cement blocks, etc. along with equipment and personnel
to deploy the materials pre-positioned in nearby safe areas. Why wasn't
there a plan?
On Tuesday morning the call to repair the levees came and
nothing happened. Had there been materials, equipment, personnel and a
plan and had this effort been given the top priority status that it deserved,
New Orleans and most of the inhabitants could have been largely saved.
Instead of saving the city and all of the inhabitants the effort appeared
to be directed at saving people one person at a time.
FEMA has long known that New Orleans was a disaster waiting
to happen. The Army Corp of Engineers may be responsible for the levees
but FEMA is responsible for the overall operation. In Business Continuity
Planning we look for single points of failure and identify any reliance
on outside parties. These issues are addressed in the planning stage and
solutions are developed.
FEMA (along with the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana
and others) should have addressed this issue years ago and demanded that
a plan be developed. Obviously my organization was not involved with this
planning and perhaps some of these issues were addressed but, from a distance,
the planning appears to be poor at best.
I also wonder why an internal grid of levees hasn't been
erected? An internal grid of levees would have reduced the problem to
sections of the city.
About the Author
Douglas M. Henderson (FSA, CBCP) is the President of Disaster Management, Inc., has 20 years of experience in the management and human resources fields with major consulting firms. In August of 1992, Doug was the key associate of the Emergency Response Team for a consulting firm located in South Miami-Dade County. Inspired by the real life business experience with Hurricane Andrew, Doug founded Disaster Management, Inc. in 1993.
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