Where are the plans?

There will most certainly be an investigation into the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, particularly the failures at multiple levels to prepare for and manage the disaster created by the levee break in New Orleans. However, two things are more important than this investigation. One is helping the victims. The second is preparing for the next disaster. And we should note that the next disaster will be as different from Katrina as Katrina is to 9/11.

Any investigation by the executive branch, Congress or an independent commission should ask "where are the plans?"

Where are the plans for the earthquake that hits San Francisco, another hurricane on the Gulf coast, the tsunami that hits Hawaii, the pandemic that causes panic in several major cities? Where are the plans for a dirty bomb in DC, a biological attack in Seattle, multiple truck bombs in Chicago?

It's not enough to tell the commission there are plans, or to say we are on the offensive against terrorism. Our plans to handle disaster in New Orleans failed. We should not assume our plans for other disasters are better. We should know where we have plans and where our plans our lacking. We should know the results of previous exercises. Officials at all levels should review them with the understanding that conditions will be hard and no plan survives the first day of disaster. They should still know who to contact and what resources are available.

On a more personal level as a citizen, when that bomb hits DC I want to know how to act and where to turn for information. I know DC has evacuation plans, but I have no idea how they affect me right outside the DC border, whether the evacuation would include the poor who do not normally have transportation, and how they would reach the multiple communities who do not speak English. Do we know what shelters we would use in the DC metro area and which ones would begin to resemble the conditions at the Superdome? Is there anything we can do to prepare to make conditions and communication better at those shelters?

Some people will argue that we need to keep our plans secret to prevent terrorists from accessing them. I'll simply say that secret disaster plans are useless once disaster strikes, communications systems break down and citizens need information so that they can help. Secret plans make it less likely that someone with common sense will look at them, see that tens of thousands will fail to evacuate because they are too poor, and then come up with a better solution.

Katrina, like 9/11, was a failure of imagination. Some people predicted horrific disaster, but not enough people could or would wrap their head around the problem in time to prevent and prepare. The country watched as security and living conditions worsened in the Superdome and Convention Center in NOLA, but nobody in the government seemed capable of breaking through the bureaucracy and dropping in food and water.

No more excuses. These are issues we should have planned for. And if we didn't plan for these, it's time to know what else we are not prepared to handle. I don't care whether anyone takes the blame for Katrina, I want to know where are the plans so that nobody needs to take the blame after the next disaster.

On a final note, Jeff Jarvis is rounding up posts of how the blogosphere is learning from the Katrina disaster and preparing for the next one, including discussing issues of how to help share information, coordinate relief efforts and reconnect the missing.