Inside the Astrodome: A Red Cross Volunteer's Perspective

Telephone Conversation ^ | September 2, 2005 | ConnMan

[ContemptofCourt]

Man, what a grim picture. There are going to be some serious long-term social effects regarding the relocation of all these people.

[finnman69]

I think the government should give people money, tell them to start over.

It's not like these people were not "getting money" from the government before. Start over? They were not even at the starting line before.

[frogjerk]

Simple things like dropping water, they should just do it… should be a priority. It’s a simple no brainier. Someone should be dropping food and water in there

After watching all of the footage on TV and listening to all of the reports I seriously doubt this is still not happening.

[sodpoodle]

For living quarters has anyone considered the recently closed military bases which may have sufficient housing that can be made livable by connecting utilities and Sal.Army donated furniture?

I am sure the dislocated able-bodied adults would be grateful to have employment by helping to renovate the homes.

JMHO
sp

[Clemenza]

Why, oh why am I thinking in a few months that we will see something like the refugee riots in Scarface?

[sodpoodle]

Just stop herding thousands of desperate people together - that only causes chaos. Break up this mass of humanity into small family/neigbor groups, otherwise there are going to be rebellions/riots.

Fear is feeding on itself.

sp

[Jaded]

mark

[stopem]

Frankly I think the worse idea is putting them all in Individuals homes because of all the dangers, and I think placing them in places like the astrodome or reunion arena is also a bad idea they need to open all national guard and military bases and put them all in there where they can be ID'd and the rest of the citizens in the affected cities will be safe.

For individuals and churches who are taking them in they should be made to report to red cross so that there will be an accurate acct of how many there are and how many will integrate into the general public and you know just like there are those in N/O. there will be those in major cities taking advantage of the situation and crimes and chaos will result in Texas.

[TXBubba]

If these snipers are causing problems, come in and kill them. Why are they letting this happen? I don’t understand that. Why doesn’t the military go in and shoot. You are going to loose lives either way.

And I hold the mayor and governor at fault for this.

[Alberta's Child]

Start over? They were not even at the starting line before.

You're right about that. If you check my posts on this subject over the last few days, you'll see I've been working myself up into a psychotic frenzy over this.

The biggest problem this country faces right now is that a large mass of people who were incapable of fending for themselves in New Orleans will now be incapable of fending for themselves somewhere else.

[Armando Guerra]

I have been wondering where these people are going to go for the next few months as New Orleans is rebuilt. The Astrodome seems more like it should be a staging center and not a mid-term solution. Then, I remembered an article in Time, I believe, talking about how Kansas, Wyoming and the Dakota's were paying people to relocate. It seems the exodus of young people from those states was leaving entire communities as ghost towns. Maybe they can be relocated there killing two birds with one stone?

[heartwood]

Average 20,000 each to the 25 largest states.

[HiJinx]

For living quarters has anyone considered the recently closed military bases which may have

There haven't been any military bases closed in the US for three years now. Those that were closed have already been converted to industrial or other use.

The bases that were recommended for closure under the current BRAC round won't be closed for another 3-4 years.

Your question is based on a fallacy and, unfortunately, many people suggesting this are just plain wrong.

[q_an_a]

the head of a Houston church with 30,000+ members says, "Each week a different group of religous denominations will be feeding the people who are in the shelters. We plan to raise $9,000,000 to feed them for 2 months. We are not going to be forcing our faith on people, but we will allow them to find faith in our work." He went on to say that the AstroDome is a mess and that dozens of places are being opened to care for the folks on the buses.

[kittymyrib]

One of the first concerns of the federal government was to tell the federal employees of NO that they will continue to get their full paychecks, not that the Homeland Security people there should get a dime for what they did prior to Monday's storm. The second big announcement was that all the thousands of welfare recipients could access their welfare checks through the states where they were evacuated to. First things first...

[oolatec]

Uh, how do you drop food and water into the Superdome?

[HiJinx]

open all national guard and military bases and put them all in there

You may be able to put a few into National Guard armories, but as I said earlier there aren't any military bases to put them in. Folks need to get that erroneous idea out of their heads.

[pamlet]

I've been thinking along the same line... BUT what kind of work would there be to do in those places?

This is going to be SO monumental... the numbers of people are staggering...

[MEG33]

Old Kelly AF Base in San Antonio will be utilized.

[ChocChipCookie]

Does anyone know if they are cataloging these people as they arrive? They should be trying, as quickly as possible, to get them broken into smaller groups and sent to either individual homes or smaller shelters. It seems that it's a really bad idea to have thousands and tens of thousands of them all in one relatively small area. It's only a matter of time before discontent and anger set in and violence erupts. But then, I'm a great armchair quarterback. :o)