It’s tough to weigh short term costs against what people perceive as low probability events.
It’s tough to weigh short term costs against what people perceive as low
probability events.
Kind of a different thing, but the way our country has let the national
debt get out of hand is a similar symptom of short term thinking and
discounting long term costs / unlikely but extremely costly
consequences.
Part of the problem is the disconnect between technical analysts and
decision makers… its unclear whether the Kerr County emergency
management office actually employed anyone with technical expertise in
risk management / emergency preparedness based on their website
https://kerrcountytx.gov/kerr-county-all-departments/emergency-management#gsc.tab=0
From the sheriffs website ~ description of Kerr County Emergency
Coordinator and volunteer team of first responders
“W.B. “Dub” Thomas, Emergency Management Coordinator/Deputy Sheriff for
Kerr County and the City of Ingram
Graduated from Sam Houston State with a BS degree in Criminal Justice
and Police Science in 1982.
Previous employment: Texas Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol
Service from 1985 until 2010. Retired as Texas Highway Patrol
Lieutenant.
Responsible for 7 Sergeant Areas with 70 Troopers, 6 K-9’s, admin staff,
Presidential Security at the Western Whitehouse, RADAR and Laser
Instructor as well as recruit school instructor.
Graduate of Northwestern University Traffic Institute School of Police
Staff and Command. District Disaster Chairman for DPS Region 4A while
stationed in El Paso and was the Assistant District Disaster Chair for
Region 6A while stationed in Waco responsible for the state response for
disasters in the district.
Career duty stations include Freer, Hillsboro, San Angelo, El Paso and
Waco. Responsible for the state response in District 6A for the space
shuttle Columbia disaster, District 6A response to Hurricane Katrina,
deployed to the Beaumont district office to coordinate the state
response to Hurricane Rita and the District 6A response to Hurricane
Ike. Participated in numerous disaster drills in conjunction with the
Comanche Peak Nuclear facility.
January 2014-October 2015: Disaster Program Specialist for the Hill
Country Chapter of the American Red Cross. Responsible for assisting 18
counties with preparedness, response and recovery plans and operations
during disasters. Responsible for the implementation of American Red
Cross initiatives in 18 counties.
KERR COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)
A volunteer group that will work to assist and support the Kerr County
Sheriff’s Office. This group consists of citizens who have received the
20 hour basic CERT training class. This group will also attend
in-service training periodically to remain refreshed on the knowledge
acquired during this training.”
___
(Acknowledging that rural counties shouldn’t be expected to have
professional risk managers/emergency management professionals in their
office)
Without someone who understands the technical language used by FEMA and
(sometimes) NWS it’s not too surprising that the effort to build that
siren warning system failed since it seemed too expensive for what the
community perceived as a low risk situation.
Tragic.