EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
|
Katrina
Aug 31, 2005 12:26:36 GMT -5
Post by EasyEd on Aug 31, 2005 12:26:36 GMT -5
Katrina is starting to look like the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. I ask all to dig into their pockets and give to help the relief and very extended recovery for the area. For those of us raised in that area of the country, we are in a state of shock. It's our 9-11. May God watch over those who have lost so much.
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,433
|
Katrina
Aug 31, 2005 21:03:39 GMT -5
Post by Nevada Hoya on Aug 31, 2005 21:03:39 GMT -5
I was not raised in the area, but I was conceived in New Orleans, so all in that city are in my prayers.
|
|
nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,674
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 12:22:13 GMT -5
Post by nychoya3 on Sept 1, 2005 12:22:13 GMT -5
Not only is it the worst national disaster in at least a century, it seems to be getting worse, not better. On TV, I'm watching people who have been waiting on the streets for 3 days, and are getting NO apparent assistance from all the "help" that Bush assured them is forthcoming. Where is the federal government? I also see the Governer of Louisiana holding a press conference that was primarily a prayer to god to spare the people of New Orleans - GET A FREAKIN CLUE! People are dying and unless the authorities get their heads from their rears NOW it's going to get so much worse. Thousands are dead - almost certainly more than died on 9/11. Yet, after 4 years of what should have been planning for a major disaster (natural or otherwise), the response has been slow motion.
It's awful. Just awful. The problem isn't looting - the problem is people dying of hunger, thirst, and disease while the government talks happily about the things being done to help them. Is it because the people suffering are primarily poor and black that nothing comeasurate with the extent of the damage is being done? I don't know, but it's making me sick to my stomach.
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,433
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 12:27:09 GMT -5
Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 1, 2005 12:27:09 GMT -5
I just heard last night that the levees were supposed to be re-enforced last year, but the money was diverted to Iraq.
|
|
DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,756
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 12:33:59 GMT -5
Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 1, 2005 12:33:59 GMT -5
I just heard last night that the levees were supposed to be re-enforced last year, but the money was diverted to Iraq. The local office asked for $35 million in funds, got $10 million, but opted not to begin work until they could get more money. There's no guarantee the extra money would have specifically made the difference, so arguing about it won't solve anything right now. Tragedy is non-partisan. The administration is working with the governor's office to help where appropriate, which is how it should be. But nothing is going to move very quickly when you're talking about hundreds of square miles of affected area. It's only been four days. But things will get done.
|
|
nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,674
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 12:47:40 GMT -5
Post by nychoya3 on Sept 1, 2005 12:47:40 GMT -5
"The administration is working with the governor's office to help where appropriate, which is how it should be."
I couldn't disagree more. When you have people starving in the streets, "coordination" is the least of your problems. There needs to be leadership. For example, there was talk the first day of using blackhawks to drop sandbags to staunch the flow of water. Never happened, because they were being used to pick people off roofs. Whatever bureaucratic protocols are being created ad-hoc should have been in place for years. This is a tragedy, yes, but a wholely predictable one. Why is there no evidence that anyone was prepared for this? I hear about hospital ships getting ready to leave Baltimore tommorow - why weren't they headed for the Gulf when the storm was getting ready to hit?
This isn't just a Bush problem, but the onus falls on him. FEMA has been disfunctional for years, but the people on the Gulf can't afford that right now.
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." When you have Bush saying crap like that this morning, I can only wonder if anyone ever tells him anything. People have been talking about this forever. Again, why was there no plan?
It's only been four days. Four days is enough for the old and the young to starve to death. Four days is enough to catch cholera. Somehow I'm not comforted. Why is CNN at the Superdome and the Convention center, and there's NO national guard presence?
|
|
nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,674
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 12:50:22 GMT -5
Post by nychoya3 on Sept 1, 2005 12:50:22 GMT -5
As for the money to shore up the levees, it's not all on Bush, but these choices get made when you undertake a 200+ billion dollar war in Iraq, and cut taxes to create a massive structural deficit. Suddenly, there's no money for stuff that NEEDS to get done. Would it have made a difference on Katrina? Perhaps not. But the fact is that New Orleans has had to beg for this money for years when it should have been a national priority. Of the catastrophes most likely to strike the United States, this is probably number one, right there with a earthquake in San Francisco.
|
|
nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,674
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 13:55:34 GMT -5
Post by nychoya3 on Sept 1, 2005 13:55:34 GMT -5
The saga of FEMA. They don't seem to be getting help to the people at the Superdome or the Convention Center. These are places with thousands of people who need assistance, and there's virtually no official presence 4 days later. We're not talking about complex tasks here - if the disaster relief agencies are unprepared to get people food and water in the days following a disaster, just what are they prepared to do exactly? www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007023.php
|
|
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 14:19:29 GMT -5
Post by fsohoya on Sept 1, 2005 14:19:29 GMT -5
You might want to get a grip, NYC. Yours is the same sort of mindless, partisan, Bush-bashing that we heard right after the tsunami. "Why aren't we doing something right away!? What's wrong with Bush! I'm ashamed!" Of course, a week or so after the tsunami we learned that all the help sent immediately by other countries was worthless because no planning was involved and the aid couldn't get to the people who needed it.
