We got some of the wind and rain from the last portions of it, but the poor people on the Gulf coast...:(
If those outside the U.S. can imagine an area the size of Great Britain leveled and flooded...this is the amount of destruction Louisiana and Mississippi are experiencing. It's one thing to be asked to evacuate your home for a few days but to be asked to leave indefinitely is beyond my comprehension. These are two of the poorest states. Most of these people have no resources, no options, no place to go. I can't imagine having an infant or small children and wading through chest high water in gator and water mocassin world to try to find safety. I'm appalled at how slow the government has been at providing just water stations let alone food, shelter, and medical care. It's horrifying to see Americans as refugees in our own country. The fuel situation was bad around here yesterday. The city of Charlotte had 25 incidents with numerous arrests at gas stations.
i would imagine they would have SOME family somewhere outside of that region. for me: despite the fact that our immediate family lives in the same county here, we do have family spread across the US. one lives in west palm beach florida, another outside of Dallas, TX, one up in montana, and 2 in west virginia.
Although we are not directly affected by the hurricane, we have friends down there. This post is not going to be pretty, so if you can't stand details stop reading now! Anyway, they live in Gulfport Mississippi about 10 miles from the coast. They did not get the rain, but they did get wind. Even so, it's not pretty. The farthest they can call on their home phone is across the street. Some of their cellphones are working, others aren't. They can't flush toilets. They have wellwater, so they can't drink it (fortunately a neighbor with city water hooked up a hose for them). It is very hot there. They can't even get in the car to escape the heat because the gas lines are so long. A waterpark is being used as a morgue, more or less, to store the dead. And on top of this, electricity is not expected to return for 4 to 6 weeks. My mom has offered to let 'em stay here, but they can't get out. Gulfport airport is closed, the bridges are out, and the nearest airport is Atlanta. Of course, they can't get to Atlanta, because they can't get gas! And the kids aren't set to return to school until at least December. Not pleasant. -John
As terrible as the destruction appears to be -- and I am quite sure that TV pictures cannot give more than a hint of what it is really like -- I have been more shocked by the apparent unpreparedness of the people for such wholesale disaster. I watched CNN for a while last night and saw young woman crying and pleading for Mr Bush to help her and her neighbours ... she might have been a Rwandan refugee but she wasn't; it broke my heart. I hope that relief starts to get through soon. I just took at Amtrak John and even the trainsare teriminating at Atlanta. It is distressing just trying to imagine what life must be like around New Orleans at the moment.
What gets me is that we managed to get aid and supplies out to the Indonesians after the tsunami in December, faster than aid is getting to the people of New Orleans who are part of a western country that should be prepared for this kind of thing, they knew the hurricane was coming a few days before it struck, why are so many people still suffering and dying? I just don't understand how this can be happening....
I watched CNN and get more and more depressed. (One reason I haven't been online much this week: I've been glued to the TV like it's one gigantic car crash, unable to look away!) Now, here's what really bothers me: Why can't at least one person in all these thousands of people still stranded in New Orleans have the decency to gather up some big, strong men and move the corpses somewhere? Why are they leaving people to die, and then just letting them sit there, with a blanket over them, decomposing, with little children running around? Why can't they move them out of the street? I'm not talking about the ones who died in the flooding, I'm talking about the ones who are starving and dying in the shelters. One of the most beautiful, historic, magical cities in the United States has been turned into a thrid-world country overnight, and with all their lip service of raising money and sending troops, the government needs to do something more!!!! Why can't they use School Buses and move people out of there? Last night on the news, an 18 year old was so sick and tired of waiting that he stole a bus, packed it with survivors, and drove it to Texas! I'm sure he'll got to jail for Grand Theft Auto, or something, but he's a hero!!!!
I don't think it is fair to criticise, Sylla, love. It is certainly true that the situation in the stricken area is comparable in destruction to the tsunami (though thankfully not on the same scale) but the comparison must end there. I think it is likely that the emergency planners failed adequately to consider the impact of natural distaster on a region with such a wide gulf between the haves and the have nots. It is too easy for middle-class planners with credit cards (and plenty of good credit) and SUVs and cabins in mountains and large stores of canned and dried foods for emergencies (and probably emergency electrcity generators as well!) to imagine that anyone can maintain a supply of emergency rations. This is nonsense. If you are gonna be a poor person then the USA is not the best place on earth to choose to live. Oh heck <snip> large rant removed :( Good points, Kistal. I also thought of the school buses ... apparently they have started using them yesterday. Too little too late. Not enough imagination in the FEMA. Shall we put ourselves up for the job? I bet that it's men who're in charge at the moment ... they're probably still debating whether to load up the relief trucks Pepsi or Coke ...
