Emergency Preparedness Fails Post-9/11 Test

Hurricane Katrina provided the first major test of the government's emergency preparedness following Sept. 11, 2001 - and it failed. That's the consensus from the White House to Capitol Hill; despite a huge investment of billions of dollars for communications efforts, the failure of communications systems was a deadly problem. On Capitol Hill this week, a group of lawmakers said they want to begin by looking at the communication problems that left Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in Baton Rouge and Washington unaware of the chaos and squalor facing tens of thousands of people at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center.
* Also see "Reality scuttles a great plan" at same URL: "The New Orleans emergency preparedness plan offers a precise communications strategy, so all city residents will know exactly where to go in times of crisis."