Katrina Disaster

[Xelebes]

I need to rant a little about human arrogance. The devestation of Katrina is huge and nothing we could have done would have prevented structural damages.

But...why didn't people evacuate when they were told to? I've been through this before. You get days of warning that you need to leave. The news channels, etc all tell you to get out. They have planned routes for evacuation. The roads are marked with signs that tell you which way to go for hurrican evacuation. I've personally packed my car with things that were essential and left with my kids, and in that instance the hurricane didn't even hit where I lived, but was far south of us.
So what I want to know is why people didn't leave when they could? Why are we so arrogant that we think we can weather anything that comes our way?



Apologies if my rant offends anyone. I just hate to see situations that could have been prevented. The death toll is going to be really high in LA and MS, and so much of that could have been prevented.

Mandatory evacuation in New Orleans was only given out hours before the storm actually hit, I believe.

 

[sophia jane]

Quick update: it seems that the Astrodome can't let anymore people in. So there's a new scramble to find evacuatees a place to stay.

 

[LadyJeanne]

A brighter spot

Tulane University

Current Status

September 1, 4 p.m.

Dear Friends of Tulane,

After five days on campus, our emergency team has just arrived in Houston from New Orleans, where we will be joined by the rest of our senior leadership team from locations around the country. We will be working out of Houston effective immediately. Now that we have access to electricity and Internet connectivity, we will be corresponding regularly via this website: http://emergency.tulane.edu

Our immediate priorities are:

1. Attend to the needs of our faculty and staff who remain on campus. They are safe but living conditions are not good. We evacuated the entire uptown campus safely. As of today, only a core team of public safety and facilities personnel remain. We are in the process of evacuating personnel from the Health Sciences Center downtown . Additionally, we are trying to continue to supply provisions to the remaining staff on-site at the Primate Center in Mandeville. All of the students who were evacuated to Jackson State University in Mississippi have returned to their homes or are in the process of returning to their homes.

2. Re-establish our communications with constituencies ASAP. In particular, we will be giving guidance within 48 hours about our plans for this semester. I understand everyone's anxiety but we need additional time to assess the situation in New Orleans.

3. Begin the recovery process. The campus did sustain some damage, though it generally fared very well during the storm. There are many downed trees, some buildings sustained water damage, and some roofing tiles were damaged. The necessary repairs are manageable. The dorms are intact and students' belongings are safe.

I will update you again no later than 11 a.m. CST tomorrow, September 2, 2005. Please disseminate this email as widely as you can through any additional means you may have.

Scott Cowen

http://emergency.tulane.edu/

 

[sophia jane]

Check out this article, published in July of this year- link

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

UN offers to help overwhelmed US cope with Katrina

By Irwin Arieff
Thur Sep 1, 2005


UNITED NATIONS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday offered to help the United States provide disaster relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina as the storm's devastation challenged the U.S. authorities' ability to cope.

While the United States is the country best prepared to deal with such a disaster, "the sheer size of this emergency makes it possible that we can supplement the American response with supplies from other countries, or with experience we have gained in other relief operations," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

"I know we will not be alone. We will be happy to work with other parts of the international community to support the efforts of President Bush and his administration, the American Red Cross, and other U.S. relief organizations who have been our partners in the past," Annan said in a statement.

The United Nations has taken the lead in coordinating natural disaster relief around the world for the past five decades. But its focus has been mainly on poor nations.

U.N. assistance was first offered to Washington on Wednesday by Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who led the global aid effort after December's Indian Ocean tsunami.

But U.S. officials, while thanking the world body for its offer, did not request any assistance at that time.

More recently, however, U.S. officials have signaled they were open to all offers as dozens of foreign governments lined up to pledge assistance.

"Anything that can be of help to alleviate the tragic situation of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina will be accepted," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.

"America should be heartened by the fact that the world is reaching out to America at a time of need."

