In a hearing, US Senate Commerce Committee members report that Hurricane Katrina's thrashing of communications networks has amplified the need for Congress to take action on VoIP.
Memorandum to federal agencies declaring Hurricane Katrina an Incident of National Significance and designating Michael Brown as the Principal Federal Official during response and recovery operations.
"The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show."
"This report provides an overview of NEPA requirements relevant to the hurricanes response and recovery efforts, its application to emergency and non-emergency actions related to the disaster, NEPA's role in two past flood and
hurricane control projects that have been discussed in the press, and legislative proposals that relate to the NEPA process. It will be updated as developments warrant."—Summary.
"Mutual aid is a key component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides the framework for emergency response. The federal government now directly supports the establishment of local mutual aid agreements with federal resources and has embarked on a National Mutual Aid and Resource Management Initiative."—Executive Summary.
"The purpose of this compendium is to summarize the ongoing and planned activities of the Inspectors General community in their oversight of response and recovery efforts related to Hurricane Katrina. The compendium includes the activities of those OIGs whose Departments were part of the initial response phase or have received significant mission assignments from FEMA."—Introduction and Background.
"The federal I[nspector] G[eneral] community was a natural fit for oversight and stewardship of the largest disaster recovery funding effort in U.S. history. With the many cross-cutting bureaucracies involved, the federal IGs offered the capacity needed for consistent reporting and the preventive interaction to execute the billions in recovery dollars."&mdashExecutive Summary. This report describes IG oversight activities, including agency audits, investigations, and inspections, during the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
"Hurricane Katrina was more devastating than Betsy. The death toll is sure to be many times as high and the physical damage far more extensive and enduring. And yet to see the city of New Orleans a week after the flood, to see the ruin, was to be shocked much as [President] Johnson was forty years ago."
"This Flood Management White Paper presents an overview of the current condition of flood management in the Central Valley and outlines a plan to reduce flood risks through an integrated approach for better planning, new investments, improved management of our infrastructure and closer collaboration between water agencies and users."—Executive Summary.
"The Office of Inspector General conducted a review to identify the actions taken by the Department of Energy (Department) in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, specifically to assess whether these actions fulfilled the Department's obligations as outlined in the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan under its current organization. In our judgment, under very difficult circumstances, the Department deserves high marks for its timely and responsive actions. While the actions were commendable, we identified certain additional approaches which we believe could improve the Department's response to future Emergency Support Function-12 (ESF-12) missions. These are discussed in the body of the report."&mdashMemorandum for the Secretary.
"GAO prepared this testimony to highlight past work on government programs related to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, and to provide information on plans and coordination among the accountability community—GAO, the Inspectors General, and other auditors and the state and local level."—Why GAO Did This Study.
+United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), NRC Incident Response Plan (NUREG-0728, Rev. 4) (April 2005) (PDF — 630K)
"The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates the Nation's civilian uses of nuclear fuels and materials to protect the health and safety of the public, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment. The NRC Incident Response Plan, NUREG-0728, was developed to reflect Commission policy on the agency's response to radiological and other incidents and emergencies especially incidents involving NRC licensees and certificate holders. The Plan assigns responsibilities for responding to any potentially threatening incident involving NRC-regulated activities and for assuring that the NRC fulfills its
statutory mission. This revision, Revision 4, to the Plan reflects the current NRC policy and
organization structure and aligns the Plan with the National Response Plan and the National Incident Management System."—Abstract.
"Hurricane Katrina not only devastated a large area of the Gulf Coast, it also raised fundamental questions about how the nation can-and should-deal with the fundamental problems of risk and responsibility.
"Nearly 300 leaders from government, business, and nonprofit organizations and journalists from throughout the nation attended the National Symposium in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 1, 2005, sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, Congressional Quarterly, and The Communications Institute.
"Symposium Goals - The Symposium objectively examined the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on nearly every sector of society and involving leading experts from many of the nation's leading academic and research institutions as well as leaders from government and business and senior journalists.
"The National Symposium reviewed critical questions that must be addressed in coping with future risks and disasters: How can we best assess and prepare for the events we are most likely to face?;How can we develop the best strategies for reducing their costs and improving our response?;Who should do what-what partnerships can we build among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and what glue can we provide to make those partnerships stick?; How should we, as a society, weigh the question of who bears the costs?; How do we deal with the important issues of equity and fairness, and how can we create mechanisms to resolve these issues as efficiently as possible?"— Conference Website.
Ask Us
offline