Prior to last year’s hurricane season, state, federal and other emergency preparedness authorities warned that residents of hurricane prone regions had become far too complacent towards personal preparedness. Polls and surveys buttressed their concerns.

Today, as the 2009 hurricane season looms on the Atlantic, preparedness authorities are warning that residents of hurricane country are even more apathetic than they were when they were polled this time last year. In addition, authorities say too many people still have considerable misunderstandings about the federal government’s role in responding to catastrophic disasters.

This should come as no surprise to regular readers of HSToday.us, which has repeatedly reported that complacency toward preparedness across the board has become an entrenched problem.

Last December, for example, HSToday.us reported that three new reports reinforced emergency public health preparedness authorities' alarms about "creeping complacency" over the last half-decade. Indeed, emergency care and individual preparedness for emergencies has continued to worsen - despite the billions that have been spent on preparedness and efforts to emphasize individual disaster readiness.

Now a new Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll released last week disclosed that 66 percent of the individuals surveyed for the poll have no hurricane survival kit and 55 percent don't have a family disaster plan – statistics that track with earlier similar polling statistics on personal preparedness.

“After an active 2008 hurricane season, residents from Texas to Maine have taken no steps to prepare for major storms,” said a statement from Mason-Dixon on its new poll, which was conducted as part of the 2009 National Hurricane Survival Initiative launched last week at the International Hurricane Research Center in Miami at Florida International University. The initiative, which focuses on hurricane-vulnerable states, aims to educate residents on hurricane preparedness and how to stay safe from the risks they face.

Nearly 36 million Americans — 12 percent of the population — live in areas threatened by Atlantic Ocean hurricanes.

On the eve of this year’s hurricane season, President Obama Friday urged residents of hurricane prone regions to begin taking appropriate responsibility for their personal safety and preparedness.

"A lot of these plans are not complicated," Obama said following a disaster preparedness briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said following a White House briefing on hurricane preparedness activities that people who live in hurricane regions of the nation "can't wait until a storm is approaching the coast. They have to make their plans now."

Authorities made identical pleas prior to the 2008 hurricane season.

Yet, “even after feeling the threat of five major hurricanes, all category 3 or stronger, during the 2008 hurricane season, many Americans in the Gulf and Atlantic coastal states have made no preparations for the impending ‘mean season,’ according to the Mason-Dixon poll.

The poll further found that the number of respondents who believe storms pose no direct threat to them rose to 62 percent from 54 percent in 2008.

The poll also found 16 percent mistakenly think the government will provide food, water and shelter immediately after a storm.

Similar misconceptions abound about the federal government's - and even state and local governments' - role during crises like a pandemic or catastrophic terrorist attack.

The latest Mason-Dixon poll shows most residents of coastal states still do not feel vulnerable to the catastrophic destruction and deadly forces of a hurricane and thus have not adequately prepared for a hurricane. More than half of those polled reported they would not leave home if a major storm was approaching or would only evacuate if ordered by local officials. Similar polls last year found identical sentiments on the part of residents of hurricane prone areas of the country.

“It is crucial that residents of coastal states be aware that they must prepare in advance,” said Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp. “Waiting until 24 hours before the storm hits is simply not enough time and puts residents at great risk.”

“As the 2009 hurricane season approaches, many residents still believe it won’t happen to them,” said Dr. Jack Beven, senior hurricane forecaster at the National Hurricane Center. “Unfortunately, these devastating storms could happen to anyone and the only way to keep yourself and your family safe is to be prepared.”

Meanwhile, on Friday the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued the report, National Preparedness: FEMA Has Made Progress, but Needs to Complete and Integrate Planning, Exercise, and Assessment Efforts, which concluded that FEMA does not have a plan to coordinate federal disaster exercises and is unable to determine whether federal agencies and states and localities are prepared to respond to major disasters.

“FEMA has not established a program management plan, in coordination with other federal departments and agencies, to help ensure the development and integration of outstanding policies and plans,” GAO concluded. “Further, until the national preparedness system includes a complete and integrated set of policies and plans that lay out roles and responsibilities and planning processes, FEMA’s ability to prepare officials responsible for responding to natural and man-made disasters will be limited.”

Arnold Bogis, a Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told HSToday.us that preparedness for catastrophic disasters and terrorist attacks - especially using nuclear bombs or radiological dispersal devices - "has been shortchanged at the federal level and is practically non-existent at the state and local level (except for New York City and some other pockets)."

HSToday.us has been reporting on the problems with such preparedness efforts for more than four years.

Continuing, GAO stated that “FEMA cannot effectively assess the progress and performance of the National Exercise Program in making improvements in national preparedness,” and that while the agency “has made progress in developing and implementing a system for assessing national preparedness capabilities, [it] faces methodological and coordination challenges in completing the system and issuing required reports on national preparedness.”

GAO reported that “FEMA has established reporting guidance for state preparedness and has created a program office to develop and implement an assessment approach that considers past efforts and integrates its ongoing efforts related to measuring the results of federal grants and assessing gaps in disaster response capabilities,” but that it “faces challenges in developing and completing this approach.”

As noted in the January 2009 Federal Preparedness Report, GAO stated “efforts to assess capabilities and make needed improvements are the least mature elements of the national preparedness system because these efforts are composed of a wide range of systems and approaches with varying levels of integration. FEMA faces methodological challenges that include deciding how information and data from different sources will be used to inform the system and developing an approach for coordinating with federal, state, and local stakeholders in developing and implementing the system and reporting on its results.”

According to GAO, “DHS said it generally agreed with our recommendations. However, DHS expressed concern that the report suggests that DHS/FEMA should hold other federal agencies and departments or state, local or tribal governments accountable for compliance with program requirements, while also recognizing that FEMA did not always have the explicit authority to compel compliance.”

“We recognize that FEMA’s authority is generally to coordinate, guide, and support, rather than direct, and that collaboration is an essential element of FEMA’s efforts,” GAO stated, but “at the same time, we believe that FEMA’s expanded leadership role under the Post-Katrina Act provides it with opportunities for and a responsibility to further develop its relationships with national preparedness stakeholders at the local, state and federal levels and to instill a shared sense of responsibility and accountability on the part of all stakeholders for the successful development and implementation of the national preparedness system. Several of our recommendations aim to enhance such collaboration and cooperation.”