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State's Crisis Chief Stresses Quick Deployment

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By LINDSAY PETERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

TAMPA - Saving people in a national disaster isn't a matter of days, Florida's emergency chief Craig Fugate told a group of military officers in Tampa on Friday. It's a matter of hours.

Emergency responders have 12 hours to establish security of the area hit, he said. They have 36 hours after that to begin delivering food, water and medicine to the people who are stranded and hurt.

If the damage and deaths aren't stopped within 72 hours after the event, he said, the losses are likely to be catastrophic, as they were after Hurricane Katrina.

Fugate and several military leaders participated in a panel discussion about the military's role in dealing with disasters on American soil - from hurricanes to terrorist attacks. It was one of several events organized by the Military Officers Association of America, which had its annual gathering at the Intercontinental Hotel this week.

Talk of the military response to Hurricane Katrina angered one panelist, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, head of the National Guard.

"We responded," he said. Before the storm hit, "we put 8,500 National Guardsmen in harm's way, ready to respond immediately." Within a week, thousands more service men and women were there. When in the history of the world has the military mobilized 72,000 people in six days, he asked, drawing robust applause from the audience of about 300 people.

The panelists did agree, however, that help could have arrived faster if not for red tape involved. Local officials had to formally ask for military help, then the Federal Emergency Management Agency had to assess the request and assess the cost. More than 1,800 people died after the Category 4 hurricane hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

In the investigations that followed, one branch, the U.S. Coast Guard, was singled out for its quick and effective response. Vice Admiral Vivien S. Crea told the group that she and others in the guard were able to move fast because they're not part of the Department of Defense and not bound by its rules.

"We had the authority to do what we needed to do," she said. "I could move what I wanted, when I wanted and I didn't need to ask anyone." She also relied on the local Coast Guard commanders to act on their own to meet the needs they found.

Using helicopters and small boats, the Coast Guard saved 34,000 people who were wading through the New Orleans floodwaters, marooned in their homes and stranded on their rooftops and in trees.

They made mistakes, too, however. They didn't have a plan for where to take the people once they rescued them. With many, "all we could do was stick them on the nearest overpass," she said. "We tried to take them to the airport, but the airport was full."

Katrina revealed critical weaknesses, Fugate said. Some are being addressed. Some aren't.

Too many government officials fail to offer help in a disaster because they are worried about whether their costs will be reimbursed, Fugate said, and those kinds of questions cost lives.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or lpeterson@tampatrib.com

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