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Puerto Rico — Trouble in Paradise

When I was a local emergency manager, I used to say ...

The Puerto Rico story is bad. It was bad, has been bad, and will likely have a bad ending. 

See this NPR story on the disaster response, How FEMA Failed To Help Victims Of Hurricanes in Puerto Rico Recover.

Most people will read this story and blame the Republicans, the White House or leadership at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for not helping Puerto Rico. Today I really don't care for most Republicans, and our president is ... well, ah, he's the president and he is busy tweeting. Puerto Rico is the least of his worries.

In recent months I've spoken to many a FEMA person, down in the ranks, or senior and they all really like Brock Long for his energy and enthusiasm. In what I read — he is competent and has some ideas how to make FEMA better and how to make the United States more prepared (he's talking about you doing something yourself and not waiting for FEMA).

In the story the FEMA person being interviewed is Mike Byrne. Most people don't know who he is or what he is like. Probably a federal bureaucrat who doesn't care about the people of Puerto Rico. Well, I personally know Mike Byrne, I worked for him and wanted to work for him. This guy with red hair has boundless energy. He was a New York City firefighter. He got tapped to help establish the NYC Emergency Management Agency. He was working for FEMA when 9/11 happened and was leading the charge on the ground for FEMA's response to that event. Then, getting noticed, he was picked by Gov. Ridge to help him set up the Office of Homeland Security when it was in the White House. He personally pitched the idea of funding states and local jurisdictions to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. 

As a contractor, he led the Road Home Program in Louisiana after Katrina, which was two years of hell (these were dog years) in dealing with a dysfunctional state and region while trying to put people back in homes. Now back with FEMA, he was thrown in the 2017 maelstrom of multiple hurricanes, and as the guy with lots of experience, poise and energy, they sent their "fixer" to the island. You might say lots of other things about Mike Byrne, but he is honest, dedicated, knowledgeable, talented and tireless in his public service. He should not be the "fall guy" for FEMA!

Which gets me to my last point. As a state and then local emergency manager, I knew then, as I know now, that we collectively are not doing enough to prepare for the earthquakes coming to the Pacific Northwest. I felt that after 16 years in state and local government experience I had built a strong, regionally focused emergency management program. I also knew how bad, bad could be. That everything we had done was not enough and not up to the challenges that would be thrown our way. We would be totally overwhelmed by a disaster and our efforts would look like we had not been doing anything to be prepared. We would be held up as examples of total and abject failure, and my head would be on a pike outside the King County Courthouse as an example to any who entered there — to not screw up a disaster. As I look at the events in Puerto Rico I think, "But for the Grace of God, there go I."

This then is Puerto Rico. The third major hurricane disaster out of three. A FEMA workforce that was tired and overextended. A nation, the United States, that had exhausted its supply of disaster supplies of types used to respond to an earthquake. There there was Puerto Rico, an island with challenges in getting supplies to the island — it is called an ocean — and a terrain on the island that creates a logistical nightmare. Add to it, old and poorly maintained infrastructure. This is the recipe for failure brought on by a storm that tore the island to shreds. 

Thus, when people point the finger at Mike Byrne and FEMA, remember that three fingers are pointing back at you and others. You own a portion of this failure to have a national culture of preparedness and community resilience. 

Claire Rubin shared the link to the NPR story above. 

 

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.