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Comment by vuln | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand _why_ FEMA is saying Ohio is not eligible for assistance. Is it because DeWine hasn't declared an emergency or don't the right escalation steps to get FEMA involved?

Why hasn't FEMA responded with something like; Ohio needs to do x y and z before we can assist?

Is this the federal government literally telling people to just fuck off because there's other stuff going on right now and 1000 trains derail every year? That's why FEMA or the federal government won't help because it's not a big deal?

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FEMA isn’t the right tool for this job.

From another article:

> "Although FEMA is synonymous with disaster support, they’re most typically involved with disasters where there is tremendous home or property damage," Gov. DeWine continued.

> This would include situations like tornadoes, flooding or hurricanes, Gov. DeWine explained.

> "That is why we do not expect that FEMA will come to East Palestine."

Can you please link the article? It has the be the first that has an actual reason. Everything else doesn't report the actual reasoning given by FEMA.

I don't understand why FEMA would allow a Governor to be their mouth piece.

""The state needed help testing the water and air — EPA is providing it. They called for an investigation into the derailment — the Department of Transportation is on it. The Governor today asked for help to conduct additional public health testing and assessments — we’re deploying teams from HHS and the CDC to get that done," the Biden administration official told Fox News Digital.

"Each federal agency has its own unique role here, and we’ve mobilized an interagency team to get the people of East Palestine the support they need," the official said."

> Why hasn’t FEMA responded with something like; Ohio needs to do x y and z before we can assist?

They almost certainly have (or, to the extent that FEMA is the wrong federal agency for assistance – EPA, HHS/CDC, and NTSB are heavily involved in the response already – pointed them to the correct agency), but this story is based on DeWine’s social media post, which is equally certainly a limited and biased perspective on the state-federal communication involved.

>Why hasn't FEMA responded with something like; Ohio needs to do x y and z before we can assist?

I assume that just like any other politicized bureaucratic process there's a bunch of ambiguity built in that lets them make subjective judgement however they want.

It sounds like FEMA normally steps in when there had been mauve property damage, which isn't the case here. They may need help, just not the kind they provide.

Could you help me with this term? "mauve property damage" I attempted to google but there were no results.

It looks the the DRF does provide the type of help they need.

The DRF also funds:

The repair and restoration of qualifying disaster-damaged public infrastructure

Hazard mitigation initiatives

Financial assistance to eligible disaster survivors

Fire Management Assistance

Grants for qualifying large forest or grassland wildfires

https://www.fema.gov/about/reports-and-data/disaster-relief-...

> Could you help me with this term? "mauve property damage"

I'd assume it's a typo plus a bad autocorrect for "massive".

I think they meant major

I did mean major. Stupid phone.

Some of those would fall into the category of “cleanup costs” for this incident, which (unlike generic, and particularly natural, disasters) are the responsibility of a specific party – Norfolk Southern – from whom EPA has already secured a commitment to cover all costs. So, FEMA would be redundant for those.

There's a whole multibillion dollar company responsible.

You have not met the federally mandated quota for volume of suffering. Please call back when you do.

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