Disaster Plans

Having read the reports of the doctor who overmedicated patients with morphine because they would not be evacuated and the discovery of the many nursing home patients left to drown I am bewildered by the evident lack of preparation for a disaster (bomb scare, fire, flood, hurricane, etc.)

I was an RN who was educated in Minnesota and New York. I worked in large and small hospitals there and in Florida and North Carolina. Common to all the hospitals I have worked in there was always a disaster plan which was practiced and critiqued to improve performance. It is generally understood that all employees and medical staff were expected to report to the hospital in case of local disaster. Plans for evacuation, triage etc. were developed. Are the professionals in Louisiana not prepared for disasters. Was there no plan to get the maximum number of staff into the hospital? Was there no protocol for use of ambulances, vans and private cars to get the patients out of harms way? Were the administrators not on the premises leading the disaster plan? Were there no helicopter pads for air evacuation? Buildings in the flood plain have the generators in the lower levels where they would potentially flood. What building codes are in place?

I understand that New Orleans is a party town but surely there must be someone who has some foresight other than the Picayune?