Disaster Planning -- Micro and Macro

Before Katrina, I didn't really take disaster and evacuation planning too seriously. Perhaps in part this has been fatalistic thinking, but I realize now how important this is.

In the current issue of themail at the local good government website DCWatch there are a number of posts about the implications of Katrina on DC, including links to the City of New Orleans New Orleans emergency preparedness plan for hurricanes and DC’s emergency management plans for neighborhoods, which are based on the 39 neighborhood planning clusters. I decided that I will read a few of these documents, and make plans accordingly.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times. Emily Harris, on Desire Street, has food and water for a year, gasoline, a canoe and a dog for protection.

8th and Penn, acrylic on canvas, by Mike Clark, from the attic which is desire.

Did you know that DC street signs that contain the DC flag image denote evacuation routes?

Today's Examiner has a column by Harry Jaffe about DC evacuation planning, "Commentary - Looking for a lack of emergency planning? Welcome to D.C.", which features the leading DC official responsible for evacuation planning, the erstwhile Dan Tangherlini, director of the DC Department of Transportation. But the column makes the point that many DC officials are involved in disaster planning, and that the region has no one disaster planning tsar.

In thinking about the article, and how Dan asserts that downtown can be quickly evacuated I think about how the region becomes paralyzed during snow storms. People are let from their offices early, only to spend hours in traffic jams on the city streets. I always take great joy in this as I ride on my bicycle past all the SUVs stuck in the traffic, but it doesn't suggest overconfidence in speedy evacuation.