Crisisville

Under-Reactive: Katrina Success Stories

So, um, not everything sucked in Katrina, right? Well, according to the Senate (when they proposed the FEMA-nator), two groups did well: the Coast Guard and private businesses.

Great! Rock on, let's copy those guys. What'd they do, again?

The Coast Guard and certain private sector businesses both conducted extensive planning and training for disasters, and they put that preparation into use when disaster struck. Both moved material assets and personnel out of harm’s way as the storm approached, but kept them close enough to the front lines for quick response after it passed. Perhaps most important, both had empowered front-line leaders who were able to make decisions when they needed to be made.

Interestingly, neither of these cases is discussed much in the actual document. But I think you can argue that all (okay most) (possibly some) of the governmental groups involved did the above things. The fact that these two groups were picked as the success stories is really instructive as to the nature of the failures. Why? Jump on, my friend.

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Game Learning Gets Physical

The makers of La Fuga have seen fit to build a first-person-shooter wonderland in an decrepit bank inside Madrid. The game amps up player's adrenaline level, then force the poor idiot to solve complex puzzles as she tries to escape from a high-security prison peopled by guards, traps, and the occasional criminal mentor.

Here is the stuff of dreams for next-generation response training. Fully interactive and engaged on a decision-making-level, La Fuga goes beyond the curricula taught by traditional fire colleges--sending the student (player) into a realm where all his cognitive faculties are tested along with his procedures.