Scare Tactics

The New York Times is reporting that states are trying to scare people into becoming better prepared for natural disasters and other potential mass casualty events (terrorist attacks for example).

The problem is that most folks simply don't bother preparing until right before the event happens. That's why every time there's a blizzard you see folks stocking up on bottled water and other durable foodstuffs. People have short attention spans, and the fact that more than 1,000 people were killed as a result of Hurricane Katrina, or that hundreds of thousands were killed as a result of earthquakes and tsunami around the world in just the past few years hasn't scared people into being better prepared.

Just a Bump in the Beltway considers the Times article to be irresponsible:

This is irresponsible reporting. How is it a "scare tactic" to tell the people who live in hurricane prone areas to have three days of food and water on hand? That's prudence, not "scare tactics."

The thing that keeps coming back to mind is that the flooding of New Orleans was due not to the monster hurricane Katrina, but man-made levees that failed in several ways (overtopping in a few locations, but mostly due to structural or design flaws and improper maintenance and upkeep). The failure to evacuate everyone from New Orleans was a failure of the state and local governments to marshall their available resources to meet the needs - and when they failed to do even that, they told people they were on their own with dire consequences.

Say Anything also comments.