As I continue to dig through the messages in my inbox, another theme I’m finding is one about how we respond to disasters. The fires in San Diego bring an immediacy to these issues, but the issues are much greater.

One group that is doing important work on looking at how we deal with disasters is the Disaster Accountability Project (DAP). It was founded by Ben Smilowitz, a UConn Law student who volunteered with the Red Cross and a managed a client service center in Gulfport, MS, during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Around a week ago DAP sent out a press release critical of the timing of the TOPOFF4 exercise,

because an updated National Response Plan is not yet in place. Originally, the Exercise was planned to follow the close of the comment period for the newly proposed and highly controversial National Response Framework (NRF). In a large-scale emergency, it would be critical for plans at all levels of government to be aligned with the national coordinating plan. But, state and local officials have not had time to align their plans with the NRF because it has not been finalized.

They also point out

that the Department of Homeland Security made a similar error in April 2005, when it held TOPOFF3 before the deadline by which state, local and other federal agencies were to have revised their own plans to reflect the National Response Plan (NRP) issued in December 2004 with little input from state officials.

While the timing of the exercises might not have been optimal in terms of making the exercises as effective as they should have been, they do illustrate what seems to be a key aspect of dealing with disasters. Disasters often come unexpectedly or at inopportune times.

Today, DAP issued a press release about the comments they are submitting on the NRF. They note that "The description of the FEMA Director and DHS Secretary's responsibilities conflicts with requirements of the Post Katrina Reform Act…Federal exercises frequently ignore recovery or give it lip service if addressed at all… Not all 'lessons learned' are publicly reported or followed up with changes to plans… the TOPOFF III after-action report still has not been issued."

Only seven and a half hours later, they had their next press release out about San Diego.

Noting that ‘Gaps In Disaster Services [are] More Likely To Get Fixed If Made Public’,

The Disaster Accountability Project's toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is ready for CA wildfire-related calls. California residents, firefighters, and relief volunteers can report problems or whistle-blow gaps in disaster relief services in the wildfire response and relief effort. Individuals should use the toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) to report the specific location and nature of the disaster relief/response gaps.

Soon afterwards, I received an email from a good friend of mine who is a therapist in San Diego. She notes that two of her friends have lost their homes and were evacuated this morning. Her family is still safe, but they have been close before. She notes a huge dislocation of people, currently over 250,000 evacuated. She urges people to send money to the Red Cross and to help out in other ways because, she notes “this is not going to be over soon as so much housing and business has been destroyed.” She also notes that the therapy community is mobilized and helping, which I believe is too often overlooked in the aftermath of a disaster.

So, for the people of San Diego, I offer my prayers. If you know people struggling with the disaster in California, make sure they know about DAP’s toll-free hotline. It might not help with the current disaster, but it will help as we all learn to deal better with disasters in the future.
(Technorati tag San Diego Fire)