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Posted on 08/24/2005 9:50:25 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
New verse:
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Upon the hearth the fire is red, |
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Still round the corner there may wait |
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Home is behind, the world ahead, |
But here's the good thing that happened! The store next door called, and said they were going to raise gas prices 50 cents per gallon tonight, and we should come and fill up if we needed to before the price went up.
Not everyone gets a call from their gas station to beat the price hike :~D
Heh...that's rather nifty!
I was watching CNN about a half hour ago and they hadn't mentioned relief to the convention center.
Then again, they tend to focus on what is going wrong there so if relief was given there, I doubt it would receive much coverage anymore.
How nice!
It's a comfort to know that good people still exist.
I think there's an upper limit to the size of a disaster that can be effectively managed. I also think this has far eclipsed that limit.
Ok, I'm calling it a day. A long day. 'Till tomorrow!
MSNBC has been covering the convention center more... that's how I got interested in their plight.
I duuno, LF. Seems that as long as there are choppers able to fly and food and water within 100 miles, regular air-drops aren't that tall an order.
I can see the evacuation being difficult, but not the providing of supplies.
We aren't a third world country.
I'm so upset over deaths from dehydration, especially the babies.
There is just no reason for it.
The problem with the convention center is heartbreaking. I imagine that the problem is that the places that *were* established as evac sites are pushed to the limit for supply and logistics as it is.
This is a problem so overwhelming that I really believe that no amount of planning or preparation could have ever been "ready" to deal with it. You can't ever be "ready" *enough* for something like this, on this monumental scale.
Disaster planning also depends on... and I mean *depends* on... active participation and self-help and cooperation of the able-bodied people that are involved. Filling sand bags. Improvising shelters. Ferrying and passing supplies. Helping the infirm. In short... being part of the solution.
The impact of the storm and flood is bad enough, but no disaster plan can survive when there are people actively working to defeat it.
I'm thinking of some parallel, like if we were called to rescue some boat in trouble at sea... and come upon them and try to take them in tow, but they keep throwing off the tow line. And if we get close to them they start shooting at us. Then somebody on their boat gets on the phone with Larry King and broadcasts all about how we're not helping them enough.
[sigh]
I don't know... but I just *know* that there are stories of uncommon selflessness and heroism happening out there. There are heroes in this, and I wish we were seeing them.
But all we get to see is disaster porn.
[/rant] :-)
[sip]
I guess I tend to take these disaster situations too personally.
I tend to focus on what needs doing and how it can happen because of the mess and disorganization we witnessed after Andrew.
I know that there is no way anyone can be prepared for this kind of thing, but it doesn't have to be perfectly orchestrated in order to work.
Food and water drops at various locations at regular intervals shouldn't be that difficult. We dropped all of those lovely yellow food packets over Afghanistan, remember?
And that was a war zone.
Between that and househunting (and work) and gas and..and..and ...well, my beeber is stuned.
I think there will be more casualties in New Orleans from dysentery, e. coli, typhus and plague than from drowning. The people I've seen on TV are not concentrating on survival, and they're going to run out of resources pretty quickly while they concentrate on gathering stolen property and firing on those trying to help them.
May God have mercy on them, and more so on those who ae at least trying to do right by themselves and their neighbors.
Agreed... there's lots not happening that needs to be happening. But even though I think local and state authorities are likely idiots of monumental proportion, I don't think they're just deciding not to do things that they could otherwise do. I think they're trying to catch up as best they can.
Like Shep's rant earlier today about not getting enough supplies out with helicopters... OK... fine...
But how many Fox affiliated stations are there, with helicopters, within 3 hours flight of the area? There are hundreds and hundreds of helos that *could* have been there by now. I haven't seen any footage of a single one. But I've seen some pretty good aerial footage from a helocopter showing NG and CG helos doing the work.
[sigh]
Still waiting to hear about my baby sister Tori. When my younger sister went by her house before the storm hit, Tori's car was gone, so we think she either went up to H'burg or up to Jackson to stay with her son. Either way, she has no way of contacting anyone because of power and phone outages in both places. I got through to my brother, George last night, and it was the first time his phone had rung since Sunday night.
There's lots of prayers to go around, Rosie!!
Glad you're home safely.
Exactly.
It's like they are leaving the CG and NG to handle it whilst everyone else looks on with "Woe Is Me!" on their foreheads.
Every helicopter (media, hospital and otherwise) can easily drop food and water whilst they carry themselves and the sick back and forth out of the area.
Providing those who are still waiting to be rescued with basic supplies will go a long way to restoring civility and reducing tension in the area. It's fear that drives people to act crazy and desperate.
With the exception of course being the hoodlums who are simply taking advantage of the situation. I have no sympathy for them at all. Raping, shooting, killing and stealing is never OK, but doing it now is simply deplorable.
And by stealing I'm not talking about food, water and stuff like that - I'm talking ~stealing~.
One problem is the gangs on the ground shooting at the helos. Another problem is that they are afraid of what kind of mayhem will result on the ground if they drop a pallet of food and water. They're afraid people will get trampled trying to get 'their share'. I can understand that.
I'm even beyond the point where it really matters that there's looting going on. OK... so there's looters. Looters happen.
But when it gets to the point where medical crews have to have a military escort to avoid being taken *hostage*... good grief.
I'll bet there are some NG troops out there praying that they get deployed to Baghdad instead of New Orleans.
There's an inner city sickness in this country that really needs fixed.
I know it, sis. The situation ain't pretty.
I'm all for them scattering MREs instead a formal drop of supplies on a pallet.
That way, the planes and choppers can stay in motion from a higher elevation and the food won't be attacked by a mob since it's scattered over a larger area.
Maybe I'm just not being realistic. ~sigh~
I'm off to bed. Nighty night everyone.
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