This article makes it clear things haven't improved much at FEMA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-15-katrina-miscommunication_x.htm
Help is on the way, but it's unclear where
By Mimi Hall, Kevin Johnson and Mike Linn, USA TODAY
More than 100 tractor-trailers packed with water, ice and other critical hurricane-relief supplies have been sitting at an Air Force base in Montgomery, Ala., for nearly a week while the federal government pays $600 a day for each truck.
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Other FEMA problems:
• A convoy of 100 trucks full of supplies spent a week traveling to Meridian, Miss., and Selma, Ala., before being sent to Memphis last Saturday night.
The city's emergency chief, Claude Talford, was roused around midnight to find out that the trucks were lining up on one of his city's main streets. He didn't know they were coming, and neither did state officials. "They just showed up on our doorstep," he said.
• At a staging area north of New Orleans last week, 75 trucks from Arkansas, each laden with 35,000 pounds of water and medical supplies, sat for three days. FEMA had ordered the trucks but didn’t have anyone there to unload them, according to Lane Kidd of the Arkansas Trucking Association.
• In St. Louis, officials were asked by FEMA last week to prepare for up to 2,500 evacuees. After a small city was constructed in an airport hangar, FEMA called and said no evacuees were coming. The city has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Gary Christmann, chief of the city's emergency management department. "We considered that this was an outstanding drill."
• In Oregon, FEMA requests for assistance changed virtually daily. Holly Armstrong, spokeswoman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said FEMA called on Sept. 2 to request shelter in the Portland area for 1,000 evacuees. Officials scrambled, and Nike offered to donate clothes.
Two days later, FEMA said to "hold off." On Sept. 7, FEMA said 500 evacuees would show up Sept. 10. Then FEMA told the state no one was coming.
The governor is now reviewing his own state's readiness. Among the considerations, Armstrong said: "How much do you really want to count on FEMA?"