Local FEMA taking action

[Vashti]

We had a FEMA trailer move into our area about a month ago. They started short radio broadcasts, encouraging folk to come by the trailer, and telling everyone that they should have two weeks of food, water and supplies on hand in case of emergencies. Now, they're passing this Home Care Guide for pandemic flu around town: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/epr/Pub...eCareGuide.pdf

What do you think this means? I'm happy that they're encouraging people to prepare, and a little giddy about that. It seems a bit weird though, and strange, only because I thought FEMA only encouraged people to have 72 hours worth of preps on hand.

[Roadking]

Thats something new to me; showing up without an emergency. Could be a good thing of getting people to think and prep, could also be a forewarning (tinfoil, I know, but if FEMA showed up here for leaflet passing, I'd be a bit nervous as to what they might or might not know).
Please keep us apprised of any developments; i.e. more people prepping, no change, etc. It could just be a "test market".
Matt

[ncfishman]

tag to follow updates

[Bearfootfarm]

Thats something new to me; showing up without an emergency

Maybe it's one of the "jobs BO created"
Paying someone to tell us what we already know

[JIL]

.....maybe it's to slowly make the everyday presence unnoticed get everyone used to it so it's not a big deal of it being there. Then more will be added and grow to the next city then the trucks that haul off people will start parking next to it .gov trying to keep panic down......

[ejagno]

Originally Posted by Roadking

Thats something new to me; showing up without an emergency. Could be a good thing of getting people to think and prep, could also be a forewarning (tinfoil, I know, but if FEMA showed up here for leaflet passing, I'd be a bit nervous as to what they might or might not know).
Please keep us apprised of any developments; i.e. more people prepping, no change, etc. It could just be a "test market".
Matt

Matt; This should be a relief if anything. FEMA & Red Cross do not show up soon after emergencies let alone early. Sarcasm over.

Seriously, I keep telling everyone that they have really tried hard to recover from the terrible reputation they earned following Katrina, Rita and even Gustav. They made some serious errors and have had to work twice as hard at rebuilding America's trust.

They did some serious internal house cleaning and moved the organization under DHS. If you'll visit the DHS website they changed the prepardness level to include a minimum 2 week supply over a year ago. Even they realized that they cannot just magically appear inside disaster areas sometimes for a week or so without putting their own people into some serious situations and risks.

From my understanding they are now pre-positioned and fully stocked by divisions (south-central, southeast, northwest, mideast...) throughout the US for quicker response and at least a good knowledge of each area they live in and are acclamated to the climate. You cannot imagine how badly those FEMA people from Washington suffered when they came in here after our hurricanes followed by intense heat waves. Waiting on supplies was another nightmare. Not only did the (Fema or the supplies) not get here but nine out of 10 times they were lost.

I think the reorganization and divisions will handle disasters much better. They did a good job during Gustav despite a few mistakes and did excellent during Ike. I know some people will disagree because they didn't get everything they wanted or needed at the drop of a pin but like we've said here many times, it wasn't the govt's job to make them prepare to be on their own for a few days until they could safely get into some of these disaster areas.

Get to know them. Do go meet them. They need you, the local, as much as you will need their help if something should happen. Life is easier on the inside in these situations.

I think these responses are bordering silly. An organization was established many years ago to help in disasters. They failed miserably and the people screamed to high heaven. They cleaned up their act and have worked very hard to correct these faults and become an efficient and effective unit and now it's all a plot to haul us away. Come on folks...............they are finally doing what they were paid to do all along. We have enough problems to worry about without creating them.

[Wisconsin Ann]

My guess is that it's part of the initiative made after the Katrina problems to make FEMA more proactive. They were stung badly there, and it was very obvious that even when the population KNEW a disaster was heading toward them, they thought they could ride it out or simply didn't know what to do.

As both Katrina and Haiti have shown, there's simply no way to get food and water into people immediately after a major catastrophe. Maybe this is FEMA's way of getting more people prepared....that would be great. A government agency looking forward.

You need to go ASK them what's up. Why the "personal touch" from FEMA.

[Gary in ohio]

Sounds like an ad campaign to promote FEMA to me... Or maybe its where the evil empire plans to test its weather ray gun and knows you will need help after the test.

[Smokesignals]

I know bad things can happen in any area, but specifically what type of emergencies can you expect in your area and are they handing out information for dealing with those. My guess is they are not.

In other words, it's just the typical government "feel good" program designed to waste taxpayer's money and make the average Joe think his government is going to be there when things go to he11 in a handbasket.

[7thswan]

Originally Posted by Vashti

We had a FEMA trailer move into our area about a month ago. They started short radio broadcasts, encouraging folk to come by the trailer, and telling everyone that they should have two weeks of food, water and supplies on hand in case of emergencies. Now, they're passing this Home Care Guide for pandemic flu around town: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/epr/Pub...eCareGuide.pdf

What do you think this means? I'm happy that they're encouraging people to prepare, and a little giddy about that. It seems a bit weird though, and strange, only because I thought FEMA only encouraged people to have 72 hours worth of preps on hand.

There have been more worries in my readings, of Bio attacks. 2 weeks of resources in your home would be about right.

