Why was no one there?

The Capital Times

The advent of the Bush administration in January 2001 signaled the beginning of the end for FEMA. The newly appointed leadership of the agency showed little interest in its work or in the missions pursued by Witt. Then came the Sept. 11 attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Soon FEMA was being absorbed into the 'homeland security borg.'This year it was announced that FEMA is to 'officially' lose the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that mission.

First, the administration sent the very troops who are supposed to remain State-side to protect and aid the states in times of need, the National Guard, overseas, where they do not belong, no matter what B.S. the administration tries to feed us. Then we find out they'd dismantled the organization created to respond to disasters of this nature. I've read of it before; one of the justifications I read was private organizations, such as the Red Cross, would pick up the slack. However, there is no private organization which could respond the way a government group could, which would have access to local law enforcement and emergency aid services. And, please note, that the Red Cross cannot get to areas a government group, well, technically should be able to. So, we have nothing. People are stranded on highway meridians, no food, no water, no medical help, waiting for someone, anyone, to show up. Would FEMA have completely alleviated the problems? No. But they sure as hell would have made a difference.