The Federal Emergency Management Agency deserved the Congressional scrutiny it received after Hurricane Katrina, said Portola Valley resident Linda Weil, who has spent many months working in communities along the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
The agency, at least as represented in Mississippi, has “a fear-based culture” in which people are “constantly afraid” of losing their jobs by straying beyond the narrow parameters of their job descriptions, she said.
“It inhibits coordination and communication, which is exactly what you don’t want to do,” she added.
“It was quite painful to hear people’s stories about senior citizens who are on oxygen living in tents because of FEMA’s inefficiency,” she said. Trailers were late in coming, and if they did arrive on time, they were often broken in some way, she said.
“Peoples’ lives were in the hands of this organization that was operating in a highly inefficient way,” she said. “That was painful to see because it could be different. It doesn’t have to be that way. And it’s the only game in town. You are a victim of that organization.”
The experience reminded her of those she has had with emergency services in developing countries, she said.
FEMA has huge potential, she said. “It’s filled with people who want to help with emergencies, but the structure does not allow them to do it.”
