The Normalization of Anomaly
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"I don't think anyone could have foreseen the levees being breached," despite:
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the Hurricane Pam exercise of 2004
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National Geographic article of October 2004, "Gone with the water."
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Scientific American article of October 2001, "Drowning New Orleans."
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Teleconferences of 25-31 August among FEMA, NHC, DHS, and Crawford
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Risk assessment science hurdles in affecting risk management policy:
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Lack of lived experience tp promote receptiveness to risk messages
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A tendency to normalize anomaly, to read extraordinary events in ordinary
frameworks
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Risk assessment below risk management in government hierarchies
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The expense and opportunity costs of mitigation (wetlands restoration: $14
billion; $500 million levee upgrading budget underfunded by half from 2001-
2005) at a time of Federal tax cuts and increasing war costs
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Managerialist imperatives trump precautionary principle
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FEMA: Normal accident theory poster child