From a presentation we had from a Florida SAR team (can't remember the number), the local emergency management officials in their area had sortof "given up", or were shell shocked, and weren't making decisions. They were asking the teams "What do you think we should do?".

Communication is the biggest. It's the nucleus in the ESF plan around which all other ESF's must function. What would be really cool to see in the future is cell phones that can operate in a peer-to-peer/repeater mode. Unfortunately, there are too many immature and stupid people using cell phones, as evident by how they use them in general, that it would never work.

I think the one point that everyone is missing is that this is not one person, one government, or the FEMA's fault. There are multiple failures at many different levels that compounded the issues. Emergency Management officials have been preaching for years about 72 hour kits. If the citizens had taken their "responsibility" in government seriously, we wouldn't have nearly had as many people to rescue. If New Orleans had only... If Louisian had only... If Mississippi had only... It can go on and on.

Preaching to the choir, but your Federal Government is only here redistribute funds collected to programs that representatives have deemed important. Until people start participating in their government (you know, "Government for the people, and by the people"), these problems won't go away. We need to increase personal responsibility, decrease litigation and cut fat out of the government. If we don't, necessary programs like Emergency Management are going to suffer.