6/7/08 Sun Herald (MS): FEMA getting heat on ice

FEMA getting heat on ice

Disaster official: Don’t accept it

By KAREN NELSON

June 7, 2008

From: http://www.sunherald.com/pageone/story/610739.html

Ben Smilowitz, executive director for the Disaster Accountability Project, said Friday ice brought in for the public is a necessity after a hurricane and criticized FEMA’s decision to deliver it only for medical emergencies or life-saving reasons.

Smilowitz formed the watchdog group after serving at a Red Cross center in Gulfport for three weeks after Katrina.

“Ice was critical at our site,” Smilowitz said. “People were burning up in lines that left people waiting full days to receive minimal assistance… and so many needed ice for basic things – insulin, baby formula, prescriptions and keeping cool.”

He urged people not to accept FEMA’s decision.

He described the people of Mississippi as gracious, but said for local politicians to accept the decision was doing their constituents a disservice.

“It seems like FEMA has begun dropping responsibilities when the going gets tough and they’re unable to comply with post-Katrina White House and congressional recommendations,” Smilowitz said.

Ice should continue to be central to any FEMA storm preparedness and response planning and training, he said.

“And it was completely irresponsible for FEMA to announce the decision to Mississippi after hurricane season has started,” he said. “If FEMA cares about preparedness, they’ll delay it until next season. You can’t just drop this on a state now.”

Some people are unclear about who actually gets ice to an area because other agencies help distribute it.

Paige Roberts with the Southeast Mississippi Chapter of the American Red Cross said supplying mass quantities of ice is a government function.

But FEMA said this week it would no longer do that because it’s costly and difficult, a spokeswoman said. Instead, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is charged with delivering as much as 3 million pounds to any state for medical emergencies or life-saving reasons.

Roberts said she believes “the ice issue isn’t going to cost as many lives as the gas-price issue.

“First, you need people to leave. And then not so many people will need ice,” she said. “But there will be people who won’t leave because of gas prices.”

Smilowitz’s watchdog group, an organization in its formative stages, recently was declared a finalist for Echoing Green, a recognition that comes with a $60,000 grant over two years if an organization makes the Top 20.

Smilowitz said the Project is an overseer of FEMA, the Red Cross and any agency that manages disaster response, much like the Sierra Club is for the EPA.

“Saying put some jugs in the freezer,” he said, referring to FEMA’s recommendation for self-preparedness for ice needs. “What if someone doesn’t have a freezer? What if they don’t have electricity for a week or two weeks?”

And he said FEMA’s statement that it would reconsider if an area is hit as hard as Katrina did is no assurance.

“We know what happens when you rethink it after a disaster,” he said. “People in Mississippi and Louisiana know.”