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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.

Evening folkses...my trivial-by-comparison problem is that the computer appears to have up and died, and I'm on a borrowed one; haven't been able to keep up with just about anything.

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.

PE and I were astonished that the superdome was even considered as an evac shelter. We immediately saw that it was a death trap. Then we saw who was standing in line to get in, and it dawn on us what we were dealing with. These are the people who refused to evacuate and then found themselves stranded.

The problem with the airdrop issue was that the helicopter was getting shot at by looters/gang types. Heartbreaking, yes, and infuriating.

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.

I have not seen *any* self-help or cooperation going on in the New Orleans situation. I have seen a lot of it in MS though. As far as New Orleans, I have only seen selfish people in feeling sorry for themselves and not willing to help their neighbors. It's disgusting.