Annan, in a statement, said the storm damage was turning out "far worse than any of us imagined at first."

"The American people, who have always been the most generous in responding to disasters in other parts of the world, have now themselves suffered a grievous blow," he said.

"I know that I speak for the whole world in offering them my heartfelt sympathy and any assistance that the United Nations can give," Annan said. "We will be happy to work with other parts of the international community to support the efforts of U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration, the American Red Cross, and other U.S. relief organizations who have been our partners in the past."


c Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Someone has probably already asked this (there are far too many threads and replies for me to sift through,) but... why they shooting?

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

SPLOID EXCLUSIVE: FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …

Millions of Americans and people around the world have rushed to donate money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which is shaping up to be one of the worst U.S. disasters in history, if not the worst.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the lead federal agency in the rescue & recovery operation at work in New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast.

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

“It’s an outrage,” said privacy watchdog Bill Scannell, who alerted Sploid to the FEMA / Robertson scam. “Operation f**cking Blessing? And it’s right underneath the Red Cross link!”

Scannell, currently campaigning against the Transportation Security Administration’s refusal to turn over personal information illegally collected from 100 million U.S. air passengers, noted that Operation Blessing’s board of directors is dominated by the televanglist and his family.

The chairman, “MG Robertson,” is none other than the Rev. Pat — Marion Gordon Robertson is his real name — while Pat’s wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the board.

The front operation for the radical, pro-assassination televangelist and Republican power broker is also based in the Rev. Pat’s headquarters, Virginia Beach.

Robertson’s shell organizations have already collected more than $25 million from the federal government under various “faith based” federal-handout programs. And with millions of distraught citizens looking to FEMA for help in finding reputable organizations to help Katrina survivors, Robertson stands to profit magnificently from the horror that has fallen on New Orleans and the Gulf

This is a wee bit out of date.

Since this posting, Second Harvest has the second position after the Red Cross

If you look here under Volunteer or Make a Donation you will find Operation Blessing has been down graded to third place.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

In a way I have to express ... how silly of us to think of ourselves and America (other than those we know) ...when, didn't just about 1,000 people get trampled to death in Iraq, recently? Didn't hear much about that, though.

It's a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to those familes. I don't want to blame the victims, but I've got to think that anyone who takes their infant children to participate in a jam-packed shoulder-to-shoulder semi-hysterical religious procession where men are whipping themselves into a frenzy with chains--especially in Iraq these days, where any crowd is an open invitation to insurgent bombs--is not acting in their own best interests.

 

[Huckleman2000]

This is a wee bit out of date.

Since this posting, Second Harvest has the second position after the Red Cross

If you look here under Volunteer or Make a Donation you will find Operation Blessing has been down graded to third place.

Un-be-fucking-lievable.

It says something about.... well... them.

Who in their right mind would put that organization up there? Even before Robertson's recent brain fart. But since??? How does that happen, except that completely incompetent idealogues are in positions of responsibility in disaster relief?

So, they are incompetent at disaster relief, and they are incompetent at PR. Except, they don't think they're incompetent at PR, because they think they can exploit the disaster, thinking they're brilliant at PR.

Who the fuck supports these people, and where can I buy their drugs???

 

[Huckleman2000]

more from here :

Olbermann, Limbaugh, Sharpton and the GOP Mindset
by mcolley
Thu Sep 1st, 2005 at 18:31:31 PDT

Keith Olbermann just had an extraordinary exchange between himself and Al Sharpton.

The subject was the conditions in New Orleans, looting, and the question of where support is.

Olbermann remarked that he had heard Rush Limbaugh earlier today saying that those that were still in New Orleans deserved what they had gotten, as they had chosen to live there. Olbermann went so far as to call him, "that Limbaugh". Denouncing the inherent inconsiderate nature of such a statement.

But Sharpton made the point that struck me...

