I was under the impression that after a natural disaster the only way the region can recover is by massive federal intervention. But then I read this about Hoover when he helped with the Mississippi flooding:

In early 1927, the Great Mississippi River flood broke the banks and levees of the Mississippi River. Although such a disaster did not fall under the duties of the Commerce Department, the governors of six states along the Mississippi specifically asked for Herbert Hoover in the emergency, so President Calvin Coolidge sent Hoover to mobilize state and local authorities, militia, army engineers, Coast Guard, and the American Red Cross. He set up health units, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, to work in the flooded regions for a year. These workers stamped out malaria, pellagra, and typhoid fever from many areas. His work during the flood brought Herbert Hoover to the front page of newspapers almost everywhere, and he gained new accolades as a humanitarian. The great victory of his relief work, he stressed, was not that the government rushed in and provided all assistance. Rather, it was that much of the assistance available was provided instead by private citizens and organizations in response to Hoover’s appeals. “I suppose I could have called in the Army to help,” he said, “but why should I, when I only had to call upon Main Street.”

Wait so people are capable of repairing their homes and towns without the federal government providing massive funding. Surely you jest.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 11:36 pm and is filed under Infrastructure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.