Comrade Captain Stephen's analysis on who to blame cannot excuse his own agencies total mismanagement. I am made to understand that NEMA'S Command Headquarters, did not even open until 12 noon either on the day Joaquin had already hit Crooked Island, or at best the previous day before it hit.
Comrade Captain Stephen's, by the time you were just beginning with ya hypothesis about who is to be included in da blame, Sister Loretta and Captain Paul Aranah, had done managed become airborne conducting hurricane damage assessments over Long Island.

Capt Russell, with all due respect, any organization is only as good as its weakest link.
No matter how well intentioned you, or others in your organization may be it must be acknowledged that Government brings with it a singular type of morass and paralysis that does not appear in private efforts.
Perhaps if you were to study the private efforts that a) mobilized first, B) had more inventory than they could fly in day by day C) realize the budget of these private efforts was self funded and D) the fact that you needed their assets to transport you and your political leadership to the affected islands,
you may see the ironic twist that you have been dealt: Government will never match the simple human initiative that works, as it does not have to look over its shoulder for the political instruction or knife, and is performed from the heart and not for a paycheck.
To the Defense force marines dispatched, I say thank you for your service, and ongoing service, you are not paid enough.
To those in the Government public service who stood clear and let or facilitated private efforts work un-impeded, I say thank you for your common sense and service.
While I can agree that a centralized coordination could be helpful at this juncture, I do not see that NEMA or Government is the entity for that role.
That in itself is an alarming fact that needs to be recognized for what it is.
Government needs a scapegoat, and you may be it, but the only real question that needs an answer is did you do your best? Did you do any harm? did you learn from any mistakes?
The politicos be damned.

Why didn't NEMA have a plan for quickly unrolling distribution? They didn't have a contact list for seaplanes , appropriate trucks ready to be shipped, nothing.

Comrade you're talkin likes NEMA operates as an operational advanced bad weather planning office year-round. From what I'm told, they don't even have a secretary employed year-round, much less strategic storm response planners. But I'll give you better than a numbers man's odds - they do have at least one chauffeur driven taxpayers automobile.
Ask the Capt, if the headquarters were operational even 48 hours - prior da hurricane landing on Crooked Island?

The_Oracle: Very well said !

**.............................................. Too little, but not too late ...............................................**

Captain Stephen Russell's acknowledgment that major challenges exist in ensuring that relief efforts on the islands devastated by Hurricane Joaquin are well organized is late in coming and offers no solution to the problems.

What was the results and point of the assessment trips if not to find solutions???

Disaster aftermath remidiation involving multiple or large swath areas must be addressed in a twofold or even trifold capacity or it will ultimately fail causing further needless trauma to victims and possibly loss of life!

New Providence as the command center to receive, catalog, store and "initially" breakdown incoming supplies to be destined for satellite distribution points on ***two fronts.***

Exuma should be designated as the secondary staging arena to receive, catalog, store and distribute relief supplies to each surrounding island where sub-staging areas must be established to receive, catalog and distribute to settlements based on government statistics of population in settlements.

Great Inagua if still functional, or if not, even better, Turks and Caicos should also be designated as a third staging arena to receive, catalog, store and distribute relief supplies to affected islands in the deep South.

**The whole remidiation exercise should be designed to "aggressively attack" devastated Islands on a minimum ***of two flanks***.**

Because they had nothing to distribute! Who needs planes, trucks if there is nothing to load them with? Has the Government purchased the first case of bottled water yet?
Save the frequent flyer program STILL being run for politicos and their clingons, still running around assessing/sightseeing I cannot see what they've done except deposit Defense Force Marines on the islands.
I have no doubt they as as confused and unsupported as the local residents!
Same thing happened in Hurricane Francis in Grand Bahama.
Red Cross has assessed EMR, West End etc, and had materials ready to roll when Jean threatened and then hit.
Again, re-assessed and materials rolled almost immediately.
NEMA did not exist but the "Hurricane Command Center" was full of the same dead weight waiting for the phone to ring with instructions.
Same attempts to appropriate the materials of private efforts occurred.
Most often they (correctly) got told to carry their backsides.
Took forever to initialize Exigency orders on the ground, lack of procedural competence,
buncha mini-me's running around with nothing to do but get in the way.

You can very easily donate cash to the PLP Relief Fund...LOL

I like that these government organization people always wear a shirt with their logo on it. looks neat. Having said this, I prefer to see people with dirty hands and ripped shirts from digging in, red eyes from working their a##es of to help people that are in dire straits. NEMA is just another intellectual enterprise of this country - like so many - that look good on paper but fail miserably when put to the test. Its not complicated. Intel and Communication (incl. batteries!). @Intel: Everyone that has access to internet, can gather the intel necessary - even if they are paid by a Government to do so. @Communication: throwing money at consultants (and here the BTC) is not good enough. Make sure it works. JUST DO IT. DO YOUR JOBS. No rocket science.