FEMA Protects Employees - Not Disaster Victims

Once again, the agency (FEMA) that is supposed to help victims of disasters shows that it really doesn't care for their welfare. FEMA has about 48,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina living in trailer houses -- over 10,000 in Mississippi and more than 37,000 in Louisiana.

The problem is that these trailer houses have been found to have high levels of the chemical formaldehyde in them. Formaldehyde causes respiratory problems and is believed to be a carcinogen. The problem is so bad that FEMA has ordered its employees not to even enter the thousands of trailer houses that are empty because they pose a health risk.

But while they won't let their employees enter the empty trailers, they don't seem to mind that they have 48,000 victims living in the same kind of trailer houses. A spokesman for FEMA said the empty trailers pose a risk because they have been shut up.

I don't believe that, and neither does Senator Landrieu. She said, "I don't really buy that argument. It makes no sense, in that most of these (occupied) trailers are closed up and locked during the day".

Making matters even worse, FEMA has once again put off testing the occupied trailers, even though they have known about this problem for months. They just don't seem to care that they may be seriously damaging the health of these victims -- the same people they are supposed to be helping and protecting.

FEMA tried to tell us during the California fires that they have reformed and are now doing a better job. Obviously, that is not true. They only seem to do well when the victims are middle and upper class whites. Minorities and the poor must still suffer at the hands of FEMA.

FEMA Still Harming Katrina Survivors

I can remember when FEMA was one of the most respected agencies of the federal government. We all knew that wherever disaster struck in our country, FEMA would be there to take care of the situation and lend a helping hand to those in need. But that was before Bush was elected and placed his sycophants in the agency's leadership positions.

Their total and utter incompetence was exposed when Katrina struck New Orleans. Even though there were repeated warnings of the impending disaster, FEMA was caught totally unprepared. They finally arrived far too late with far too little and generally screwed up what little help they were able to offer. Even Republicans were embarrassed by the agency's shortcomings.

There was some hope that after the humiliating Katrina debacle, the agency would make necessary changes to restore its competence and its good name. But those hopes were in vain.

FEMA finally did provide 120,000 trailer houses to the Katrina survivors, but even this turns out to be a blunder. Many of these trailers were inundated with formaldehyde fumes. When people complained of the fumes, FEMA's answer was to tell them to open all the doors and windows. Anyone who's experienced a southern summer knows this is not a real option -- air conditioning is a necessity in these stuffy trailers.

Breathing formaldehyde fumes can cause respiratory problems and even cancer in high doses. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health requires workers to use respirators if they work in conditions where there are 0.016 parts per million of formaldehyde.

FEMA tested one trailer after hearing many complaints. They found 1.2 parts per million! Did they warn these thousands of survivors that they were in danger and immediately test all the trailers, removing those who were being dangerously exposed?

That's what they should have done, but it's not what they did. No, they stopped the testing on advice of their lawyers (it might provide legal liability problems) and tried to hide the testing results. Now it looks like some people have died and many others were injured as a result of living in this toxic environment.

As far as I'm concerned, this goes beyond legal liability. The agency that's supposed to help and protect victims of disasters actually put them in mortal danger and then tried to hide and cover-up that fact. This was a criminal act and should be prosecuted as such.

Good job, Brownie!