Letter to FEMA

Annie Vassallo
4200 54th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33711

November 30, 2007

Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 C Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20472


To Whom It May Concern,

I am a nineteen year old female student at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was doing some research on Hurricane Katrina and its response efforts and read many criticisms about your organization. I am writing in regards to hopefully getting a straightforward answer as to why it took FEMA so long to respond to Katrina.

I have read through many books and websites regarding FEMA and found that you indeed knew about the weak levees since hurricanes George and Ivan, and chose to postpone to meetings concerning their repair. I also found that it took the people of New Orleans six days before they got any food or water from you, while the people in Indonesia after the tsunami received food and water after only two days. In addition, thousands of firefighters were recruited from Utah by your organization but were not trained as emergency workers, instead were told to stand by President Bush while he walked through the wreckage.

Above all things, I wish I knew why. Why did it take you so long to get to Louisiana? Why didn’t you spend the money to hold the meetings to repair the levees? And why were thousands of professionals trained to stand by President Bush’s side? As a student and an American, I just want to know what was going through all of your heads when this was all happening. What really made you make these decisions?

I know that it is over and done with now, and you cannot go back and change the past. However, if you have no already done so, I urge you to spend that money to hold conferences to repair all you can. It is crucial that you think of the wellbeing of Americans instead of how President Bush looks at the scene of the disaster.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Annie Vassallo