[HesseJam]

Right now, this is not a matter of money, so things like donation drives can't help. Foreign countries usually also cannot help within the first five days. It took way longer than that for help to arrive at most places hit by the tsunami.

It's only a matter of organisation, resolve and decisiveness. Trying to organize this without having a preagreed plan among all stakeholders would be a nightmare anywhere. The U.S. does not have much advantage over any other country here if they lack the preparedness. You cannot quickly solve the misery "on the fly".

The biggest mistakes have been made BEFORE the disaster: People "riding it out" even if the official warnings have been very grim, not having an appropriate disaster emergency plan ready, not upgrading the levees even though hydrologists calculated exactly this scenario for years, etc, etc.

Time is crucial to provide effective relieve. Too much time has been lost by the lack of being properly prepared to such an event. At the current state I am sure that everybody is doing what he can but they are behind on all fronts and will remain so for a couple of days.