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FEMA UNDER FIRE |
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by CNN.com CNN's Soledad O'Brien Presses FEMA Chief Mike Brown About His Agency's Response to the Catastrophe in New Orleans September 2, 2005 (Transcribed from the video at CNN.com by Tara Carreon, american-buddha.com)
MIKE BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR Mike Brown, FEMA Director: When we found out about the Convention Center yesterday, we started diverting supplies to get them fed too. And now we're finding, literally, as we do evacuations, that more and more people are beginning to manifest and show themselves in areas that we didn't know that they were there. And so we're going to do everything we can to get to them. Q. You were unaware of the situation at the Convention Center 'til yesterday? When yesterday did you become aware?
A. I think it was yesterday morning when we first found out about it. We were just as surprised as everybody else. We didn't know that the city had used that as a staging area. That shows how difficult communications are, and that's why we moved the U.S.S. Bataan in so that we could give the mayor a place to actually be able to communicate on a regular basis to give us good intel about what he needs.
Q. How is it possible that we're getting better intel than you're getting? We had a crew in the air, we were showing live pictures of the people outside of the Convention Center. We had a national guardsman who was talking to us who was telling us he estimated the crowd at 50,000 people. That was at 8:00 in the morning yesterday. And also, we've been reporting that officials have been telling people to go to the Convention Center if they want any hope of relief. I don't understand how FEMA cannot have this information. A. Well, we're busy doing life-saving and life- rescue efforts. We rely upon the State to give us that information. And Soledad, I learned about it listening to the news reports.
Q. FEMA's been on the ground for four days, going into the fifth day, why no massive airdrop of food and water? In Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, they got food dropped two days after the tsunami struck. A. And that's what we're going to do here, too. And I think, if you put it in perspective ... Q. But sir! Forgive me ... A. Soledad, just a moment, please. We're feeding those people at the Convention Center. We have fed over 150,000 people as of last night. That is happening. Q. But I guess the point is, as of last night, sir! A. Soledad, Soledad. What we're hearing is that we're hearing people's frustration. There are people that are beginning to manifest themselves out of the community that we did not know that were there. And we're doing everything we can to find those individuals, case by case, to get them help as quickly as possible. |
