With hurricane season starting today, Craig Fugate, the Director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, is the subject of an interesting profile in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
According to the article, Fugate wants to instill a new sense of public personal responsibility among the public when it comes to preparing and responding to disasters. Fugate is taking aim at what he has dubbed ”the culture of the victim, the conviction among residents that the first fallback after a disaster is government aid.” The article continues:
“It has led Fugate to drop the word “victim” and replace it with “survivors” as he urges those left in a disaster’s aftermath to take care of their families and their neighbors while government helps the most needy.
There’s an expectation I think we’ve created that if a disaster strikes a community,” people think, ” ‘I’m supposed to play the role of victim. I’m supposed to wait until somebody comes in to take care of me,’ ” he said. “You’re a survivor. You’re actually part of the solution.”
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Jennings // Jun 3, 2008 at 11:46 am
Interesting post John, there was a similar article posted in WVA recently. During an HLS/Response summit organized by Gov. Rockefeller, Stephen Flynn from the Council on Foreign Relations was paraphrased:
“It is everyday Americans who will most likely, once again, be on the front lines and be the first to respond to another catastrophic attack by terrorists, Flynn told an audience at a summit on Homeland Security.
“The nation should focus more on measures to improve its resilience in the face of such a threat. It should invest in its vital infrastructure, such as better communication systems for first-responders, he said.
“Protecting and making power grids more redundant, improving public health resources and educating citizens are good long-term investments in domestic security in the case of another terrorist attack — or a natural disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, Flynn said.
Hopefully this is a growing trend away from such large-scale emphasis on “guns, gates and guards” in the context of emergency and disaster response. Homeland security is about keeping us safe, but not just with defensive measures.
http://www.timeswv.com/intodayspaper/local_story_154235159.html
2 One Month Roundup - Take One « In Case of Emergency // Jun 25, 2008 at 8:28 pm
[...] in this installment, John Solomon of the other In Case of Emergency blog pointed out an article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune regarding Florida emergency management hero [...]
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