FEMA When Disaster Strikes, We'll be Ready to Wish you the Best of Luck 

I feel a little guilty about this sticker, mainly because it took me so long to get it together. I created this sticker in response to the dismal performance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But if FEMA was slow to respond to Katrina, I was even slower to get this sticker into production. It took me nearly a month to design this sticker after the hurricane hit. Fortunately, I am not in the business of emergency management. 

Much has been written about FEMA's disastrous response to Katrina, or lack thereof. I am not going to attempt to recount all the missteps of that agency on that disaster here. I actually feel that while FEMA certainly fumbled badly on Katrina, it may be unrealistic to think that any bureaucratic agency will ever be fully prepared for a storm as devastating as Katrina. And the failures of FEMA should be seen in the context of numerous other failings by other agencies and individuals.

Most stunning to me is how predictable the devastation was. Hurricanes are hardly rare in the Gulf of Mexico. And lots of experts had been warning for years that New Orleans was at grave risk. But it seems nobody took these warnings seriously.

I think we are facing a similar kind of blindness and apathy when it comes to other looming disasters, including global warming, habitat destruction, overpopulation, species extinction, and the depletion of fossil fuels.    

Of course, I am in the business of bumper stickers. Don't expect a detailed  accounting of what went wrong with the response to Katrina from me. Expect that from a congressional investigation, but be forewarned that you may be disappointed even with that. 

While we wait for the results of the investigations, I will say that I am pleased with how this sticker turned out. The original design was much simpler with no lightning or clouds. When I noticed that I had not been consistent in my use of capitalization, I went back to fix that little problem. While I was at it I had the rather brilliant idea of adding a dark sky. Then I thought, better yet, how about lightning? A few hours later, everything was perfect. 

Now if only fixing New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was that simple. 

Dan R. Frazier

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