katrina + fema + formaldehyde =

[evince]

Who is it that won the contract to build them, I cant seem to find out?

 

[uscitizen]

I forget who Desh, but they cried big time when fatherland Security started talking about selling the unused trailers

 

[Damocles]

This was a total Fuck Up. They did not plan they just jotted some words down and dropped some money and wanted to forget about these Americans as if they didnt matter. They did a shitty ass job. YOU would not have done it the way they did Damo. I know you, you are a decent and bright man and if this had been your task you would have taken more than the 10 minutes they must have took to specify a product that was safe for children to live in. Dont make excuses for these people they dont deserve defending.

What I personally would do.

As the big boss of FEMA...

1. I would set people to writing contingency contracts for temporary housing in cases where unforeseen tragedies hit and we need fast temporary housing. Taking the time before the problem ever did arise to write up a strong contract that could be filled in with the appropriate numbers and with appropriate expectations for construction contracts applying.

2. I would set teams to brainstorming different types of issues that are likely to arise and responses that would be effective. To go over past responses and figure out how to improve every one of them, set policy so that the improvements are implemented going forward.

(Generic, but this would be a priority for FEMA if it were under my responsibility).

 

[uscitizen]

you mean homeland security don't ya Damo ?

 

[LadyT]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/24/AR2008052401973.html


Within days of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in August 2005, frantic officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency ordered nearly $2.7 billion worth of trailers and mobile homes to house the storm's victims, many of them using a single page of specifications.

Just 25 lines spelled out FEMA's requirements, with little mention of the safety of those to be housed. Manufacturers produced trailers with unusual speed. Within months, some residents began complaining about unusual sickness; breathing problems; burning eyes, noses and throats; even deaths.

Today, industry and government experts depict the rushed procurement and construction as key failures that may have triggered a public health catastrophe among the more than 300,000 people, many of them children, who lived in FEMA homes.

Formaldehyde -- an industrial chemical that can cause nasal cancer, may be linked to leukemia, and worsens asthma and respiratory problems -- was present in many of the FEMA housing units in amounts exceeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended 15-minute exposure limit for workers, the limit at which acute health symptoms begin to appear in sensitive individuals.

Weak government contracting, sloppy private construction, a surge of low-quality wood imports from China and inconsistent regulation all contributed to the crisis, a Washington Post review found. But each of the key players has pointed fingers at others, a chain of blame with a cost that will not be known for years.

....

Wow.

I went to MSNBC and CNN, and those stories aren't on their front pages. The "no $hit sherlock" story is still gripping the headlines. As if anyone at this point is shocked at what mcclellan is saying (besides Bush of course)

 

[LadyT]

Someone needs to pay for this and be held accountable criminally and financially.

 

[uscitizen]

Well the finiancially part will come out of our pockets.
Businesses externalizing their costs to the taxpayers is part of the contract on America.

 

[Don Quixote]

Is there some evidence that you could provide us with proving 'Bushco' doesn't care or are you just stuck on " Bush Bad"--"Dems good"

my saying bushco bad does not imply i think dems good

i may prefer some dems but not all of them

i do not support the dems or the dnc

as for proof that bushco does not care, notice his appointments and what they do

 

[Don Quixote]

Hey they are doing fine for poor people. If they had a degree they would have already bought a new house somewhere. And if they had and education and were smart they would not live in NO in the first place


Gumbo flakes

usc

where do you live (in general) and what is not so good about it

i live in ca and we know the four season there are fire, floods, earthquakes and riots - although of the 4, we have only had earthquakes where i live

 

[Don Quixote]

Well, I'm sure they sat in rooms and said, "Get the formaldehyde covered trailers!"

Just before they danced in a nekkid circle and invoked Satan.

You know how those Republican meetings go...

damo, you got that right, sort of - it is not that they choose the fume filled trailers, but that they did not bother to check them when they bought them



i hate incompetence no matter who does it

 

[Don Quixote]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/24/AR2008052401973.html


Within days of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in August 2005, frantic officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency ordered nearly $2.7 billion worth of trailers and mobile homes to house the storm's victims, many of them using a single page of specifications.

Just 25 lines spelled out FEMA's requirements, with little mention of the safety of those to be housed. Manufacturers produced trailers with unusual speed. Within months, some residents began complaining about unusual sickness; breathing problems; burning eyes, noses and throats; even deaths.

Today, industry and government experts depict the rushed procurement and construction as key failures that may have triggered a public health catastrophe among the more than 300,000 people, many of them children, who lived in FEMA homes.

