There's been much said about the mayor & governor dropping the ball before FEMA failed to pick it up.  It's a safe statement that we all live in a place that has local government.  Do we KNOW how prepared they are?  I feel unprotected by the Feds waiting for my state to ask for help.  Many of my neighbors know the local mayor personally from their church.  It's a popular church in the area, and that's largely the cause for his success.  Does that qualify him for disaster preparedness?  Our governor used to run the local school district (and the test scores are horrific).

Most of us ASS-U-ME that our feds cover this, and are only now learning that it's more complex than that.  Shame on us, but now we know.  Every state has some level of disaster plan in place, but it's important that we look at our own location to see if they take it seriously.  Hopefully we learn something from this loss of life, so we don't repeat it next time.