Sunday, December 17, 2006
Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies is the place to track Hawaii's disaster preparedness
With apologies to Doug Carlson for my tardiness, here is a pointer to his blog Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies. I have also added it to the blogroll on the lower left side of Disappeared News so that you can see the last few articles he has posted.
Doug has undertaken the CHORE of tracking our government's response to its citizen's call that it plan for disasters in an open and efficient way. Remember, this is the state government that didn't inspect the dams, so the dams overflowed. This is the government that couldn't get us info when an earthquake hit. This is the government that has now set up an elite committee (excluding ordinary folk) that meets in secret to resolve communications issues.
Yup, more secret government meetings. These secret meetings may be legal, but that doesn't mean it's right. As you know, I've been advocating for a completely open process of disaster planning. The people deserve to know how (whether?) our government is taking the necessary steps to keep us safe. If everything is done in secret, we need to ask Why. In this Internet age, our state civil defense people could put together a website easily. They should also meet in public view.
Doug notes in his recent posts that the secret meeting was to produce a report, but that the due date is being fudged. Sixty days grows to 90 days grows to ???
I hope the secret committee members aren't being paid by the hour. (That's a joke.) (The delays and secrecy are not. Being unprepared for disasters is not funny.)
Doug's blog was featured in this week's Honolulu Weekly and mentioned by Ian Lind today. So it's about time I also catch up and send you Doug's way.
Doug has undertaken the CHORE of tracking our government's response to its citizen's call that it plan for disasters in an open and efficient way. Remember, this is the state government that didn't inspect the dams, so the dams overflowed. This is the government that couldn't get us info when an earthquake hit. This is the government that has now set up an elite committee (excluding ordinary folk) that meets in secret to resolve communications issues.
Yup, more secret government meetings. These secret meetings may be legal, but that doesn't mean it's right. As you know, I've been advocating for a completely open process of disaster planning. The people deserve to know how (whether?) our government is taking the necessary steps to keep us safe. If everything is done in secret, we need to ask Why. In this Internet age, our state civil defense people could put together a website easily. They should also meet in public view.
Doug notes in his recent posts that the secret meeting was to produce a report, but that the due date is being fudged. Sixty days grows to 90 days grows to ???
I hope the secret committee members aren't being paid by the hour. (That's a joke.) (The delays and secrecy are not. Being unprepared for disasters is not funny.)
Doug's blog was featured in this week's Honolulu Weekly and mentioned by Ian Lind today. So it's about time I also catch up and send you Doug's way.
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