Let's focus, perhaps, on what could be done to help rather than taking unnecessary and potshots at the president. Or is that not the priority for the liberal set?
|
|
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 14:29:51 GMT -5
Post by jerseyhoya34 on Sept 1, 2005 14:29:51 GMT -5
I think nyc has identified several areas where things could be done, particularly in the areas of security and personnel.
I'd say there is also a difference between the tsunami relief and what is happening right now in New Orleans. In spite of the presence of an insurgency in Banda Aceh, armed hostilities abated for the sake of recovery and relief. Meanwhile, in New Orleans...
Fact of the matter is that several balls were dropped along the way here, and that needs to be understood and analyzed lest mistakes are repeated. Nobody disagrees with the idea of chipping in and helping out in whatever way possible, but the problem is that the basic infrastructure of a relief effort seems to be ad hoc and insufficient. That is highly frustrating for people inside and outside of New Orleans/Gulfport/Biloxi.
|
|
Gold Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,578
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 16:07:02 GMT -5
Post by Gold Hoya on Sept 1, 2005 16:07:02 GMT -5
Why is CNN at the Superdome and the Convention center, and there's NO national guard presence? As a former member of the (campus) media, I don't say this lightly ... but how many people could CNN and all the other media outlets save if, instead of live broadcasts, they all gave their power generators to a hospital and drove 15 people each out of town in their vans? That's ad-hoc and incremental, but it's way more useful than trying to take pictures of people who have passed away in this tragedy.
|
|
Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 16:13:32 GMT -5
Post by Jack on Sept 1, 2005 16:13:32 GMT -5
Admittedly a small concern in the grand scheme of things, but GU is doing what it can do for Loyola students displaced this semester: explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=2743"Georgetown University today announced that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina it will provide academic assistance to undergraduate students from Loyola University New Orleans who have been displaced as a result of the devastation. Undergraduate students at Loyola University New Orleans who are from the metropolitan Washington, DC area may take courses at Georgetown University during the Fall 2005 semester through an emergency cross registration program (ECRP)."
|
|
nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,674
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 17:28:10 GMT -5
Post by nychoya3 on Sept 1, 2005 17:28:10 GMT -5
This isn't Sri Lanka - it's one of the biggest MPA in the United States. This is a place where the EXACT threat that his been warned of forever has just happened, pretty much exactly to specification. Call me shrill - by all means, keep on fiddling while Rome burns. Yeah, I hate that Bush is an incompetent fool, but that's beside the point at the moment.
Bottom line is that this is a bigger disaster, in terms of the human suffering and economic dislocation than 9/11, and that comes from a New Yorker. Has it been treated as such? Worse, it was for more predictable (and perhaps preventable) than 9/11, yet the response has been ad hoc and chaotic. Part of that falls on the congenitally incompetent Lousiana and New Orleans government (though Nagin has acquitted himself well), but the lionshare falls on the entity with the resources to deal - the federal government.
The thing with the news trucks is ridiculous - a generator can power some lights, a camera, and a satellite dish - it can't power an arena or a something like that. In giving us the sickening images on my screen at the moment, the media keeps the spotlight squarely where it must be - the suffering of the people of New Orleans and Gulf Coast.
|
|
Gold Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,578
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 17:43:30 GMT -5
Post by Gold Hoya on Sept 1, 2005 17:43:30 GMT -5
I'd rather have the suffering alleviated, even a little bit, than shine a spotlight on it.
|
|
|
Katrina
Sept 1, 2005 18:24:39 GMT -5
Post by fsohoya on Sept 1, 2005 18:24:39 GMT -5
Yes, let's alleviate the suffering and stop with the idiotic and unproductive Bush-bashing. The fact is no emergency unfolds according to some textbook scheme, NYC, and it makes a lot more sense to first assess the situation and then act. "Fools rush in..." is how the saying goes, I believe.
