In disaster, forget FEMA, find home store

CANTON, N.Y., April 4 (UPI) -- If a major disaster strikes, a U.S. researcher says to forget the Federal Emergency Management Agency and head to a local big-box chain.

Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence University examined federal and private responses to Hurricane Katrina and says that FEMA was destined to fail and for-profit firms succeed at disaster recovery.

"Disaster response happens at the local level," Horwitz says in a statement "FEMA is not local to anyone except people who live in Washington."

The study, published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, found that Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision-makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies.

These big-box chains reopened stores well before FEMA began its response, Horwitz says.

The chains gave tremendous discretion to store managers and employees to make decisions rather than waiting for instructions from upper-level management, allowing for more agile disaster response, Horwitz says.

The study, "Making Hurricane Response More Effective: Lessons from the Private Sector and the Coast Guard during Katrina," is available online at http://www.mercatus.org/EffectiveHurricaneResponse.