Amanda Ripley Author of The Unthinkable

Craig Fugate has been nominated by Pres. Obama to head up FEMA. My first instinct is: Damn. Nice pick. My second instinct is: God help him.

Fugate is a man who tells it like it is. He was a firefighter before he became an emergency manager and rose through the ranks to become head of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management in 2001.

The last time I saw him was in the summer of 2006 when he spoke on a panel alongside (get this) the then-disgraced former FEMA head Mike Brown at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Natural Hazards Workshop.

He was polite towards Brown, but he didn’t hold back when he talked about FEMA and emergency management in general.

Some choice excerpts from his comments that day:

“We have created a nation of victims. We have disempowered people to take responsibility for their own survival. They expect someone to save them….”

“...I believe in an open society. If citizens know they have toxic chemicals downtown, they’re more likely to say, ‘Why don’t you move the chemicals?’”

“...I get asked a lot, ‘Should FEMA be in or out [of the Department of Homeland Security.] That’s the wrong question.”

Fugate went on to say that Congress needs to obsess more over outcomes—what do we want FEMA and other agencies to do? What are the metrics of success, and have we met those metrics? And it should obsess less over process (who sits at which table when). I couldn’t agree more.

But what I like most about Fugate is that he calls people “survivors” instead of “victims.” He is stone-cold honest about how little the feds can do in big disasters—and how much depends on the training, attitude and expectations of regular people.

Unlike Brownie, Fugate has serious street cred. He has spent his entire life helping people avoid, contain and respond to all manner of catastrophes. He led Florida through four major hurricanes in 2004, and he is hugely popular among state and local emergency types for his wisdom and straight talk. If he is confirmed, he may actually have a shot at restoring the tortured relationship between the federal government (which writes the checks) and the state and locals (who do everything else).

We’ll see. I hope he doesn’t come to his senses and change his mind… 

Full disclosure: Fugate liked my book, back before he was famous.

When I first heard the news of Turkish Airlines flight 1951 crashing upon landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, I couldn’t help but think: “Another one?”  Indeed, the crash of Flight 1951 makes for three plane accidents in an incredibly short period.  With the onslaught of survivor stories and the revolving cycle of disturbing images, it’s hard not to let it go to straight to your amygdala.

But it’s important to remember the silver lining in all of this.  Two out of three of these accidents had few or no fatalities.  Experts (along with another well-known contributor to this blog) insist that the majority of airplane crashes are survivable.

Though Flight 1951 split into three pieces, the plane did not catch fire, ensuring that the majority of passengers were able to escape with minimal injuries.  As we well know, there are many factors that contribute to surviving any type of accident.  Worrying about plane accidents, however, can be scratched off the “To Do” list.  According to authorities quoted on MSBC.com, “commercial flying is at its safest in a 100-year history.”

Tara Parker-Pope writes today that waiting for biopsy results affects stress hormone levels just as much as finding out you’ve got cancer. A new study shows that women waiting on breast biopsy results had abnormal cortisol profiles equivalent to women who had been told they had cancer.

I never fail to be amazed by the power of stress hormones. In this case, cortisol. Cortisol is some powerful stuff, and it shows up whether or not it is really needed. When it surges through your system, it raises your blood pressure, lowers your immunity to illness and makes it tough to think, among other things. It also helps you in a few ways (or it would help you if you were getting attacked by a predator…instead of waiting for a doctor to call you back). You don’t feel pain as acutely and you get a shot of energy should you need to run screaming from the room.

It’s a good reminder that the brain loathes uncertainty more than nearly everything else… more (almost) than cancer. Maybe that’s why people who feel like they have control over their lives (whether they do or not—remember, it’s the perception that matters) tend to perform better in disasters and recover more fully afterwards. They also tend to live longer. They are probably nicer, too. And they probably have great teeth. Damn those people!

Here’s something that I never thought I would see happen: A DC voting-rights bill is moving to the Senate floor as of today. Putting aside the fact that it’s 200 years late, it’s a good day to be an American. Or almost American, that is.

I live in a city with the second highest taxes in the nation, a city with more people than Wyoming, a city that is home to the nation’s most precious symbols and now apparently in charge of the banks, the car companies and holding up the sky. But we don’t have a member of Congress who can vote on the floor.

Did you know that? I am convinced most Americans don’t even realize this is true. How else to explain the fact that this has gone on so long? (Well, there are plenty of theories, but let’s try to stay positive.)

This morning, Senators agreed to consider the bill, which would give DC its first seat ever in the House of Representatives. There’s a good chance the House will pass the measure, and Pres. Obama has said he will sign it. But it ain’t over yet. The debate in the next few days and weeks will be intense. (And if the measure passes, the whole thing will go to the courts. But again, let’s try, really try, to stay positive. Dammit.)

Seriously, I hate to get all righteous and needy on you. But I have to ask. If you live in America—the parts of America where you have representation in Congress—please call your Senators and members of Congress and ask them to do the right thing. This city has been messed with in all kinds of unholy ways by Congress, and many of its unique pathologies can be traced back to its powerlessness. So enough is enough already. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 or send an email.

OK, thanks.

It’s no secret that the crash of Flight 3407 may have been weather related.  Recordings reveal that Capt. Marvin Renslow and copilot Rebecca Shaw both commented on the plane’s ice buildup, thus activating the plane’s de-icing system. According to USA Today, the NTSB warned the FAA that icing prevention rules aren’t always adequate:

In response, the FAA mandated that newly designed aircraft receive improved testing in icing conditions. But the agency has not required that existing models receive the new testing.

“The pace of the FAA’s activities in response to all of these recommendations remains unacceptably slow,” the NTSB said in a release last fall. “Before another accident or serious incident occurs, the FAA should evaluate all existing turbo propeller-driven airplanes in service.”

Several other icing-related recommendations by the NTSB have not been acted on by the FAA. And it seems that icing-related recommendations weren’t the only ones to fall by the wayside.  A 1999 recommendation concerning the threat of birds on runways has yet to be enacted by the FAA.

Certainly, we can’t change the past, but can’t we demand answers about the FAA’s role in determining safety standards for our friendly skies? If we do, perhaps we can help prevent the next Flight 3407 or 1549.