You should have left your rant in! After several days of news coverage, I'm trying to be more objective. I know the only information we are bombarded with is from various news organizations that are vyying for viewers. Many of the reporters are trying to build a career and develop an on-air reputation. They look for the dramatic and worst spin because it's riveting for viewers. I'm sorry everything is so televised because the worst of the thugs preying on the victims should be shot in the street...and I believe that's exactly how it would be handled if they weren't on camera. New Orleans is a unique town. It's a fascinating and colorful place but also one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Anyplace with the motto "Let the good times roll" has to have a large criminal element. Many people find all that lovely wrought iron picturesque but it's primary purpose is for security. My husband doesn't understand why all grocery chains didn't give permission to survivors to take food and diapers. I don't consider taking necessities looting...it's survival. Most of the items in stores will be trashed anyway. They can't sell waterlogged clothing, bedding or food items. I'm very familiar with this region. It's predominately rural. The logistics of trying to provide help to not only two larger cities but rural areas the size of European countries must be staggering. The damage spans three states that entails coordinating with three separate governments. Each has different resources and emergency plans. You have to add in the bordering states that are taking in the refugees, too. These states are having to take in floods of people and provide food, clothing, housing, medical care, schooling, and documentation. It will cause huge problems for these states before long. It is hard to compare this to the tsunami. This region was blasted for hours by not only tidal surges but winds that are hard to comprehend. They then had to withstand a second disaster when the levees broke. There is no place for this water to go. School buses that have stood in water are useless. There isn't fuel. Most roads are under water. Railways are impassable. Bridges are gone. The city of New Orleans is a relatively confined space so they have to limit air traffic. This isn't a city of high rises with tons of heliopads. Power, phones, internet and even cellphone towers are gone. Want to know what I find even more frightening...it's still hurricane season in this region. It's conceivable that this area could be hit again and again in the next two months.
The reason they aren't getting help in fast enough is one, theres only one main road into New Orleans which is currently ruined by flooding, and two, when they tried to send in rescue helicopters and boats, people started firing their guns at them, saying "you better come for my family", because nothing says come for my family like taking potshots. There are also people toting AK-47s and other guns because they don't haven't found a place to hide their new 72 inch plasma TV and their 5 DVD players, so they want to maintain anarchy.
Well said, Zy. Your post mentioned all the salient points of my rant only you put it across rather more eloquently. I snipped it out because I couldn't be bothered with tidying it up ... and besides as an outsider my views can hardly be counted as informed. I also declined to post a BBC news report of an English couple rescued from the Superdome because they were being picked on for being white ... apparently they were airlfited to the roof of a hospital where they spent the night tending the sick before they were moved into a luxury hotel. Nice.
I've really tried to be objective about this and separate fact from spin. The glaring problem that can't be overlooked is that the poorest have been treated as though they are disposable. The city told them to go to the Superdome officially and yet they didn't stock it with any food, water, or medical supplies. It's obvious they had no plan for evacuating this facility. Anyone looking at the news footage can see it's all people of color. I couldn't understand why FEMA seemed to be so slow setting up. Letting infants, children, and the elderly die of dehydration because there wasn't water is inexcusable. After researching a little, it seems that FEMA was drastically downsized by our new Homeland Security. They've diverted resources to combat the terrorist threat. One starts to wonder if the President finally got his act in gear because even Castro is offering to send us supplies and doctors. This certainly hasn't been America's finest hour.
I'm sure that was the case. In a highly charged atmosphere, it isn't safe to be different. It doesn't seem fair that one couple got special treatment but I doubt they'd have survived in that environment. They were lucky to get out. Were they on holiday?
