Bureaucratic Bedlam
The Emergency Management Team was sequestered in the room of the Stanford Court Hotel where they had coincidentally (or prophetically?) held their breakfast meeting. Calmer heads finally prevailed, but there was still a feeling of indecisiveness. Both the Governor and the Mayor believed the best plan was to wait to hear from the reconnaissance teams which were overhead assessing the damage to San Francisco and the immediate bay area.
By now they knew they had floated out in the Pacific Ocean, about twenty-five miles offshore, and efforts were under way to assess the damage in the city itself. Communication – or lack thereof – was a priority. There were no contingencies in place for survival without readily available radio or telephone communications. Who would have ev
