I’m listening to a series of audiobooks to help enlighten my understanding of the ecosystem of organizations including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where I started working in October last year. This constellation of government agencies including the likes of FEMA, HHS, DHS, USACE, CDC and local, state, county governments and first responder agencies come together when crisis strikes. How they manage chaos, not only that of natural disasters, but also of bureaucracy is fascinating.
The Great Influenza of 1918 demonstrates the critical value of nursing, scientific methodology and public-private partnerships. https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-History-dp-0143036491/dp/0143036491/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1594750104
The Next Pandemic discusses Hurricane Katrina, among other disasters, at length. One of the most fascinating problems was random people showing up saying, I want to help, but no one had credentialed them. How do you know if someone is a doctor when they show up in the middle of chaos and say, “I’m a doctor.” According to this author, this is one of the most valuable contributions of the Red Cross. https://www.amazon.com/Next-Pandemic-Against-Humankinds-Gravest-ebook/dp/B00PSSCU70/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1591819030&sr=8-2
The Great Deluge illustrates the value of highly skilled and competent local government in his opening description. When Plaquemines Parish President Benny Rouselle declared a mandatory “Phase I” evacuation on August 27 – that Saturday when there was still plenty of time to flee – parish employees fanned out on pre-appointed routes, picking up residents with special needs and busing them to state-run shelters in Shreveport, Alexandria, Houma, and Lafayette. The parish not only knew which residents required special help, it knew exactly where they lived. “We were putting them on buses that Saturday morning and, you know what” Rouselle recalled. “When we ran out of drivers, I went up to evacuees, determined which ones had valid driver’s licenses and knew how to drive a stick and told them to bring folks north. They were tapped … deputized or whatever you want to call it. They were now official Parish driver. Out… Out…Out. I wanted everybody out of Plaquemines Parish. We were able to get our people out.”
Yes, there were lots of failures well-documented in Katrina, but what I’m amazed at is what went right. This is a great description of highly effective government.
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
The rising tide was a heart wrenching description of a horrific flood and the loss of hundreds of people, but it created the impetus for the Flood Control Act of 1928 which laid the initial groundwork for federal-state integration in emergency response.
Undaunted Courage about the early origins of engineering for the US Army in the science and observations of Lewis and Clark.
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening
I just started reading the Perfectionists. It’s a compelling look at the history of engineering.
Simultaneous, I started reading The Swamp and it’s an eye-opening text. I love wilderness, but always considered the swampland as basically hellish, but the book deeply describes the ecosystem in all it’s beauty and amazing biodiversity. I even want to visit the Everglades after just reading the first 2 chapters.
An extraordinarily terrifying book The Big Burn centered in places where I grew up in the Northwest.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America
Colleagues have recommended these books, but I haven’t gotten to them yet:
Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter’s Son (Library of Southern Civilization)
This book is currently the #1 seller in water supply and land use:
Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles
#1 Best Seller in Water Supply
35-Year Public Affairs & IT Professional 