Hurricane season is here and the message remains the same: Be prepared for the worst.
But this year, the tone has changed. Government officials from President Bush to local emergency managers have stripped away the sugar coating:
Failing to plan could kill you.
"No more coddling,'' said Larry Gispert, Hillsborough County's emergency management director. "We're telling them the first 72 (hours) are on you. The laggards need to wake up and be ready to take care of themselves."
That means having enough food, water, emergency supplies and medicine to last at least three days.
Don't expect the government to provide for your every need within hours of a hurricane hitting.
The aggressive approach was prompted by last season's heavy death toll and the obvious lack of preparation by people in South Florida for Hurricane Wilma.
"No government on Earth can adequately respond to a natural disaster if the people are unprepared," Gov. Jeb Bush said at his annual hurricane conference in May.
Gispert said he's been banging his head against a wall for more than 20 years to get people to stock up on supplies and come up with an emergency plan.
So many people demand smaller government and less taxes, Gispert said. But when a disaster strikes, they scream for government to supply their every need.
Bush emphasized at his hurricane conference that aid and workers will still pour quickly into disaster areas. But it's a "lot harder when people line up in their Lexuses and Mercedes to get ice and water at a public distribution site when the Publix is open a block away," Bush said.
But this year, the tone has changed. Government officials from President Bush to local emergency managers have stripped away the sugar coating:
Failing to plan could kill you.
"No more coddling,'' said Larry Gispert, Hillsborough County's emergency management director. "We're telling them the first 72 (hours) are on you. The laggards need to wake up and be ready to take care of themselves."
That means having enough food, water, emergency supplies and medicine to last at least three days.
Don't expect the government to provide for your every need within hours of a hurricane hitting.
The aggressive approach was prompted by last season's heavy death toll and the obvious lack of preparation by people in South Florida for Hurricane Wilma.
"No government on Earth can adequately respond to a natural disaster if the people are unprepared," Gov. Jeb Bush said at his annual hurricane conference in May.
Gispert said he's been banging his head against a wall for more than 20 years to get people to stock up on supplies and come up with an emergency plan.
So many people demand smaller government and less taxes, Gispert said. But when a disaster strikes, they scream for government to supply their every need.
Bush emphasized at his hurricane conference that aid and workers will still pour quickly into disaster areas. But it's a "lot harder when people line up in their Lexuses and Mercedes to get ice and water at a public distribution site when the Publix is open a block away," Bush said.