[KyARES] RE: [KYHAM] National Disaster Response Plan Needed?
Pete
pwkw at insightbb.com
Mon Sep 26 18:42:57 EDT 2005
-----Original Message-----
From: kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:kyham-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of N4AOF
>One shortcoming of the NRP (and the FRP before it) is that the plan
>deliniates who is responsible and lays out a detailed process for the local
>government to ask their state for help, for the state to ask the federal
>government for help, and for the federal agencies to coordinate with each
>other about who is supposed to help. But nowhere in the NRP (or the FRP)
>is there one single word about actually DOING anything.
>The difference between the military concept of a plan and the FEMA concept
>of a plan is that when the military makes out a plan, they write down what
>they need to DO, along with who does it, when, and how.
This is a conclusion I came to after having been deployed to Tallahassee on
the Red Cross ECRV for Dennis. The ARC has a lot of material and support
equipment that is useful in delivering immediate relief and long-term aid,
but they rely on Fed Ex or their own ERVs to ship a lot of it. Consequently,
the logistics can (and were) a nightmare. I personally loaded a Budget
rental truck in Birmingham Al. with support equipment that had been shipped
by Fed Ex. That truck then went on to Tallahassee. Two others went to
Montgomery Al., and Jackson, Ms. Toward the end of the Dennis response, I
personally saw about 20 24' trucks that had been rented by the ARC to move
support equipment around. On the other hand, the military (principally the
Army and National Guard) has a lot of logistical capability, deployable
personnel and stand-alone communication ability to move things quickly.
Putting the two together would mean that supplies would go where they are
needed quickly, and a large number of logistical personnel could be
mobilized in just hours. That's what the military is good at doing.
I think in our zeal to protect ourselves, we have focused our military
efforts too much on the outside, and ignored the possibility that the same
kind of effort might be needed within our borders. I see our present
situation as like a raw egg: we have a relatively hard shell, but a very
soft and vulnerable interior. By involving military assistance for natural
or man-made disasters, we can hard boil the interior, and make the whole
more durable against exterior and interior insults.
Pete
KF4VCC
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