Formaldehyde -- an industrial chemical that can cause nasal cancer, may be linked to leukemia, and worsens asthma and respiratory problems -- was present in many of the FEMA housing units in amounts exceeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended 15-minute exposure limit for workers, the limit at which acute health symptoms begin to appear in sensitive individuals.

Weak government contracting, sloppy private construction, a surge of low-quality wood imports from China and inconsistent regulation all contributed to the crisis, a Washington Post review found. But each of the key players has pointed fingers at others, a chain of blame with a cost that will not be known for years.



Its no wonder cons think government cant do anything right. They dont believe in that manby pamby stuff like thinking things through to take in all the angles like Human health and safety.

aw desh, no fair injecting facts into my post - thanks

 

[Don Quixote]

They tried to get shelter for them as quickly as possible with the expectation it would be temporary.

I agree that they made mistakes, but they certainly didn't willfully attempt to poison, or try to continue poisoning them. Instead they tried to get the Local and State governments to speed up producing a permanent solution.

Nobody was celebrating what happened to these people or willfully trying to poison them. That is what I object to.

Suggesting they sucked at their job. Cool. They did, IMO, put the priorities awry in the name of expediency. But suggesting that they were somehow willfully evil is total rubbish.

damo, sort of like negligent homicide, the perpetrator did not intend to kill but the person is dead anyway

there are 'temporary' buildings erected by the government at jpl still there decades after they were built - in the government nothing is more permanent than temporary

 

[Don Quixote]

What I personally would do.

As the big boss of FEMA...

1. I would set people to writing contingency contracts for temporary housing in cases where unforeseen tragedies hit and we need fast temporary housing. Taking the time before the problem ever did arise to write up a strong contract that could be filled in with the appropriate numbers and with appropriate expectations for construction contracts applying.

2. I would set teams to brainstorming different types of issues that are likely to arise and responses that would be effective. To go over past responses and figure out how to improve every one of them, set policy so that the improvements are implemented going forward.

(Generic, but this would be a priority for FEMA if it were under my responsibility).

damo, this is pure fantasy, i doubt that you would ever work for the government - however, what you said is just what fema should have done and did not do because the head of fema was a hack appointee

i think that most people that post at this site would do a better job

oh well

ps i did work on several government projects and planing was supposed to occur but, too frequently was not done adequately

 

[uscitizen]

usc

where do you live (in general) and what is not so good about it

i live in ca and we know the four season there are fire, floods, earthquakes and riots - although of the 4, we have only had earthquakes where i live

I live in my little shack in KY. I am on the site map thingy.

We just tend to have drought and tornadoes.
I personally think it a bit stoopid to live at the mouth of the biggest sewer in the USA and perhaps below sea level in a hurricane zone. And to rebuild in the same location.

 

[evince]

What I personally would do.

As the big boss of FEMA...

1. I would set people to writing contingency contracts for temporary housing in cases where unforeseen tragedies hit and we need fast temporary housing. Taking the time before the problem ever did arise to write up a strong contract that could be filled in with the appropriate numbers and with appropriate expectations for construction contracts applying.

2. I would set teams to brainstorming different types of issues that are likely to arise and responses that would be effective. To go over past responses and figure out how to improve every one of them, set policy so that the improvements are implemented going forward.

(Generic, but this would be a priority for FEMA if it were under my responsibility).

You mean you would actually approach this as a job that required thought and would employ bright capable people to assist you in the task?

Are you sure you would not just use Fema to reward people who had helped the guy who gave you the job get elected ?

Wow your ideas are very novel in comparison to how things have been run for the last eight years. I thought government was evil and we were supposed to prove that by doing the shittiest job we can and soaking as much money as we can out of it?


America should never elect people to run their government who hate their government.

Republicans say government cant do anything right and when they get elected they prove it.

 

[uscitizen]

The republican goal is to exploit the country, not to enhance it.

 

[Don Quixote]

I live in my little shack in KY. I am on the site map thingy.

We just tend to have drought and tornadoes.
I personally think it a bit stoopid to live at the mouth of the biggest sewer in the USA and perhaps below sea level in a hurricane zone. And to rebuild in the same location.

usc

what would you say about people that live under levees or in front of dams

everywhere there is a downside, just some more than others

the problem is that people think of it as home and do not want to live elsewhere

however, if bushco had not said that we will rebuild NO, we would not be rebuilding it

FEMA does not allow people to rebuild, with government assistance, places flooded due to burst levees in areas where such things happen regularly

should we allow people to rebuild in areas where twisters are regular features?