Thursday, February 14, 2008

Heckuva job

Boy, those FEMA people just can't seem to catch a break, especially when it comes to anything having to do with Hurricane Katrina. First, they get blamed for their slow response time, and their overall lack of planning when helping those struck by the disaster.

Now, it turns out that their trailers are no good.

People ravaged by Hurricane Katrina that were given temporary homes in FEMA trailers will be finding themselves relocated again, due to high levels of formaldehyde found present in the air. Turns out that the trailers weren't the best plan for long-term housing, and FEMA will be moving the families into mobile homes, which are better suited for a longer displacement. After all, they've got the word "home" in their name.

Of course, for people living in the trailers, this doesn't come as much of a shock. After all, for the last year, families have been getting moved at a fairly rapid rate, even though problems have existed for two years, and FEMA themselves denied any issue when presented with findings showcasing the environmental risk. It wasn't until a lawyer got a judge to force the issue that the government agency actually began testing, with some help from the CDC.

At least now that they've got proof that they can agree with, FEMA is making amends, and trying to get things moving in a positive direction for the affected families. It's not like they did the research, saw the results, and chose to blatantly ignore them.

Gaffes like that are saved for higher levels of government.

No comments: