Another Perspective on Katrina

[Cityboyfarmer]

No matter what, we will, as Americans, rally around those in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and help them recover from this massive natural disaster. I cannot in my 41+ years on this planet recall any disaster of this magnitude in the United States. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it took so long to begin getting substantial aid to the area. Tragedies like this bring out the best and, unfortunately, the worst people. From the comfort of my home, with my family safely around me, which I am so grateful for, I make the following observations. Some will be controversial, I know:

1. There were so many people stranded on so many little “islands” in New Orleans. There seemed to be nearly no continuous roadways to get to these people to help them. The size and scope of this flooding has escaped the understanding of many, I believe. When you cannot truck in food and water due to destroyed roads, then you have to resort to small watercraft to navigate the city streets. Even helicopters must have safe areas to land in order to make rescues. The aircraft cannot just fly in and pull people out immediately. An operating base and flight plans must be established to avoid chaos in the air and additional tragedy and death. Fuel must be available for the aircraft and watercraft, and as we all know, this is a logistical problem, in and of itself. From watching television, it seems to many of us armchair emergency management experts that aid should have arrived sooner. It must have seemed like an eternity to those people stranded on these numerous little islands. The bottom line is that if you are not there, you cannot possibly begin to understand the scope of this tragedy. Folks, this thing is MASSIVE.


2. The first thing that struck me about the reporting of the disaster was the attitude shown by some of the residents of New Orleans. Maybe the media sought these types of responses, I do not know for sure. The attitude to me seemed like angry demands for instantaneous relief from the federal government, rather than pleas for help from day one. Note that I am not saying that all New Orleans citizens were displaying this demanding entitlement attitude. What I am saying is that I observed this every time I turn on the news. Even the mayor of New Orleans seemed to be “demanding” immediate federal aid, while appearing to my observations to be “doing” very little. It is my understanding that the mayor is/was not even in New Orleans.

3. The “blame game” is being played, and has been from day one. This is extremely embarrassing to me. What must the rest of the world be thinking of us now? Were mistakes made in planning? Clearly. Can we do more? Absolutely. I know in my heart the “can-do” American attitude will prevail. Looking to place blame for mistakes before we are even finished getting people to safety is counterproductive and will only serve to extend the misery.

4. Mississippi and Alabama do not seem to me to be getting even a fraction of the coverage of New Orleans. Their suffering is just as tragic, and the deaths are just as real. Let’s not forget about those devastated areas. They need our help too.

These are simply my personal observations, not judgements of the situation in New Orleans and I am not asking anyone to agree with me, or convince you that I am right. I just wanted to give another perspective of the situation.

 

[RoyJackson]

That's a great post!

I especially agree with your points 2, 3 and 4.

Point 1...well, there's no way we can overestimate the magnitude of this disaster.

 

[texbaylea]

Good summary of the situation!!!

My opinion of the N-O mayor was that he is ranting and raving to camoflage his own errors and lack of preparedness.

As others have said, the Fereral Goverment is the source of aid of last resort - not the first. It also appears the Governer of Louisana failed to properly request federal aid. It is not done by a photo op on TV.

Vernon

 

[Wiens]

Well said my friend!!

Did you see the photo of the flooded buses? Over 200 buses in that picture alone could have been used to evacuate the residents of New Orleans that didn't have transportation before the hurricane made landfall. Sounds like the mayor screwed up and, in typical fashion, blames someone else.

My opinion only......

Kevin

 

[rozett]

I have just quit watching the coverage. I don't want to listen to it any more. I was thoroughly disgusted with the feeding frenzy against the federal government. Clearly, they could have done a better job in the first few days. But there is plenty of responsibility to go around.

First and foremost is the personal responsibility. There was a mandatory evacuation order after all. Second was the mayor. He made a good call to evacuate. But where was the execution of his evacuation plan? Per Macquaid's article, it included evacuation of those without transportation. And the Governor.... he should have mobilized the LA. National Guard (about 1/3 of which is on post in Iraq) and opened all NG Armory's as shelters. Before these guys rail against the federal government, they should look a little closer to home.

Just tired of the press and their view that it's the federal government's responsibility to fix ALL problems. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[froggy]

The governor is a woman.

 

[Wiens]

"The governor is a woman."



And your point is??.........

 

[Tom_H]

froggy is just correcting rozett for referring to the governor as "he". I don't think froggy is saying that gender is an explanation for the governor's performance.

 

[Wiens]

Sorry!,

I missed that one!

Good Day!

Kevin

 

[pennwalk]

<font color="blue"> Just tired of the view that it's the federal government's responsibility to fix ALL problems </font>

In the past the Federal Government did step in to provide massive aid in disasters. We are in a period of transition. No one wanted to keep paying huge federal taxes. Every President in my memory has gone to Washington promising to reforn the government. Ask yourself how much luck they had. The President has chosen to attack the big government problem by putting it on a big diet. Washington is a tax and spend town and it doesn't matter which party is in charge. Sooner or later the spenders are going to have to stop cause we arn't paying the taxes any more. My point is that it is going to take a while to get out of the habit of expecting the Federal Government to jump right in to bail us out of our problems.

Chris