Island_Lauri
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 30, 2000
- Messages
- 983
Reading an article entitled "East Coast tries to prepare for Isabel" brought up an interesting subject. During a major natural disaster, our country has relied on the National Guard to provide immediate assistance to our citizens. If Hurrican Isabel does reach landfall within the next few days, will the National Guard be there?
"OFFICIALS WASTED NO TIME putting emergency plans in place even though Isabel was not expected to hit land until Thursday night. They said they were anticipating what could be the worst hurricane to hit the East Coast since Hugo, which killed 49 people and caused more than $7 billion in damage in 1989."
"FEW TROOPS, NO MONEY LEFT
Isabel was bearing down at a time when government agencies and private charities were especially ill-prepared to respond.
Military officials told NBC News that the National Guard, traditionally a major component of disaster responses, could be hamstrung because so many members are on active duty in Iraq and other hot spots.
Units in Virginia and the Carolinas are especially depleted, officials said, and those states may be forced to request assistance from neighboring states that will also be struggling with Isabels aftermath.
Lt. Col. Pete Brooks, a spokesman for the South Carolina National Guard, said more than a fifth of the states Army National Guard and Air Guard members were deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba.
The deployment took the Guards best large dump trucks, backhoes and other heavy equipment with it. The engineers we have here could operate chain saws, but most of their trucks are in Iraq, Brooks told The State newspaper of Columbia.
Likewise, half of North Carolinas 12,000 National Guard troops are either deployed or on active alert, state officials told The Associated Press.
The American Red Cross, meanwhile, said its Disaster Relief Fund was empty. Without an infusion of new donations, hurricane-hit East Coast residents could expect it to provide only the most immediate basic needs: food, clothing, shelter and medicine replacement.
Alan McCurry, the Red Cross chief operating officer, described the disaster fund with an analogy: If you were driving your car, the needle would be bouncing on zero.
The charity said in a statement that it spent $114.3 million from July 1, 2002, to this June 30 but took in only $39.5 million. It appealed for public donations on its Web site, www.redcross.org, or by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW."
The complete article can be read here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/961894.asp?vts=091520031800
Lauri
"OFFICIALS WASTED NO TIME putting emergency plans in place even though Isabel was not expected to hit land until Thursday night. They said they were anticipating what could be the worst hurricane to hit the East Coast since Hugo, which killed 49 people and caused more than $7 billion in damage in 1989."
"FEW TROOPS, NO MONEY LEFT
Isabel was bearing down at a time when government agencies and private charities were especially ill-prepared to respond.
Military officials told NBC News that the National Guard, traditionally a major component of disaster responses, could be hamstrung because so many members are on active duty in Iraq and other hot spots.
Units in Virginia and the Carolinas are especially depleted, officials said, and those states may be forced to request assistance from neighboring states that will also be struggling with Isabels aftermath.
Lt. Col. Pete Brooks, a spokesman for the South Carolina National Guard, said more than a fifth of the states Army National Guard and Air Guard members were deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba.
The deployment took the Guards best large dump trucks, backhoes and other heavy equipment with it. The engineers we have here could operate chain saws, but most of their trucks are in Iraq, Brooks told The State newspaper of Columbia.
Likewise, half of North Carolinas 12,000 National Guard troops are either deployed or on active alert, state officials told The Associated Press.
The American Red Cross, meanwhile, said its Disaster Relief Fund was empty. Without an infusion of new donations, hurricane-hit East Coast residents could expect it to provide only the most immediate basic needs: food, clothing, shelter and medicine replacement.
Alan McCurry, the Red Cross chief operating officer, described the disaster fund with an analogy: If you were driving your car, the needle would be bouncing on zero.
The charity said in a statement that it spent $114.3 million from July 1, 2002, to this June 30 but took in only $39.5 million. It appealed for public donations on its Web site, www.redcross.org, or by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW."
The complete article can be read here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/961894.asp?vts=091520031800
Lauri