* mcolley's diary :: ::
*

The Right, as embodied by Limbaugh, Frist, Bush, Hastert, DeLay. They would move heaven and earth to save the life of one White Woman in Florida to combat the very idea of euthanasia (which technically it was not). A woman that a decade earlier had lost her ability to so much as ask for help, much less have coherent thoughts about the quality of her own life.

And they would sit on their ass and watch as tens of thousands of poor men, women, children, babies, and elderly bake in the New Orleans heat surrounded by water, sewage, gasoline and an abandoned city, now devoid of anyone with the means to have escaped ahead of the storm.

This is the culture of life. The culture of life wants to save brain dead white women and unborn children. The culture of life wants you to watch endless non-news about the disappearance of one white teenager in Aruba. The culture of life wants you to support your nation as it kills tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians in its Quixotic quest against a non-threat. The culture of life wants a zero-tolerance for looters policy to sound authoritative as babies die of dehydration. The culture of life expects you to take care of yourself, and if you can't, then it is your own fault for getting into that situation in the first place. Fuck off. You had your shot. Station in life, where you hang your hat, and whether you have the $40 at the end of the month to pay for the overpriced gasoline to get out of that home in time is all up to you.

Always I have argued with Republican friends--the reasonable ones--that not everyone was dealt the same cards on their original Birth Day. Not everyone has been given the same gifts by God, friends, family, or luck. Always those Republican friends believe that they deserve where they have gotten in life, and that no one, including the government, should be asking for their hard-earned cash to help the less affluent. It is always the fault of the lesser-affluent themselves. Circumstances are irrelevant in all cases and constitute class warfare if the question is raised.

Bullshit.

But that's their thing. That's how they see the world. They earned everything they got. Their parents might have given them a nudge, but nothing more. Get a fucking clue.

Bush came away from his mega vacation one day early...Wednesday. Hastert doesn't know why we should rebuild. Condie Rice went to the show on Broadway.

All of these people support the Culter of Life. But none seem to support American Culture. New Orleans, as much as any city, represents distinctly American Culture. A melting-pot of language, music and revelry unlike any other. But it is desperately poor. Over 50% of the children in the state live below the poverty level. But no matter. Mostly black folk down there. They shouldn't have lived there in the first place. They should have gotten out while they had the chance. It's their own fault.

Michael Chertoff was interviewed on NPR this afternoon. He was asked if he had heard of thousands of people at the Convention Center in New Orleans, without water or food or sanitation. Elderly dying. Little girls being raped. Mr. Chertoff was eloquent in his cluelessness. Completely unaware of what had been on the television all day long on both MSNBC and CNN. Unaware that he, at the top of the agency charged with bringing relief to the affected areas, had not been informed of something every American with a remote already knew. That the situation there was desperate. That people needed help. And that noone seemed to be providing it. The man in charge was not in charge at all, folks. It took the Bush Administration 4 years since 9/11... 4 years of chasing ghosts and old demons in Iraq to not do a fucking thing about stateside preparedness. To gut the national guard's responsiveness by sending so many of them overseas. To cut funding for the levee system that allowed Lake Ponchartrain to roll into the city. To put someone in charge of Homeland Security and FEMA that is eloquent, but so impossibly incompetent that he is incapable of establishing a staff capable of letting him know the worst of a situation so large.

Mr. Chertoff said, that he had not heard of such things. That you couldn't believe every rumor from the streets of the area. That he wasn't in a position to argue about what the NPR Reporters had witnessed.

Get the people to our staging areas, he stated, and they can get water there.

Thanks, asshole.

I almost cried last night. A little girl was with her grandfather, their late model sedan stalled in hip deep water. She was standing on what I think was the highway divider next to the car. Soaked. Crying. Her grandfather, dismayed and dazed behind her. Both of them looked at the car, but it was the begging of the young girl that got me. She couldn't have been more than 2 years older than my daughter. And there she was, in the middle of a lake that wasn't there the day before, in the middle of a city that had been destroyed, begging and pleading for the people filming her, and those they were with, to help them. They just needed a push. To higher ground.

