I Will Survive

That's better. Leaders acting like leaders, citizens doing what they can to help whoever they can. It almost makes me think we'd be better off without FEMA. If people didn't think the fed would rescue them, maybe people would be more likely to step up. (In theory, I think FEMA should be responsible for co-ordinating efforts to help so that one area isn't overwhelmed with help while another gets nothing. Instead, they just seem to get tangled in their own bureaucracy and hinder more than they help when things are urgent. The mayor of Ocean Springs sums it up, probably without realizing it:

"We had our radios. We know how to fill out the FEMA reimbursement forms. We know what we're supposed to do. We were as well-organized as we could be for a small town facing something of this magnitude." (emphasis mine)

It's like Brazil. The paperwork becomes more important than anything else. Even human life. Flexibility is key in a crisis. And a bureaucracy is not flexible.