So, those of you who have posted comments/articles/links demonstrating that the Trump administration is doing a good job in PR, here's another example of a significant lack of foresight regarding the logistics required to support a major relief effort there.
The Jones Act is a law that prohibits foreign flagged ships from shuttling cargo between US ports. The implication for PR is that foreign shipping companies that FEMA may have contracted with can't go from say, the port of Charleston to the port of San Juan. Weird, yes, I know. This law was implemented when there were US flagged cargo ships. There aren't any of these anymore to my knowledge.
This morning Trump waived the law for PR based on the governor's request. They're celebrating this major announcement. How the hell could you not have known about this and the implications it would have on the FEMA relief effort weeks ago.
This morning, the news had a segment on how things are going in the PR. Not well: 1000s of containers have been off-loaded from ships that could make a port call in SJ (and some just did it disregarding the Jones Act) are sitting there. Same thing for cargo planes, military and civilian, that off loaded supplies at the SJ airport.
Roads to most areas needing help are still not passable so, supplies can't be delivered by truck. Why is this? Because the scope of the job to open roads is huge and wasn't anticipated. Like General Honore pointed out a few days ago, the logistics required to clean up and restore services after a catastrophic hurricane hitting PR wasn't planned for in advance and should have been. Moreover, once the scope of the job was known, the administration was slow to order DOD into action to support FEMA.
We should continue to be stunned by the sheer incompetence of government in the face of a major disaster and, no, I'm not really surprised at all. Disappointed and saddened for the people of PR. My advice going forward is stock up your disaster preparedness kits because it's likely that after a major disaster, things aren't going to improve for you unless you are personally involved in and responsible for being prepared. There's plenty of info on the web about how to do that.
The Jones Act is a law that prohibits foreign flagged ships from shuttling cargo between US ports. The implication for PR is that foreign shipping companies that FEMA may have contracted with can't go from say, the port of Charleston to the port of San Juan. Weird, yes, I know. This law was implemented when there were US flagged cargo ships. There aren't any of these anymore to my knowledge.
This morning Trump waived the law for PR based on the governor's request. They're celebrating this major announcement. How the hell could you not have known about this and the implications it would have on the FEMA relief effort weeks ago.
This morning, the news had a segment on how things are going in the PR. Not well: 1000s of containers have been off-loaded from ships that could make a port call in SJ (and some just did it disregarding the Jones Act) are sitting there. Same thing for cargo planes, military and civilian, that off loaded supplies at the SJ airport.
Roads to most areas needing help are still not passable so, supplies can't be delivered by truck. Why is this? Because the scope of the job to open roads is huge and wasn't anticipated. Like General Honore pointed out a few days ago, the logistics required to clean up and restore services after a catastrophic hurricane hitting PR wasn't planned for in advance and should have been. Moreover, once the scope of the job was known, the administration was slow to order DOD into action to support FEMA.
We should continue to be stunned by the sheer incompetence of government in the face of a major disaster and, no, I'm not really surprised at all. Disappointed and saddened for the people of PR. My advice going forward is stock up your disaster preparedness kits because it's likely that after a major disaster, things aren't going to improve for you unless you are personally involved in and responsible for being prepared. There's plenty of info on the web about how to do that.
Comment