And there she stayed, as the vehicle the camera rode in pulled away.

Cross-posted at progprog

mcolley
I'm not liberal, I'm just paying attention

 

[NoJo]

It's not yet time for anger and blame, with so many people dying. This is a horrific tragedy, which will draw the eyes of the world to the reality of the United States; as a country which has large areas of poverty among its Southern population.

I'm guessing that the tragedy will quickly have a effect on US middle-east policy, due to the effect the hurricane had on US oil.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Someone has probably already asked this (there are far too many threads and replies for me to sift through,) but... why they shooting?

Silence, child.

 

[English Lady]

Silence, child.

I see you there, but I don't know any answers -sorry


I notice on the BBC now they have a list of places taking donations. I'm glad to see that. I know there must be many folks like me who wish they could do something but because of distance feel pretty damn helpless. Least now we've got a list of places to give donations too on top of our prayers.

 

[sincerely_helene]

I see you there, but I don't know any answers -sorry


I notice on the BBC now they have a list of places taking donations. I'm glad to see that. I know there must be many folks like me who wish they could do something but because of distance feel pretty damn helpless. Least now we've got a list of places to give donations too on top of our prayers.

Thanks, EL. I had just assumed maybe there were at least a few theories floating around by now as to the 'why' of the shootings. Seems weird that so many would bite the hand that could feed them, if that makes sense.

 

[sophia jane]

Someone has probably already asked this (there are far too many threads and replies for me to sift through,) but... why they shooting?

The people that stayed behind were mostly the poorer people of New Orleans. Among these, unfortunately, are the criminal element. They're doing what they know how to do, which is be criminals. Most of the people left behind truly want/need help, but the few that are being violent are fucking it up for everyone. I don't understand it myself, but it's being reported that there are people being raped, beaten and shot in some of the areas that the police and rescuers won't go because it's too dangerous. And I don't even want to talk about the convention center, because that just makes me ill.

 

[Alex756]

Why the Katrina should have more coverage than the bridge collapse in Iraq.

The bridge collapse is over, the dead are dead and were with in hours. No additional people were there waiting rescue. It was a river, surviviors were quickly pulled out.

Katrina has men women and children still suffering and risking a very real death.

A bridge is easily rebuilt

large portions of 3 states AND a huge city will take significanly longer

One of these events is still happening, yes they both invovle a tragic loss of life. Reports in NO DID mention the horrible loss of life in Iraq. If a station didn't have their NO people report it, they did it back at the studio. As of yesterday it was a front page link on every news site I was on.

--Alex

I can NOT believe that was used to insinuate what it was. That was low and uncalled for and a senseless attack while people are suffering

 

[Guest]

Bear with me and you'll see how this applies to Katrina...

Rocketboom.com is a three minute daily video blog done out of New York.

It is the kind of thing twenty somethings come up with. A little irrelevant sometimes and silly, but also passionate, serious and provacative.

The guy creating it was smart enough to get one of the legions of young struggling actresses in New York City to be his on air talent. Amanda Congdon is an attractive, intelligent, engaging young woman who has built a good following for the daily show. Her only professional credit on IMDB.com is one season on "The Restaurant".

Most of the time, it is Amanda sitting at a desk, in front of a map introducing pieces from field correspondents (ordinary people with video cameras). It is modestly entertaining.

Today's show is a departure from the norm. Amanda is playing a role as a New Orleans refugee at the Superdome. The taste may be questionable, but her talent shows through and she does a good job of putting a human side to what people are going through.

As I said, the taste may be questionable, but it exactly the kind of thing young passionate people should experiment with.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

Thank You, Oz!

I just saw a report on television that Australia was sending their teams of Emergency Management workers, as well as a large number of volunteers, and ... ten million dollars.

