Chertoff testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
During his testimony Mr. Chertoff described Katrina as a 100-year storm which had unprecedented impacts. Katrina completely destroyed or made uninhabitable an estimated 300,000 homes – or six times as many homes destroyed by the Midwest Flood of 1993, and almost 11 times as many homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. The storm also created 118 million cubic yards of debris – more than double the amount produced by the four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and six times the amount of debris created by Hurricane Andrew. “Let there be no mistake – Katrina was the 100 year storm that we all feared,” stated Chertoff. “It revealed what I told this committee in July – that we are not where we need to be in our ability to manage catastrophic events. As a result, we need to make sure we are building critical capabilities in the short and long term that will allow us to effectively respond to ultra-catastrophic events as well as more common dangers we face. “This tragedy emphasized how critical it is that we ensure our planning and response capabilities perform with seamless integrity and efficiency in any type of disaster situation – even one of cataclysmic nature. “Furthermore, it emphasized the importance of having accurate, timely and reliable information about conditions on the ground, the lack of which frustrated our best efforts to coordinate the response with our State and local counterparts. “In addition, although the Department of Homeland Security pre-positioned significant numbers of personnel, assets and resources before the hurricane made landfall, we now know our capabilities were simply overwhelmed by the magnitude of this storm, including logistics, claims management, contracting, and communications capabilities. “Over the past months, there has been a great deal of discussion about what worked and what didn’t. At the Joint Field Office emergency response centers in Mississippi and Louisiana, we continue to gather information on a changing set of requirements to better serve state and local governments in the recovery process. I can assure you that we at the Department are our own harshest critics. We’re committed to using the lessons learned from Katrina to increase our ability to plan for and respond to catastrophic events.”
•Date: 16th Feb 2006• Region: US • Type: Article •Topic: DR general |
