If Maria Response was like Hurricane Andrew Response

After Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, FEMA "awaited requests from the State of Florida. Unfortunately, the damage was so tremendous that State officials were unable to comprehend the damage and the needs of people in the disaster area. They couldn't ask for what they didn't know they needed."

Puerto Rico was in much the same situation after Hurricane Maria. But instead of learning the lessons from Hurricane Andrew (something that might have happened had FEMA been led by a more senior person with some connection to this administration), Trump drove the country to distraction.

Almost three weeks after Maria struck Puerto Rico, just 15 percent of the island’s electricity customers have power, according to numbers posted on a website run by the government of Puerto Rico. Half the island lacks phone service, and about 40 percent of households lack access to potable water.

Hurricane Andrew destroyed 65,000 homes, knocked out water, electricity and phones, and filled roads with heavy debris.  The devastation caused by Andrew prompted a full federal response.  By contrast, Hurricane Maria -- coming on the heals of Hurricane Irma -- caused "total destruction."  Even Trump described Puerto Rico as “absolutely obliterated.”

What would be happening now if the Trump Administration responded with the same kind of effort that the first President Bush employed after Hurricane Andrew:

• If Andrew is used as a guide, more than 845,000 homes in Puerto Rico could be totally destroyed.  Of course, it could be more.
• The president would have had a Defense Coordinating Officer assigned before the storm hit landfall.  A Joint Task Force would have been created for interoperations between services.  A Presidential Task Force would have been appointed when the extent of the crisis in response became evident.
• Military Areas of Operations would be assigned, and local assistance requests would have been coordinated through those (instead of using twitter).
• Instead of the 3 medical units (44th Medical Brigade and the medical units assigned to the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain Division) mobilized for Andrew, Puerto Rico would be assigned 39 military medical units.

During Andrew recovery efforts, military engineers filled the gap until contractors, NGO relief organizations and local communities could mobilize to continue disaster recovery.  Instead of the 750 USACE personnel assigned to Puerto Rico, the US Army Corps of Engineers utilized 2,500 of USACE and 841st Engineering Battalion personnel, 600 Army employees and 4,000 contractor personnel to remove debris at the start of recovery efforts.  If Andrew is used as a guide, 32,500 USACE and Army Reserve engineers would be assigned to Puerto Rico by now.  Another 7,800 Army employees would be sent and 52,000 contractor employees would have arrived in Puerto Rico.  2860 dump trucks and 715 bucket loaders would be sent. 

Instead of the "six U.S. Navy helicopters and three U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey aircraft launched from the USS Kearsarge Amphibious Readiness Group," Joint Task Force Andrew utilized 120 DoD helicopters.  Another 1,014 USAF sorties were flown during Andrew recovery efforts.

In Puerto Rico, with 3.4 MILLION people affected, FEMA sent more than 1.3 million meals, whereas 1 million MREs were delivered for the 250,000 people left without homes after Hurricane Andrew.

No one should be bragging about disaster recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.  A competent administration would be trying to figure out how to respond adequately to the mess left in the wake of Hurricane Maria...

Are We Now Just Letting People Die?

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, destroying the electricity grid and leaving many of its 3.4 million people desperate for food, water and gasoline. Since then, the American people have watched as the Trump Administration has fumbled its responsibilities in the worst disaster recovery response since the Federal Emergency Administration was created.

The incompetence of Donald Trump and the people in his administration has been made public, for all the world to see.

Three weeks after the storm, this administration is bragging about "14,000 federal workers on the ground in Puerto Rico," while continuing to bemoan how "logistically challenging" it is for them.

Incompetence always has an excuse. And we have all learned that Donald Trump is the king of excuses!

In 1992, I was one of tens of thousands of people involved in the Hurricane Andrew recovery effort. While there were legitimate criticisms of the Bush Administration's response at the time, it was magnitudes better than how this administration has chosen to respond.

Within FIVE DAYS the federal government and neighboring states had mobilized 20,000 National Guard and active duty troops to South Dade County. By this time in the Hurricane Recovery efforts, more than 20,000 troops -- primarily comprised of the 82nd Airborne and 10th Mountain Divisions -- joined more than 6,000 National Guards troops in the recovery efforts to help with the 250,000 people left homeless in the affected areas. They joined another 1000 FEMA personnel, mostly temporary adjustors, in the effected area.

Let that sink in. Three weeks out from landfall of Hurricane Andrew, there were more than 26,200 guard and active duty troops in South Florida, and another 1000 federal employees, to help the 250,000 people left homeless. In total, "30,074 DoD and National Guard personnel were deployed to disaster locations in Florida."

That's one federal responder for every 8 people affected.

By contrast, Trump and his sycophants are bragging about one federal responder for every 243 people affected. They are calling this "a good news story."

Trump apologists keep trying to blame Puerto Rico for its incompetence. Yet under the 1988 Stafford Act (The law’s full title is the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988, P.L. 93-288), the federal government is supposed to get involved in disasters only if they are of “such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments.” The Congressional Research Service describes it this way:

Only after both local and state/tribal government resources have been overwhelmed, and the governor of the state has requested assistance, does the federal government begin to “supplement the efforts and available resources of States, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering.

I doubt any honest person could argue that Puerto Rico does not meet that standard.

As a liaison between military efforts and the 40,000 out-of-area volunteers on the ground, there was a concerted effort to utilize all the resources made available for recovery efforts each and every day for months.  But the military did a lot of the heavy lifting.  Not only were there 30,074 military personnel, but "DoD provided much of the food, water, sheltering, transportation and medical care, even though the Federal Response Plan assigns those responsibilities to other agencies."

Why isn't Puerto Rico getting the same level of support?  Granted, there is a much, much greater need, but Puerto Rico isn't even getting Hurricane Andrew level of support at this moment (and it's been 3 weeks).  "Reporters on the ground in Puerto Rico have heard repeatedly that there was little sign of the government, or none at all, in the days after the storm hit the island."  Three weeks after Maria struck, "just 15 percent of the island’s electricity customers have power."

Moreover, the more than 70,000 people on the ground in South Florida were supplemented by Naval and Marine personnel who were stationed in ports close to the damaged areas.  Helicopters from the USS Sylvania delivered large amounts of food inland, making up most of the 850,000 meals delivered by military forces to victims of the hurricane.  Several Navy repair ships, with crews up to 1,000, used their engineering capability (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc.), and crews to re-roof and repair 43 South Florida schools.  The Marine Corps built two 2,500-person Life Support Center tent towns for displaced civilians.

We have heard of nothing similar in Puerto Rico.  The Navy has two amphibious ships off the coast of Puerto Rico (the USS Kearsarge and the USS Oak Hill), but it took public pressure from the Clintons to send the hospital ship USNS Comfort.  What is clear is that the Trump Administration is much more interested in taking credit for the relatively minor efforts to address the great needs of Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

America First seems like nothing more than an empty slogan as the Americans in Puerto Rico seem to be the last people this Administration intends to help.  Puerto Rico can't even account for all its dead because the island is trying to care for the living.  On an island of 3.4 million Americans, the Trump Administration wants to be hailed for providing 3,000 meals and 4,500 liters of water a day.  The Bush Administration was serving 35,000 meals a day for less than 8% of Puerto Rico's affected population.  The difference in response is simply staggering...