Accoring to the 2000 US Census, New Orleans is 67.4 percent African American. Everyone who had a car in good mechanical shape and some money for the gas or a hotel, or some relatives in a safe area, got out of town. The ones who stayed behind are the poorest, the inner-city inhabitants who did not have the means to evacuate when the mandatory evacuation came. I think it's being made into a racial issue because of the race these people are, but personally I think its an economic issue. Our government and politicians do not want to help the poor. The poor do not contribute to their campaigns, they usually do not vote or work in campaigns. The way the government sees it, they are a strain on our finances because they do not pay taxes, and yet they live off of government programs. This Administration is infamous for cutting programs and funding for the poor people and giving tax cuts to everyone except the working poor. I have to wonder, if all these people, regardless of skin color, were middle class, would the aid have gotten there quicker? Would the President have went to tour the area on Wednesday instead of Friday? TV coverage showed a woman hugging him and telling him that her family had lost everything and didn't even have a change of clothes, and he kissed her daughter on the head, and then told her, "I'm sure the Salvation Army is going to give you some new clothes. God Bless you" and then after they stopped taking pictures, he walked away. Wanna win my respect, Bush? Bring that woman and her daughter some water. Take out your wallet and give her some money. Take the shirt off your back and give it to her. Something to show that you really do care and you're not just there for a photo-op to help your job rating! I too thought the Superdome was a bad idea. My fear was that the roof would cave in on them all. They were told to bring as much food and water as they needed for 3 days. Then they were told to bring just what they could carry. It's kindof hard to carry food and water for 3 days. Many of these people are now starving and watching people die and their children crying for water. And these people are poor and have few coping skills. They don't know what to do, but sit and wait for someone to take care of them and feed their children. Yesterday our local radio station was asking for donations and kept reminding people of all the help that poured in when Huricane Floyd destroyed this area 6 years ago. They were calling for non-perishable food items, toiletries, and of course, cash. So I stopped at Food Lion and bought a can of powdered formula. It took me all of 5 minutes and $12. When I got there, I told the DJs to ask for baby supplies, also. LOL Instead, they introduced me (they know me) and put me on air to talk about some of the things that babies could use, and to plead for people to bring formula, baby food, and diapers. I felt better. It was such a small thing I did, but I felt like I helped. (Since Hubby won't let me drive down there and fill my van with babies and truck them back up here, which is what I really want to do! LOL)
I'd just like to mention, that regardless of what the American federal and state governments are doing or not doing, contributions are pouring in to the American Red Cross and other agencies from around the country at a rate faster even then after 9/11. (The charities had initially been concerned that contributions would be lower because of the recent tsunami relief effort.) Also, some city mayors, including Baltimore's, are trying to bypass the federal bureaucratic holdups and send help directly. It is not, apparently, an easy thing to do--there are risks for the people who are sent to help, as you can imagine. As for Bush and his cabinet--they're screw-ups . Inspite of the new Homeland Security cabinet level chief, there appears to be no one at the helm. Reminds me of that old Abbott and Costella (sp?) routine, "Who's on first ..."
I have to say I was impressed with the head of the Homeland Security today. He didn't appear to dodge the hard questions. It is a relief to see supply drops and stations set up at last. No matter the legal ramifications of using the military within our borders or the overwhelming logistics involved, I will never understand why they didn't do this two days earlier though.
Was just watching CNN a little bit ago, and they reported that the last person was evacuated from the Superdome.
Yo guys! Idea here! A lot of Churches and religious groups have rectories and convents that are in very limited use. You can suggest to your pastor, priests, minister, preacher, rabbi--whatever you may have--and suggest that they use that nearly empty convent or something for temporary shelters. I know that it's possible in the Phila. area at the very least. The benefits to this are the fact that, as they are now--in gymnasiums, etc--numerous people have very little privacy and virtually no facilities in which to bathe and what have you. The convents and rectories are divided into separate rooms for personal use, but could accomodate two or three, and allow for the little bit of privacy that every human needs. And if its an older convent, it was built when numerous nuns were in existence. Our old convent is huge! I do intend to present this option to my pastor. We have a big convent, although our nuns left ages ago. It is nearly empty, aside from our offices. The only other feasible idea I had would be to fly to Long Beach, CA to stay aboard the RMS Queen Mary, which is currently a hotel there. Though her capacity is diminished, I'm sure she could accomodate several hundred people. Of course, this is something only the city council of Long Beach or the Red Cross could do. :( Just a thought to get you thinking on how you may be able to get your community involved! -John
