Level Four

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Personal Point of View

This article contains my personal thoughts / feelings

I have been watching news coverage of these (and other) disasters for years. Maybe it is time for someone to act on the following.

Several years ago, I was Operations Officer for San Jose Search and Rescue. I am not interested in relief bashing or reporting. I am interested in relief and I have been espousing the following disaster plan for years.

Why not prepare for emergencies instead of being reacting to them

Helicopters and aircraft are really great for immediate emergency assistance, but their maintenance requirements make them ineffectual after about a week. Fueling, ground crews, and support facilities eat up massive amounts of resources. There needs to be something to augment them after the “first seventy-two hours” scenario.

How about this as a scenario? Use a four-level approach depending upon the level of destruction and help required. The amount of aid delivered could be commensurate to the level of the disaster.

Level One

News helicopter

Bring on the helicopters, airplanes, the news reporters, as we do now. When the news people go in, take emergency supplies with you. Let people know there is an emergency, and establish a groundswell of, “We need help, here and now!” Let people know where the disaster relief shelters are located.

Have local depots of emergency supplies scattered around the US, immediately available to be airlifted or trucked to a disaster area.

Level Two:

Navy LCAC

Someone (FEMA, Red Cross, private sector) should purchase several thousand rail cars, buses, and cargo containers. They should be preloaded with everything from emergency water to toilet paper, from pillows and blankets to teddy bears, from tents to porta-potties. Some units could have ATVs while others would have air cushion vehicles. Once delivered, the supplies are unloaded; the containers used as emergency shelters. (Could empty containers be used to repair broken levees?) Some of these containers could be outfitted as field kitchens, communications stations, mobile hospital units, pharmacies, veterinarians, and kennels and, medium-sized mobile emergency power generators.

Each container could be tailored to a specific type of disaster relief needed; filled with equipment that might be needed, depending upon the disaster and/or terrain. Only those containers that fit the problem would be delivered.

We could have these containers pre-positioned at different points around the US: military bases; port facilities; private trucking and/or rail facilities. They could be delivered by truck or rail, and onsite within a few days, to set up a camp city anywhere in North America.

How about a couple of Navy LCACs (air-cushion vehicles) that could move men and supplies, over flooded or nonexistent streets to points many miles inland, to provide much-needed assistance.

Individuals or corporations could sponsor individual units, allowing them “advertising spots” for the world to see if they wanted.

Level Three

Train yard

A large number of people trained to respond to major emergencies would arrive in the second to third week. They could “take the train”, and arrive on-site, fresh and ready to augment the onsite first responders. The train could be preloaded with all the equipment these will people need, thereby not using the already depleted local resources.

Train boxcars are huge: 60x10x10 in size. They could be pre-filled with the next round of commodities to be required. When they are empty, use them as shelters. Some of the empty trains could be used to relocate the survivors to other parts of the US. Have some rail cars (pre-positioned as above) loaded with larger field kitchens, hospital units, aircraft and automotive repair shops, Laundromats, banks, schools, and barracks. Flatcars could have trucks, bulldozers, cranes, and equipment for extensive rescue missions. Trains could deliver the fuel and those things that are needed for long-haul repair and relief. When the train arrives on station, their diesel-electric locomotives could supply emergency power to stricken hospitals, emergency shelters, and police stations.

LST

A train would take longer (a week or two) to get onsite, but they could be on station for much longer periods of time

If needed, there could be a second or third wave of trains, stopping along the way to the disaster, picking up donated fresh supplies and materials for the large job at hand. One of the biggest problems is not delivering the supplies to the disaster area. It is getting the right supplies to the person who actually needs (and can use) the supplies and donations.

Level Four

Ready Reserve
Hospital ship

How about outfitting a couple of WWII-type LST’s, LSD’s, freighter, tankers, troop transports, hospital ships for those disasters like hurricanes Andrew (August 1992), Camille (August 1969), Katrina (August 2005), and future major disasters. Freighters could have millions of board-feet of lumber and building supplies on board. Ships are a natural solution for carrying huge power plants, water desalinization plants, water purification plants, etc. Maintenance should be nominally inexpensive. Ships and/or barges could, if required, be towed to disaster sites within four to six weeks and be on station for months.

I remember seeing the WWII invasions of Anzio, Normandy, and islands of the Pacific. How about an invasion of trained US personnel similar to the conservation corps or WPA? I can envision old LST's running itself aground on a beach near New Orleans, opening its huge garage doors, and CB’s (Civilian Builders) offloading tractors, bulldozers, graders, and all the heavy tools needed to rebuild a city.

The ships and trains could be loaded with materials and supplies bought at refurbished or pre-disaster prices.

As these ships are unloaded, they can provide temporary housing for first responders, workers, and security personnel, as well as displaced people and evacuees.

Americans are very resilient. They can arise to the most monumental of calamities and disasters. Maybe it is time to wage war on disasters. Maybe it is time to be proactive instead of reactive.

The Chinese ideograph for disaster is made of two glyphs: "danger" and "opportunity". When a disaster occurs, people will take advantage of the situation by raising prices. I think we have the opportunity to prepare before the disaster occurs.

Robin Roberts
{ Robinr57@yahoo.com }
San Jose, Califonia 95125
(650) 465-0700

See also Drought relief

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