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Thread: What part did American soldiers play in handling Typhoon Katrina?

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[quote=YINDUFFY,291304]The Unites States is different from most countries in that the individual States elected representatives are responsible for matters in their State. The Federal Government is mostly for interstate matters and international relations. The Governor of a State must ask for assistance from Federal Authorities. If the U.S.Army were to send in troops without permission of the State authorities it would violate States rights.
  Each town, each county and each State has prepared their own emergency plans and has designated teams and procedures. This system failed during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because of the poor behavior of local authorities. To ask of help from higher levels of Government makes the lower levels look incompetent. In this case they were. Disaster plans remained in books on a shelf while flood waters rose.
   When the Governor of the State of Louisiana relented and asked for help from Federal agencies some people blamed the Federal authorities for not acting on their own and just sending in help. If the Governor had asked for help in advance ( they knew it would be a bad storm) some lives and property would have been spared. 
    One major difference between the U.S. and Rural China is that all homes and businesses are insured against damages. No one could get and maintain a loan for money to buy a home (a mortgage) without "Homeowner's insurance". People who rent apartments can buy cheap insurance but very few do. With insurance, if your property is damaged, you can file a claim and get the money value of the damaged property.
Those who rely on free government benefits even in times of calm were very vocal about getting their free housing, food and cash without interruption. These people tend to wait for others to help them while most others will get up and start rebuilding. Some however, will take their insurance money and move to a new community.
    Every person in the New Orleans area knew that they lived in a flood prone area. Some chose not to move back. New Orleans was known as a high crime city with corrupt officials but as long as the politicians kept handing out benefits to the poor people they were reelected. Katrina was the result of years of local mismanagement. The Federal Government was not lazy in helping the victims. 
    It has never before been considered the job of the Federal authorities to override local authorities.
In fact, the Federal agencies consult with the locals and act in conjunction with them. 
    Remember, we have no Federal police force and there is a law against using U.S. troops in civil matters.
    I grieve for the victims of May 12 in China and a tear comes to my eye when reading of the children. My wife is from Xinjiang and my daughter is adopted from Jianjiang. China will rebuild and continue to grow strong. All China has to do is ask for help and the world will be there ready to do what they can. Private and public money is already flowing from the U.S. to China. I hope it is spent wisely.[/quote]

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