Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

FEMA has largely screwed up the response to Super Storm Sandy, just as they did with Katrina.  But that shouldn't come as a surprise.  Central planning by a distant federal government agency rarely works as well as local planning.  Think about it.  Who knows your neighborhood better; you, or some DC bureaucrat?

Granted, NYC screwed things up pretty badly as well, and Mayor Bloomberg deserves far more of the blame than FEMA, but just as Katrina did in 2004, Sandy demonstrates that local people organizing themselves voluntarily can accomplish far more than top-down, impersonal government bureaucracies.

"There's no leadership here, nobody knows what's going on," said Christopher Janusis, a Staten Island resident, whose house and neighborhood were badly hit by Sandy.

For Janusis and thousands of other Staten Islanders whose lives were so suddenly changed by Sandy, there are many reasons to complain. But rather than do that, and rather than wait for government help, the residents took matters into their own hands: They organized a volunteer-driven relief effort that could be an example for FEMA and other aid agencies might do well to study.

As ordinary people often do, they innovated in the face of crisis.

Cangiano and her fellow volunteers showed they could rip through the red tape that often stifles aid organizations, and focus on the calls for help.

"We were monitoring Facebook and other social media," she said. "As calls and messages came in for help, we responded by sending cars full of food and supplies to the areas that needed it most."

I doing so, they demonstrated what neighbors voluntarily helping each other can accomplish.

Cosentino  tells Fox News that the main thing to be learned is "that the people themselves on Staten Island saved most of the lives here and are doing most of the work, along with volunteers from other areas." He says "you have incredibly valuable resources here that need be pooled to get the job done."

...small businesses, neighbors and local leaders teamed up to ensure people had clothes, food, water, blankets and hot meals, as well as other survival basics.

Democrats accuse those who believe in small, limited government of saying to everyone, "you're on your own".  The obvious implication is that only government can organize people (by force) to accomplish anything good and decent, which is an obvious load of crap.  Left to their own devices, decent, free people naturally band together to help each other.  That is the direct opposite of selfishness, and fosters community and friendship among neighbors.

Yes, the federal government can play a role in disaster relief, but that should be the last resort, when it's clear that volunteers, local government, state government, and neighboring states are overwhelmed by the size of the disaster.

Always remember that, regardless of the competence of government's response, you are your own first line of defense, then your immediate family, then you neighbors.  See my post on disaster prep for great ideas from Popular Mechanics on how to make those lines of defence as effective as possible.