Hurricane management lessons only half-learned

"What's happening in Galveston right now is that people who stayed are putting tarps on their roofs and those who did what the government wanted can't get back to their homes to minimize further damage," says Eliot Jennings, Galveston's former emergency management director.

In 2005, officials at the city, state, and federal level did not have evacuation procedures prepared for New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina killed and disappeared some 2,000 people (PDF). I remember saying at the time to a pal of mine, "We could have had a Dunkirk."

This month as Hurricane Ike approached, there was an evacuation order for Galveston Island and the Florida Keys, and the governors of Texas and Florida both declared a state of emergency ahead of time. The federal government kicked in funds to assist with evacuation efforts.

But it looks as though there wasn't much follow-up planning in place. Much of Houston had no power for almost a week, but FEMA and local officials had trouble distributing ice and food. That individual households didn't have emergency supplies at home is a whole other topic. That said, follow-up planning should include broad outreach efforts to educate the citizenry about living through disasters. One idea that comes to mind is to encourage households (through state-subsidized discounts) to stock up on a week's or month's worth of toiletries, cash, medicine, water, non-perishable foods, and other emergency supplies.

So I mean there are two aspects to what's happening down the Gulf of Mexico right now. Government officials should have been better prepared for the aftermath. But honestly, you know, individuals need to prepare themselves as well. And I'm sure that many of them -- including a good friend of mine who lives in Houston now -- did have emergency supplies on hand. But there were a heck of a lot of people in line for ice and food immediately after the storm rolled through.