Hard Lessons of Katrina Being put to Immediate Use

Less than four weeks after Katrina, preparations for Hurricane Rita appear to be based on lessons learned from the last major storm hitting the region. When Katrina wiped out communications along the Gulf Coast, officials and key emergency workers were cut off from each other. That contributed greatly to the chaos on the ground. This time, said R. David Paulison, new chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Pentagon is sending in five two-person teams to set up communications after the storm comes through. If fire and police communications are down, he said, “we're going to help them very quickly get those back up in place so they can do the job that they are trained to do.” In New Orleans, where officials are concerned that weakened levees could be breached even if Rita makes landfall elsewhere, the military was bringing in a $4.5 million satellite communications system for authorities, said Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the military's Joint Task Force Katrina.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Mimi Hall]