Remember what I said about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lacking the specialized knowledge required to deal with natural disasters? The agency decided to demonstrate my point:
When President Barack Obama urged Americans under siege from Hurricane Sandy to stay inside and keep watch on ready.gov for the latest, he left out something pretty important — where to turn if the electricity goes out.
Despite the heightened expectation of widespread power and cable television failures, everyone from the president to local newscasters seem to expect the public to rely entirely on the Internet and their TVs for vital news and instructions.
[…]
A call to FEMA’s news desk, however, found even they didn’t have any non-Internet information readily available beyond suggestions that people call 911 in an emergency. When asked where folks should turn for information if they have no power, a FEMA worker said, “Well, those people who have a laptop with a little battery life on it can try that way. Otherwise, you’re right.”
This agency, which so many statists claim is necessary, doesn’t have enough knowledge to know that power is often knocked out during natural disasters. Needless to say the Internet isn’t a terribly useful tool if you don’t have power. Yet people will continue to claim that FEMA is not only necessary but a demonstration of how competent the federal government is at handling problems no state government or group of individuals can.