[WolfWalksSoftly]

Do some research. FEMA was not created to help out in times of need.
I say thanks, but no thanks. I will take care of my own. It is my opinion, FEMA has WAY too much Authority.

[ChristyACB]

Given that we constantly talk about the "sheeple" and how unprepared people are and just can't understand why they don't understand the need to prepare...this must be a good thing!

Seriously, if it becomes the norm for them to hear that you should have basic preps, then more of them will do it.

I say, hurray! Probably the first useful thing FEMA has done and a good start.

[PhilJohnson]

Could be worse things the government could be doing than telling people to be more prepared.

[Loquisimo]

There seems to be a push from somewhere in the Obama Administration to emphasize preparedness. I started noticing the black and white bus shelter billboards advertising ready.gov, the preparedness website the Bush Administration set up after Katrina, about six months ago. Basic message with little pictograms, in case of disaster have a plan and a kit and stay informed.

Check out the entry for "survivalism" on wiki, the govt started the whole survivalism movement itself at the dawn of the Cold War when it was reasonable that people in sturdy brick and stone buildings might survive a nuclear attack. It wasn't until the closing of the gold window in 1971 that there started to be real worries about an economic collapse and how vulnerable our urbanized society was to a sudden cutoff of supplies. The govt had let the Civil Defense system decay, and the feds in the 70s were all about happy face assurances that everything was fine as 80% a year inflation destroyed the nation's savings.

Carter tried to change the tone, but he stank at it. Given the extraordinary problems facing the country, wearing a sweater and turning down the heat seemed inadequate. So the free market stepped into the vacuum. The problem was that in the free market anything goes, so there was tons of conspiracy theory mixed in with advice that was lacking in some respects. The survival retreat sounded good, but was not really workable. And the ancient hatred of bankers was everywhere.

Obama would seem to be the last guy to be interested in preparing the nation for a disaster. Maybe he ISN'T the antichrist? Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand... Bush really wasn't that interested in disaster readiness, despite all the stuff that happened. After 9-11, we were told to go shopping. After Katrina, FEMA seemed to exist in an alternate universe where the prez had also taken up residence. The most surreal moment of the hurricane is where the FEMA director talked about "unsubstantiated rumors" of thousands of people camped at the New Orleans Convention Center in one pane of Good Morning America's broadcast, while the second one held video of people there screaming "Help us!", and the third held an incredulous Diane Sawyer-"don't you watch the news?"

[pops550]

Remember..............Keep your friends close, And your enemies closer!!!
Although probably just the goverment doing another, See we're on the job! Course as usual they ain't got a clue what the job needs!!!! Keep an eye on them for us. Thanks

[NamasteMama]

I just saw a billboard that was from fema saying be prepared to bug out, well not those words but its weird seeing it. Reminds me to get my bug out kits done.

[Spinner]

We know that the govt answer to the economic crisis is to go shopping. Maybe the newest "stimulus" is for everyone to buy two weeks worth of supplies to save our economy.

I have to agree that at least they are getting the word out. I hope they make it a national campaign for everyone to stock up. Hopefully they are starting with a week suggestion and will work their way up from there.

In the future it might be safe to be a prepper, but I won't hold my breath waiting on that.

[Zipporah]

I'd be a bit nervous as to what they might or might not know

They would kind of creep me out.

[Ohio dreamer]

I'm glad they are working on getting the message out to be prepared. But it does make me wonder what their agenda truly is. The surface message sounds great, but with the government I always wonder what they are hiding. Guess I'm too old to believe that what comes out of their mouth is what they mean.

[calliemoonbeam]

Since early December, there's been a huge push by the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security with radio and TV commercials and billboards asking "Are you Red Dirt Ready?" and asking you to check out the website at www.reddirtready.com. They're voiced by Morgan Freeman. I also heard they had a booth set up at the Home and Garden Show, though I didn't go.

It's all about getting prepared for disasters and wanting local citizens to sign up for different committees, such as: the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps, Volunteers in Police Service, Fire Corps, Community Emergency Response Team, or Citizens Corps. On their website is a quiz to help you decide which team you should be on, and if you don't feel like you fit on any of those, they ask you to volunteer for the Red Cross, Salvation Army or United Way.

They even encouraged you to buy preparedness supplies for "family, friends and loved ones" for Christmas presents, with a list of "suggested presents". I could just see some of my superficial yuppy family members' reactions if I gave them a BOB for Christmas, lol. Their list of suggestions includes:

Disaster kits for homes, offices and autos (first aid kits; food, water and prescription medications for 72 hours; i.e., extra clothing, blankets, and flashlights).
NOAA weather radios with extra batteries.
Enrollment in a CPR or first-aid class.
Smoke detectors.
Fire extinguishers (for kitchen, garage, car, etc.)
Foldable ladders for second-story escape in a fire.
Car kits (emergency flares, shovels, ice scrapers, flashlights and fluorescent distress flags).
Pet Disaster kits (food, water, leashes, dishes and carrying case or crate).
Battery powered lamps

At the bottom of the page is this statement:
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

It sure makes me nervous that they know something we don't, but I hope, as others said, that they're just trying to make up for all the bad PR they've had in the past. However, as always, I will continue to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It's all I can do for peace of mind.