Emergency Preparedness America Is Not

Emergency PREPAREDNESS

America is not impervious to emergencies as we witnessed, in not too distant past, when Katrina and Rita completely wiped out major parts of the South. Similarly when a young student in a highly depressive state decides to wreck havoc on a campus, can we say it was not an emergency situation? In the same vein, when fire breaks out and eradicates majority of our trees, much to our chagrin, can the government deny responsibility? These are important questions and one that helps us better grasp the complexities of over spending on Defense and war. Americans may have been too often manipulated to believe that war was in their own advantage but any even slightly rational person would be able to see beyond the media's projection of war. How can war in Iraq be good for an average America who might be hit by a tornado, hailstorm, or an avalanche? Would the troops stationed in Iraq really care about winning in a foreign land when they have their own families suffering thousands of miles away? It actually insults the intelligence of everyone who has been religiously and facetiously fooled by the media and the politicians into believing otherwise.

The fact that America is spending heavily on Defense also points to another obvious fact: the extra expenditure is being funded at the expense of another important sector. In this case that sector happens to be emergencies at home. America is ill prepared to effectively and expeditiously handle natural disasters and other emergencies on its soil and the way Katrina and Rita victims were handled is enough to support this claim. Another major reason why we must cut down our spending on wars is because clearly those wars in foreign lands have not been able to buy us security. An average American today feels as vulnerable to attacks as he did 7 years ago and similarly an average Iraqi and Afghani is still worrying about the same problems as they did before the war. They like the Americans wanted security but none has been able to get what they bargained for. This is evident from number of surveys and polls as one sources explains: "The public's view that the federal government is spending too much on the military has increased substantially this year, to its highest level in more than 15 years. Gallup's annual World Affairs poll finds more than 4 in 10 Americans now saying the government is spending too much for national defense and the military. Despite this, in recent years, Americans have also become increasingly likely to say the nation's military is not strong enough, with slightly less than half currently expressing this sentiment. Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to say the country's military is currently not strong enough; Democrats are much more inclined to feel the government spends too much on the military." (Carroll, 2007)

When young men and women died on Virginia Tech's campus in April this year, many people wondered where the government was and was it not federal responsibility to provided adequate security to vulnerable students. It is not an isolated incident. There has been a series of such attacks in recent times and each one was worse than the one preceding it. While the government may deny any responsibility in such matters, the fact remains that, if our administration would pay closer attention to important issues in the homeland, such ugly incidents can be averted to a large extent. For example, if we had taken this seriously when it happened the first time, we could have saved many more young lives. The way government went on a spending spree tightening every nut and bolt after September 11, was not witnessed after horrible massacres at home and this is what resulted in more of them, taking with them many more valuable lives. The handling of Katrina and Rita says a great deal about emergency management in the U.S. especially by the present U.S. administration as one source adds: