It should come as no surprise...

that our government's main concern in emergency management, as in all things, is to avoid blame:

A decision by the Bush administration to rewrite in secret the nation's emergency response blueprint has angered state and local emergency officials, who worry that Washington is repeating a series of mistakes that contributed to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago.

...

Federal officials, Ashwood said, appear to be trying to create a legalistic document to shield themselves from responsibility for future disasters and to shift blame to states. "It seems that the Katrina federal legacy is one of minimizing exposure for the next event and ensuring future focus is centered on state and local preparedness," he said.

This is quite in keeping with the ethics that informed FEMA's decision not to test the trailers in which they were housing displaced Americans for formaldehyde because "once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

Meanwhile:

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused far more dislocation to Louisiana's population than previously estimated, with tens of thousands more people being forced to relocate than previous population counts have suggested, according to a study released Tuesday by the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Remember when the government was actually on our side?