Posted on 11/01/2012 6:24:55 AM PDT by blam
Tempers Flare: Residents Complain Government Is Too Slow Distributing Food And Supplies
Mac Slavo
October 31st, 2012
Hurricane Sandy made landfall just 36 hours ago and already we’ve received reports of looting in hard-hit areas with some people brazenly taking to Twitter to post pictures of their new found wealth.
Ahead of the storm panic buying left grocery and hardware store shelves empty as concerned residents stocked up on food, water, batteries, flashlights, and generators.
With the run on supplies over the weekend, tens of thousands of people were inevitably left without essential survival items due to shortages across the region, and now they are demanding action from government officials.
Officials in the city of Hoboken, N.J., are defending their response to severe flooding from superstorm Sandy.
Public Safety director Jon Tooke says at least 25 percent of the city on the Hudson River across from Manhattan remains under water. He estimates at least 20,000 people are stranded and says most are being encouraged to shelter in place until floodwaters recede.
Tempers flared Wednesday morning outside City Hall as some residents complained the city was slow to get food and other supplies out to the stranded.
Tooke says emergency personnel have been working 24/7. He says the “scope of this situation is enormous.”
Without any way to heat their homes due to power outages, no food in their pantries and water supplies potentially tainted with polluted flood waters, those who failed to prepare are now at the mercy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s crisis safety net.
But, as FEMA has advised in its emergency preparedness guidelines, despite millions of dollars in supplies having been purchased by the Federal government, if emergency responders and the transportation infrastructure is overwhelmed, help may not be coming for days or weeks.
While damage from Hurricane Sandy may not be as widespread or severe as earlier reports suggested it could be, what should be crystal clear is that any serious long-term emergency would be horrific for the non-prepper.
In New Jersey some 20,000 residents are affected and already there are not enough supplies to go around and sanity is rapidly destabilizing.
The government simply does not have the manpower to deal with an emergency requiring the delivery of food and water to hundreds of thousands of people. The saving grace for the east coast is that the damage was not as bad as it could have been, and residents were made aware of the coming storm days in advance, giving them ample time to stock up or evacuate.
Imagine the effects of an unforeseen, more widespread disaster such as coordinated dirty-bomb terror attacks, a natural disaster requiring permanent mass evacuations of entire cities, destruction of the national power grid, or the collapse of the currency systems necessary for the global exchange of key commodities.
Even those who set aside supplies for such disasters would be hard-pressed to survive; never mind those who have less than three days of food in their pantries.
If they’re going to rely on government they better learn to expect this sort of thing.
Fortunately the storm wasn’t stronger. These people would be in serious trouble if it had been.
That’s impossible. Crispie Creme just told us all that Obama is doing an unbelievalbly fantasitic job of disaster relief.
Yep.
Adn the news media told us that Romeny’s collecting of food and supplies was not what the Red Cross needed. So this entire story just has to be wrong.
How fast did they think it would be? Do they think it’s as automatic as grocery store deliveries?
What do people expect? When everything is going good, at best no one cares about these govt agencies, (local, state fed), they usually just bad-mouth them and say it’s big govt, but when bad stuff happens, people expect hot meals delivered to them.
Private organisations would do even less.
Its been what, 3 days? I wouldn’t have to start worrying about food for the better part of the winter.
Learn to love filling out forms and never hearing back from FEMA. They are mostly about filling out forms, which they must stack in a truck somewhere until they are shredded.
Obama has had his photo op hugging a crying woman, and that’s all he was scheduled to do yesterday....oh, and to show how he could actually hug a fat Republican, Gov. Christie...a twofer on the tolerance scale.
Yep. Glenn Beck has truckloads of stuff just waiting to go in.
“Brownie” is doin’ one heckuva job there, ain’t he?
In before someone post about how preppers’ supplies would be all washed away.
There are far more homes unflooded, but with people with no power and no way to get anywhere than there are flooded homes. Most likely 9 to 1 or better. Now if each of the homes that are unflooded just cut off and with no power, water, communications, supplies, medical care, etc... have prepped how much less a strain will it be logistically on first responders? Wouldn’t being able to take care of yourself and your family and not needing help ease their burden and leave more for those that truly need it?
It not just the preppers themselves, if you have stuff you can help. If you have power you might not be able to power other’s homes, but you can charge batteries and electronics for them. If you have a way to cook you can cook a pot luck for your neighbors. And it’s not just about STUFF!
If you have skills you can use them to help other. Maybe help with temporary repairs on their house for some one that can’t drive a nail. Provide news and communications. First aid you share your training. Isn’t that better than stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo?
Imagine how very, VERY different the coverage would be about this, were Obama not President????
I would predict a far worse catastrophic scenario in the future if Obama was still POTUS and Obamacare takes full effect unchecked and with full enforcement.
Only those on approved lists that have not opted out would get some relief, minimal relief based upon their age and contribution to society, if they are in the media they get full benefits, if they have a conservative belief they get put on a waiting list.
The Obamacare world.
Touche.
But what if all your "preps" were stocked somewhere in your home, which is now 3 feet under water?
Ahh, the "best laid plans..." eh?
Bon chance NE, we knew ye well...
jerks should have loaded up on toilet paper, water, beans and rice well before the storm. too bad, so sad babies
Learn to have your whole damned family fill out forms for a FEMA trailer.
Learn how to post on eBay to sell the extras.
Learn how to get each member of the family line up to get one of the free charged-up debit cards Obama will be handing out soon.
Learn how to get every member to ‘fan out’ when lining up for FEMA supply goodies.
Learn how to apply for unemployment, Section 8, SNAP, TANF and disaster grants for your ‘new post-disaster’ business...
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