Disasters
Disaster plans lacking in Hudson Valley area
Greg Bruno of the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., looked into disaster plans for communities of the Catskills and Hudson Valley, finding that three-quarters of them would be unprepared. “Of the 75 communities that provided their plans for review, only 25 percent are updated or specific enough to be useful in a catastrophe, according to…
Read MoreHospitals not prepared for worst quake scenario
Duane W. Gang and David Olson of The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise examined state, county and hospital emergency plans and found that Inland California counties were unprepared to provide medical services after a large earthquake. “A major temblor could leave multiple hospitals damaged and unable to treat their own patients, let alone the thousands of injured.”
Read MoreData reveals no-bid contracts for hurricane clean up
Eric Lipton and Ron Nixon of The New York Times used federal contract data covering hurricane response to show that “more than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited competition … provoking concerns among auditors and government officials about…
Read MoreMissteps, fraud have plagued FEMA
Megan O’Matz, Sally Kestin, John Maines and Jon Burstein of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel continue the paper’s investigation into FEMA. “The handling of aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina is only the latest in a series of missteps and fraud that has plagued this tax-funded government agency. The Sun-Sentinel took a look at 20 recent…
Read MoreDisaster planning focused on terror threats
In a Web exclusive report, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball of Newsweek report that state emergency management directors have complained FEMA has concentrated too much on preparing for terror threats and not enough on natural disasters. “Internal Homeland Security documents obtained by Newsweek lend support to the state directors’ complaints. Out of 15 ‘all hazards’…
Read MoreMapping tornado sirens allows look at disaster planning
Sarah Okeson of the Peoria, Ill., Journal Star mapped tornado sirens and looked at how much of the county they cover, as well as geocoding the county’s schools and nursing homes and looking for gaps in the coverage. “The National Weather Service thinks Peoria is adequately prepared for a tornado or other disaster.” Okeson describes…
Read MoreSept. 11 loans go to many unaffected by terror
Frank Bass and Dirk Lammers of The Associated Press examined nearly $5 billion in loans granted by the Small Business Administration as Sept. 11 recovery aid, and found that many went to businesses “that didn’t need terror relief — or even know they were getting it.” The SBA said it first learned of the problems…
Read MoreThousands of home permits issued for fire-prone areas
Jim Miller and Ben Goad of The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise use mapping software to plot thousands of new home permits issued since the 2003 Southern California fires and then compared the points to state maps showing fire threat. “In the 18 months after the firestorms of 2003, Inland cities and counties issued permits for more…
Read MoreFEMA contracts with criminals
Megan O’Matz and Sally Kestin of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found that “government inspectors entrusted to enter disaster victims’ homes and verify damage claims include criminals with records for embezzlement, drug dealing and robbery.” The paper found the names of more than 100 inspectors for the Federal Emergency Management Agency through public and confidential sources;…
Read MoreFEMA paid for too many funerals
Sally Kestin, Megan O’Matz and John Maines of the Sun-Sentinel used federal records to show that “the federal government has paid funeral expenses for at least 315 deaths” in the wake of hurricanes in South Florida last year, “including those of a man who shot himself and a stroke victim hospitalized more than a week…
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