Katrina Response
Fortune Magazine has a series of articles on its website about various business responses to the aftermath of Katrina. Besides the fact that I enjoy reading these types of articles there are some perils of wisdom within them.
The Washington That FEMA Forgot
The people of Washington Parish were forgotten (or maybe even ignored) by FEMA, but they didn’t just sit around. The people pleaded for help over the radio waves, and probably got a better response than FEMA could provide. A doctor flew in bottled water, a water distributor delivered 75,000 bottles of water. A church relief team set up a disaster center providing hot meals for the parish. A local large employer sent tarps, water, lumber, and engineers to get the water system back online. Police agencies sent officers and provided relief. A pretty good response for this small parsih.
‘The Only Lifeline Was the Wal-Mart’
Walmart is getting a lot of credit for providing relief supplies before FEMA and in some cases even the Red Cross. This article shows their response and pro-active moves to Katrina. I found one piece of the article very interesting. It seems Strawberry poptarts are one of the items they bring in with the generators and bottled water before a storm strikes.
When a storm is on the way, customers stock up on bottled water, flashlights, generators, and tarps. Afterward, they buy chain saws and mops. But there have been surprises too. Customers also load up on Strawberry Pop-Tarts. Why is that? “They are preserved until you open them, the whole family can eat them, and they taste good,” says Dan Phillips, Wal-Mart’s vice president, information systems division.
Too bad I can’t stock up on Strawberry poptarts, if they are in the house I will eat them. They make a good snack at work in the middle of the night.
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