An abysmal government response to Hurricane Harvey exposed inadequate planning, lack of resources and confusing attempts at invoking incident command that iced potential responders such as commercial drone operators. Rescue efforts defaulted to heroic, overwhelmed local crews bolstered by the truly remarkable "Cajun Navy". In substantial form, social media played a key role for those attempting to contact responders. This show describes the nuances of the Hurricane Harvey landfall and offers precise protocols to improve future responses to natural disasters. DECISION TO NOT EVACUATE HOUSTON. The decision to not evacuate Houston was correct and will be the standard decision moving forward for sentinel events. Infrastructure would not support a timely evacuation. Had Houston ordered an evacuation, hundreds, if not thousands, of people would have perished in their vehicles. This has become the standard (unwritten) protocol for all major cities across the world. FOUR REASONS PEOPLE WON’T LEAVE THEIR HOMES. People have become desensitized to disasters. They have re-calibrated to a higher threshold “normal” torus. These are reasons why people ignore evacuation warnings (1) People are more likely to under-estimate importance of warning of event assuming that it won’t be as severe as predicted and will pattern to previous storms that weren’t “that bad”. (2) The duration of the event will be short. (3) No experience with interruption of resource supplies - can’t conceive this - no fuel, water, food, so on. (4) Assume government will intervene if situation does place one in imminent risk of harm. THE FEMA FUMBLE – MOBILIZING TOO FEW TOO LATE. A little leadership will go a long way. On August 30th, 24,000 National Guard troops were activated. This was 5 days too late. The initial rescue efforts were disjointed between agencies and residents were inundated with multiple phone numbers or websites to visit. HERE COMES THE CAJUN NAVY! The “Cajun Navy” formed 12 years ago following the 2005 Katrina hurricane in which a grassroots citizen group loosely assembled with boats, pickups and supplies to conduct house-to-house rescues. It operates with a “quiet” endorsement from politicians and open endorsement from the public. The CN responded, at no cost, to the greater Houston area with boats, trucks, water, food and personnel of various skillsets from farmer to meteorologist. Per its motto, “We don’t wait for help – we are the help”. They also took advantage of the latest technology - an app called Zello Walkie Talkie along with Facebook. DO NOT REGULATE THE CAJUN NAVY. Various bills have aimed to place restrictions on the self-dispatched CN in the form of mandated training and licensing. This is bad politics. The CN embodies spontaneous organization of people with tacit knowledge, patriotism, and compassion rallying to form a system that exists long enough to carry out rudimentary rescue efforts. The CAJUN NAVY exists to fill the void created by foot-dragging FEMA. Listen to the show for David’s recommendations on how FEMA can re-shape its role in sentinel event response to one of efficiently coordinating resources through a single 21st century technological incident command system. Dr. Perrodin’s contacts in Texas helped inform content for this show. FOLLOW. DR. PERRODIN: On Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to “The Safety Doc” YouTube channel & SoundCloud RSS feed. DR. PERRODIN'S SAFETY BLOG: crisisprepconsulting.wordpress.com SAFETY DOC WEBSITE: www.safetyphd.com David will respond to discussion thread comments & emails. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests and do not reflect positions of The 405 Media or supporters of “The Safety Doc Podcast”. The show is curse free & adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. Email David: thesafetydoc@gmail.com
Bipartisan Safer Communities Bill | Biggest Impacts on School Safety | SDP182
Negative Expectation Bias | When All News is Bad News | The Velocity of Information | SDP 181
Smoky Mountains Wildfire | The Collapse of Physical Time | The Velocity of Information | SDP180
Juan Browne | Oroville Dam and Citizen-As-Journalist | The Velocity of Information | SDP179
Propaganda Clone | How Zelenskyy Modernized FDR’s Fireside Chat | Velocity of Information | SDP178
Measuring the Wet Bulb Effect on Attention and Information | The Velocity of Information | SDP177
Deep Fakes and False Takes | The Velocity of Information | David P. Perrodin | SDP176
Breaking Parkinson’s Law in Chicago | The Velocity of Information | David P. Perrodin | SDP175
Crisis vs. Chaos | Bifurcation and Strange Attractors | The Velocity of Information | SDP174
Comorbid Chaos | 90 Days of Uncertain Times | Velocity of Information | David P. Perrodin | SDP173
Conjunction Fallacy | The Velocity of Information: Human Thinking During Chaotic Times | SDP172
Unpacking Normal Box Theory | Perception of Normality is Everything | Guest Lee Jarvis | SDP171
Josh the Locksmith | Security 101 and Avoiding Scams | Worst Locksmith Experiences | SDP170
The Braess Paradox | Psychological Impact of I35W Bridge Collapse on Driving Behavior | SDP169
Truckers Getting Trounced | Essentially Forgotten Freight Haulers | Guest Jonathan Burger | SDP168
Community Civic Organizations Vanishing | Jaycees, Lions, Kiwanis, & Rotary Fading Fast | SDP167
Do Sports Keep Kids Out Of Trouble? | How About E-Sports? | What the Research Says | SDP166
3D Printing | The Future Has Arrived | 3D Printers For Every Home | Guest flyingRich | SDP165
Loki the Chaos God | Blaming the Norse Mythology Trickster Straw Man for Life’s Woes | SDP164
New CDC K-12 Changes | Test to Stay for Schools | What You Should Know About Consent | SDP163
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