After Ohio is ravaged by tornadoes:Kasich turns down federal disaster aidKentucky and Indiana have requested federal help.
From the comments:
Red Cross will put you up in a hotel for a couple days but it's going to take several months to get your house rebuilt and Red Cross is only there in the immediate aftermath emergency situation. So, that is where Fema comes in, if you have insurance, Fema will pay some of what the insurance would have paid up front and then when your insurance settlement comes in you can pay it back if insurance actually covers it. That way you can get workers going immediately instead of waiting for a claim to process. A lot of insurance companies won't even give you the go ahead to start work until a full investigation is done. Unless you have it written into your policy, they wont cover long term displacement either.
You know those FEMA trailers in the news? That is for you to live in while they are fixing your house, at no cost. If Federal Aid is requested, they can get those trailers set up within a week. In Iowa they had them set up before the water receded from the flood (3 days).
They also set up centers where if you need food or emergency SBA loans they set up a big tent where everyone is in one spot. FEMA may get a bad rap, but if you have ever been in a situation where you needed them, they are a major blessing.
This is what will be denied the citizens of Ohio.
This is the Tea Party philosophy at work.
It's also terrible optics. For the last week the news has lead with stories about tornadoes destroying towns. About 80% of Moscow, Ohio, was
destroyed or damaged. It's hard to see what Kasich is trying to accomplish here. Stiff-arm Obama in some way (since saying no the the feds is kind of a way of saying no to the president).
posted by Quiddity at 3/04/2012 07:00:00 PM
Seems like it will be a good opportunity to see which communities recover faster -- state led recovery efforts or Federal FEMA management. Note that it was only this year -- six years after the hurricane -- that the last FEMA trailer left New Orleans. FEMA doesn't exactly have a good track record of getting things done quickly.
jms, comparing damages to small towns hit by tornadoes with damage to a major city hit by a hurricane is missing the point by an order of magnitude. BTW, FEMA had a terrific track record during the Clinton administration of dealing with disasters, in comparison to his predecessor who after Hurricane Andrew struck Miami was slow to respond, and hmm, who was President when Katrina struck New Orleans? Heckuva job, Brownie!
I was going to post a snide reply that even if Kasich applied, they would probably be turned down, because, well, let's just say that there's a conflict with Obama's political ideology.
Turns out I was right.
They need not have bothered, and Kasich knew it. That's just the way this government rolls.