And really, would any rational person think that Bush was purposely dragging his feet on this? How would that do him any good? Maybe no one should attempt to take advantage of this for political reasons, eh?
|
|
|
Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 8:29:03 GMT -5
Post by HoyaDestroya on Sept 2, 2005 8:29:03 GMT -5
Hindsight is 20/20 - I am sick and tired of listening to the Anderson Cooper's of this world tell politicians what they should have done when his own station was saying that damage wasn't as bad as expected even 24 hours afterwards. The fact of the matter is that it is much worse and they are now reporting that... the truth is that more needed to be done, more needs to be done and the media is only complicating things. Are you telling me that the Bush, the Governor and every other person in leadership doesn't want to be helping these people? This whole chain of comments makes me sick - in stead of arguing over who did what when (there will be a time for that) - donate now - store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate2/ Maybe Anderson and the rest of the Vanderbilts could chip in a little.
|
|
vagrant
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 182
|
Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 8:51:57 GMT -5
Post by vagrant on Sept 2, 2005 8:51:57 GMT -5
If anyone is to blame, IMO, it is the city of N.O. It was a stark contrast to see the pictures of the orderly Astrodome, where blanketed cots were lined up in rows, and the scenes of the Superdome where a mass of desultory bodies was lying in wait on the infield. When a section of the roof broke, the instructions were to go higher and get a seat. "We can seat 70,000 confortably in the dry areas." The Astrodome had 2-3 days to plan; N.O. had years. 3 years ago The Times Picayune ran a projection of a Cat 5 hitting the city with what has proved to be a very accurate scenario. Where was the city disaster plan? You may argue that with the flooding and the destruction of the infrastructure there is little you can do; but, this is exactly what your disaster plan is for. This is exactly what you knew would happen. In contrast to the citizens of NYC, the some of the citizens of N.O. have acted despicably. Where is their leader? Where is the Mayor? He belongs there, with the city that elected him. Through thick and thin. Rudy G's stock has rocketed.
|
|
EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
|
Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 10:53:07 GMT -5
Post by EasyEd on Sept 2, 2005 10:53:07 GMT -5
I started this thread and have relatives who lost everything and I'm still awaiting word on others. I do not think this is the time to be pointing fingers and assigning blame. Now is the time to be together to try to do what each one of us can to alleviate the suffering and the losses across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Reach into your pockets and do what you can. When all of this has stabilized there will be enough time to blame inhabitants, local, state and federal officials, relief organizations, etc. Please don't make this political while so much suffering is underway.
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,433
|
Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 12:12:23 GMT -5
Post by Nevada Hoya on Sept 2, 2005 12:12:23 GMT -5
I hope people's humanitarian efforts, and those of other countries, are able to reach the victims soon. In lieu of that I see no problem with dispersing stores of supplies at local groceries (food and water) by those able to get to them until help is actually there in the city. To avoid disasters of this magnitude in the future as far as getting emergency aid I think it is imperative that FEMA be reconfigured to be a viable agency again. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901445.html
|
|
Cambridge
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Canes Pugnaces
Posts: 5,303
|
Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 13:50:57 GMT -5
Post by Cambridge on Sept 2, 2005 13:50:57 GMT -5
"The administration is working with the governor's office to help where appropriate, which is how it should be." I couldn't disagree more. When you have people starving in the streets, "coordination" is the least of your problems. There needs to be leadership. For example, there was talk the first day of using blackhawks to drop sandbags to staunch the flow of water. Never happened, because they were being used to pick people off roofs. Whatever bureaucratic protocols are being created ad-hoc should have been in place for years. This is a tragedy, yes, but a wholely predictable one. Why is there no evidence that anyone was prepared for this? I hear about hospital ships getting ready to leave Baltimore tommorow - why weren't they headed for the Gulf when the storm was getting ready to hit? This isn't just a Bush problem, but the onus falls on him. FEMA has been disfunctional for years, but the people on the Gulf can't afford that right now. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." When you have Bush saying crap like that this morning, I can only wonder if anyone ever tells him anything. People have been talking about this forever. Again, why was there no plan? It's only been four days. Four days is enough for the old and the young to starve to death. Four days is enough to catch cholera. Somehow I'm not comforted. Why is CNN at the Superdome and the Convention center, and there's NO national guard presence? As far back as the late 90s reports were released indicating that the three most probable and devastating disasters that may occur in the near future were, in order of likelihood and damage: 1) Terrorist Attack on NY 2) Levees Breaking in New Orleans 3) Massive Earthquake in the Bay Area Living in the Bay Area, I'm not too happy about their predictive accuracy.
|
|