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FEMA says it learned its lessons

FEMA says it learned its lessons

WASHINGTON -- Three years after disgracing itself with its response to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged yesterday as it mobilized against the force of Gustav that it had learned some lessons.

Nearly 2 million Gulf Coast residents were evacuated to shelters by planes, trains and buses hours before the storm hit Louisiana. Helicopters sat on the fringes to start search-and-rescue efforts as soon as the skies cleared. Crates of food, water and blankets were at the ready -- all in contrast to the too-little-too-late response to Katrina that left thousands of people and pets stranded, about 1,600 people dead and 90,000 square miles of coastal area devastated.

"All those who needed to be evacuated were evacuated ... in one way, shape or form," FEMA Deputy Director Harvey E. Johnson announced at a Washington news conference, where comparisons to the 2005 drowning of New Orleans seemed aimed at repairing FEMA's damaged reputation. "I think we've seen a very well-prepared nation for Hurricane Gustav."

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But as the Category 2 storm continued to pound Louisiana, testing levees and threatening to cause severe flooding -- with Hurricane Hanna ramping up in the wings -- officials were hesitant to declare success. Damage assessments were to begin this morning.

"We would not be pounding our chest at this point," said Maj. Gen. John T. Riley of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one of many agencies working under FEMA to coordinate government response at every level.

Three patients died over the weekend in an effort to move 9,000 sick and infirm people out of the Gulf Coast area by air and ambulance, the majority from nursing homes. "If you recall, in Katrina, we had scores of deaths in hospital patients. While we accept no deaths, we feel this is something within our margin of error," said W. Craig Vanderwagen, the Department of Health and Human Services' assistant secretary for preparedness and response. He said an investigation of the three deaths would be conducted.

While the top priorities were bringing residents to shelter and sustaining them there, government officials also seemed intent on erasing impressions of bureaucratic callousness. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff headed to the region, mingling at bus and train terminals with rescue workers and residents. He and first lady Laura Bush took to yesterday's network morning shows to tout the progress made.

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President Bush, who faced scathing criticism after Katrina, canceled his Republican National Convention speech and flew to Texas to monitor the storm's advance. He offered restrained praise, saying coordination this time was "a lot better" than before.

Government investigations determined that FEMA suffered from poor planning and lack of urgency during Katrina. Citing planning and early action as the greatest lessons learned, Mr. Chertoff said this time evacuations began as much as 36 hours earlier than before.

FEMA Director R. David Paulison, who accompanied Mr. Bush to Texas on Air Force One, said in an onboard news briefing that there had been "unprecedented cooperation" among federal agencies and the private sector. "What it allows us to do is share information of what's going on, so we don't end up with what happened in Katrina, with different agencies doing things and others not knowing what's happening," he said.

First Published: September 2, 2008, 12:30 p.m.

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