2012-11-02 16:43:29.674372+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments
Co.EXIST: What’s Really Happening In Blacked-Out Manhattan. On self-organizing relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
In a disaster, your best resources will be your neighbors.
comments in descending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2012-11-02 22:03:45.371376+00 by: Dan Lyke
Forbes article about local businesses pulling together after the storm, by way of the gofundme page to help Alphabet City Beer Co rebuild.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-11-02 21:40:41.861346+00 by: TheSHAD0W
And on the flip side...
http://www.theblaze.com/storie...nt-trying-to-help-sandy-victims/
#Comment Re: made: 2012-11-02 17:36:39.344027+00 by: ebradway
I think society is starting to understand the value of emergent, self-organizing systems. A friend who works for FEMA says that the way their relief efforts really work is to send a bunch of people and resources to the area and hope something positive will happen. FEMA still struggles to try to create defined, top-down relief, but has never been able to find a repeatable model. It's anathema to the very nature of government bureaucracies, but I think the change is happening.
FEMA's budget reflects a less structured approach as well. A small number of people are regular FEMA employees with salaries that are paid out of the annual budget Congress passes (or fails to pass) each year. Most of the money FEMA manages comes ad hoc in response to disasters and most of the people who work for FEMA are temporary.