was a natural disaster now a humanitarian catastrophe

[Newt]

Folks - I'm pretty much gonna stay out of these discussions but I did want to put in a couple of comments.

 

We thought we were prepared to deal with a disaster from a major storm hitting that particularly vulnerable section of the Gulf Coast. At this point, it is obvious we were not.

 

Hopefully we can get things properly dealt with and the remaining live people in the area taken care of in short order but it is taking way more time to ramp up to the needed resources than it should have. The mayor of New Orleans had some very pointed and unhappy remarks to make about the Federal Government efforts (or lack thereof) to date. I have to think he is in the best position to judge.

 

Given the extent of the news coverage, you have as good an idea as I do of exactly what is happening in that area right now.

 

There have been the usual crop of unexpected obstacles for groups trying to offer help. One that I know of because it is local has to do with a mobile hospital in this area. Fully staffed, stocked, and ready to roll. However, only two of the 70 physicians/surgeons who will accompany the equipment are licensed to practice in Louisiana or Mississippi and an emergency provision had to be made. Same with the other professional staff like the nurses. It is being taken care of in record time but even the day's delay was not good.

[snotty]

quote:

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'It is America and the same would happen here if we had a similar disaster, I for one would be prepared to "loot" in order to get water and food...you don't seriously think that Americans are any different to the looters that appeared after the Tsunami do you?'

---

Spot on Poledark, there but for the grace of God fellow anglers...

 

This human disaster reinforces my beliefs that when the chips are down, you better watch your back. Does anyone here really think that tony's cronies would or could react differently if this happened in Norfolk say, sad truth is we are watching human nature at work and it ain't pretty.

 

As for 'war spirit'... this is 60 years on, apathy selfishness and greed are King. Not many turn a hand when they see injustice... 'not my business stay out of it' we cry.

 

This also shows the U.S. for what many of us knew already, full of bluster, all taters and no meat.

Shame on you Bush!

[Steve Burke]

From a US newspaper:

 

"Friday's evacuations (from the Superdome) began at about 9 a.m., halted for about an hour and then resumed two hours later. At midday, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the line to be evacuated — much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome since Sunday.

 

"How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard made him get back in with the unwashed masses as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage."

[Steve Burke]

From Associated Press:

 

"We are not in New Orleans," the Red Cross' Dodge said. The federal Department of Homeland Security has basically told us they don't want us, our Red Cross folks, in New Orleans because our presence would keep people from evacuating."

 

Other groups also reported that they were not being allowed into the city. MAP International said it was working to send medical supplies to a New Orleans hospital, but that the shipment was being held up by a difficulty in getting the credentials needed for drivers to get through roadblocks set up by the National Guard."

[Ian FG]

snotty:

 

...This also shows the U.S. for what many of us knew already, full of bluster...

No snotty, I never knew that.

[Steve Burke]

Re the above 2 posts: It's easy to criticise, but I wonder how different it would be in the UK?

 

Certainly the press and media are gunning for the administration.

 

Let's hope that we soon get the stories of incredible bravery and compassion instead.

[poledark]

Steve, I expect those stories are already there, just not being told. I heard a black congresswoman saying proudly how her city of Chicago(?) had made provision to recieve 500 refugees..............my mind boggles when I am told that there will be more than a million.

 

Newt, maybe I come across as pretty uncaring,but this is a disaster covering an area about the size of GB , and there is only so much that can be done in a given space of time. I do not believe that there is any intention on the part of anyone that certain sections of the population are being ignored/neglected.

 

We live in an age when we expect instant results, unfortunately the reality is that when a disaster of this magnitude strikes a densely populated highly civilised area there will be very many who will start screaming for help after a very short space of time.

 

The poor blacks will probably not be a lot worse off when they are moved and rehoused and given state benefits/handouts, but the better off whites(?) have lost a damned sight more if you measure it in monetary and social loss, and no one seems to be reporting this....I wonder why?

 

 

 

Den

[spangles]

The sad thing is it didn't have to happen this way. I got sent this email...

 

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

- President Bush, September 1, 2005

 

"It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

 

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however--the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

 

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level--more than eight feet below in places--so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

 

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

 

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't--yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City.

 

- National Geographic, October, 2004

http://205.188.130.53/ngm/0410/feature5/index.htm

 

Dave

[Steve Burke]

poledark:

Steve, I expect those stories are already there, just not being told.  

I'm sure they are, Den, and not yet being reported.

 

I also agree that those affected have greater expectations than with natural disasters in poorer countries.

 

However, reporters on 3 separate UK terrestial TV channels all reckoned that the relief effort was very badly disorganised compared with others they'd covered in the third world. One was visibly trying to hold back his anger - and reporters are supposed to be impartial.

 

The American people are rightly going to want answers as to what went wrong. After all, unlike the tsunami for instance, it was known that this disaster was likely to happen several days before it struck.

[Cranfield]

poledark:

 this is a disaster covering an area about the size of GB ,  

 

   

Den, its amazing how many people in the UK don't realise this.

 

In the US the National Guard take main responsibility for responding to disasters, including security, search and rescue, restoration of Services etc.

 

Unfortunately, 60% of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard are in Iraq (info from New York Times).