I'm awed and humbled by such actions. I know aid is coming from many different places, and trust me, it is needed. Texas has opened its doors to accept 75,000 refugees from New Orleans and other areas. The Astrodome is now full with 25,000 people and buses are being turned elsewhere. Our neighbor city, Killeen, is taking in large numbers of Katrina refugees, as it is a city accustomed to large swells and drops in population because of Fort Hood (massive Army base.)

My daughter came home from school yesterday with a list of provisions needed for these people, and we made a trip to the store for those items. I imagine, if more volunteers are called for as more people arrive, we'll head on over and offer our assistance. I'm really proud of my kids for showing such interest and passion for helping others, and you just can't say thank you enough to all those who have given what they could to contribute to this disaster. Maybe I was more jaded than I realized, thinking most other countries had such distaste for the U.S. that they'd simply turn a blind eye. I'm so glad I was wrong.

~lucky

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Someone has probably already asked this (there are far too many threads and replies for me to sift through,) but... why they shooting?

Because in the USA someone is always ready to shoot someone.

Really: why are they shooting? Who knows? Rage, insanity, opportunity, sheer fucked-upness.

They built a new baseball stadium here in Chicago for the White Sox something like 10 years ago. Not surprisingly, they put it into a poor neighborhood, not far from some high-rise black housing projects.

No sooner had the stadium opened than snipers from the projects started shooting at people in the grandstands. Not much: maybe a shot or two a week. No rhyme, no reason. Most likely it was kids trying to make a name for themselves, or just acting out of rage and boredom, or simply because they had a clear shot from the project roof to the grandstands.

They finally built a wall that blocked the view and the problem stopped. The police never found anyone to arrest. The projects are another world: no one knows anything, no one talks to the police.

I imagine something similar happened in New Orleans. I heard someone on TV say that the shots were fired in anger over seeing the helicopters flying over them while their own rescue was being ignored, but I rather think it's just random, senseless anger and rage. Certainly they didn't know who they were shooting at. They didn't say, "Hey, that chopper's evacuating sick people! I'm going to take them out!"

Every so often, the frustration and fury of the underclass explodes. Mariginalized and ignored, living in appalling conditions, they just erupt a murderous, destructive riot. It doesn't take much. These are people who have no love or respect for the system. They'd just as soon bring the whole thing down.

I'm not trying to make excuses, and no doubt the shooters are a fraction of a per cent of the poor people trapped in NO, but the US is an angry society and it doesn't take much for that anger to explode.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

This is really getting hard to watch, hard to even think about. Buildings in New Orleans are burning; natural gas lines have ruptured beneath the streets and the gas has ignited, burning on top of the water. Filth, disease, death and destruction. It's like watching people trapped in a sinking ocean liner going down before your eyes.

And then, the coverage breaks for a commercial: financial planners, toilet bowl cleaners ("And it kills germs, to protect my family!"), athletic shoes. It's just surreal.

How do these people have time to give news conferences and talk with Larry King?

 

[ABSTRUSE]

This is really getting hard to watch, hard to even think about. Buildings in New Orleans are burning; natural gas lines have ruptured beneath the streets and the gas has ignited, burning on top of the water. Filth, disease, death and destruction. It's like watching people trapped in a sinking ocean liner going down before your eyes.

And then, the coverage breaks for a commercial: financial planners, toilet bowl cleaners ("And it kills germs, to protect my family!"), athletic shoes. It's just surreal.

How do these people have time to give news conferences and talk with Larry King?

I can't watch or read things anymore for a while, they have painted a picture of these people behaving like animals. Shooting, raping, starving, looting...it's too much.

 

[NoJo]

Someone has probably already asked this (there are far too many threads and replies for me to sift through,) but... why they shooting?

Helene, I saw your post, but to be honest, the only replies I could think of at the time would be inappropriate and possibly offensive to many lit. posters. Your -edness is a probably a tribute to Canada.

 

[Extreme Bohunk]

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Fresh troops rushed to New Orleans, scrambling to reverse a tide of anarchy unleashed after Hurricane Katrina and to bolster relief efforts that President George W. Bush acknowledged were unacceptably slow.

National Guardsmen were deployed at strategic intersections, and armed personnel carriers patrolled the streets as teams of hostage negotiators, narcotics agents and SWAT commandos also poured in.

Helicopters with searchlights hovered during the night, while emergency vehicles moved bumper to bumper into the historic southern city now mostly underwater.

Overnight gunfire and pre-dawn explosions heightened the panic in the city, where tens of thousands remained trapped amid fetid floodwaters, rotting corpses, armed gangs and troops with shoot-to-kill orders.

There was no word on casualties or the cause of the blasts, including one that erupted at a chemical storage depot near the French Quarter. Flames at a fast-food restaurant threatened to burn down a neighboring hotel.

Survivors of Katrina's fury, which left thousands feared dead, recounted horrific tales of bodies piling up, gunbattles, fistfights, rapes, carjackings and widespread looting since the storm struck Monday.

Local officials stepped up their criticism of Washington's failure to speed troops and relief to the New Orleans area, where up to 300,000 people were still believed stranded.

Terry Ebbert, the chief of New Orleans's emergency operations, branded the delays a "national disgrace" and moaned, "We can send massive amounts of aid to (Asian) tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

Bush, accused by critics of a belated response to one of the country's worst national disasters, agreed the situation was "not acceptable" as he set out on an inspection tour of hurricane damage in three states.

"I'm looking forward to talking to the people on the ground. I want to assure the people of the affected areas and this country that we'll deploy the assets necessary and get the situation under control," he said.

US authorities had said they would have 22,000 troops on the ground in the state of Louisiana by Friday. But Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said she told Bush earlier this week she needed 40,000.

Officials also brought in some 300 battle-hardened members of the Arkansas National Guard, just back from Iraq and authorized to open fire on hoodlums profiting from the destruction.

"They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded," Blanco said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary, and I expect they will."

Lieutenant General Steven Blum of the National Guard told CNN he was confident that, "within the next 24 hours, you will see a dramatic improvement" in the security situation.

The spectacle of the superpower struggling with a natural catastrophe and a growing refugee problem more common to the developing world shocked US allies and foes abroad as officials here counted up the cost.

Refugees were bused out of New Orleans to shelters in the neighboring state of Texas and as far away as the southeastern state of Florida. Officials said it could be months before they returned.

The United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF) deplored the fact that the poorest residents, those unable to flee the hurricane, bore the brunt of the disaster. It said 300,000 to 400,000 children were left homeless.

The consulting firm Risk Management Solutions (RMS) estimated economic losses would likely top 100 billion dollars and called the situation in New Orleans "the most damaging flood in US history."

Bush, who has sworn to show "zero tolerance" for looters and other profiteers from the disaster, headed off Friday on an aerial tour of coastal Alabama and Mississippi.

He was to walk through parts of devastated Biloxi, Mississippi, before taking another look at New Orleans from the air and making a statement on recovery efforts at the city's airport.

But New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, an increasingly vocal critic of the relief operation, said he told Bush that "his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice."

"I have been all over this city and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshall resources, and we are outmanned in just about every respect," Nagin told a local call-in radio show. "I am pissed."

 

[NoJo]

Soundbite from http://news.bbc.co.uk

"I was in the tsunami region, and this response is incredibly more efficient, more effective and under the most difficult circumstances."

Michael D Brown
Emergency response head

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . "I was in the tsunami region, and this response is incredibly more efficient, more effective and under the most difficult circumstances."

Michael D Brown
Emergency response head

This might be a good place to quantify Michael D Brown's experties by reposting a link that Huckleman2000 posted last night.

CHRONOLOGY....

Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration.

Read it and weep: