Posted on 09/16/2005 1:03:44 AM PDT by Elyse
Emergency officials who prepared Louisiana's plan for responding to a major hurricane never guessed that one of their duties would be to protect aid workers from gunmen, one of the state's senior disaster officials said Monday.
Speaking at a symposium in New York, Arthur Jones, chief of disaster recovery for Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said he was caught off guard by the violence in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
No disaster planner, he said, predicted that people would loot gun stores after the storm and shoot at police, rescue officials and helicopters.
Jones said the flow of aid to the city was delayed because officials were not able to guarantee the safety of American Red Cross workers and other volunteers.
"That's never been in any plan," Jones said in an interview following his speech to the emergency response officials at the symposium. "Unfortunately, in the future, it will have a place at the table."...
**snip**
...He also said the humanitarian disaster in New Orleans could have been lessened if more people had heeded orders to leave the city as Hurricane Katrina approached.
Jones complained that a mandatory evacuation order issued by New Orleans' mayor the day before the storm went "essentially unheeded" by tens of thousands of people.
Many of those people later sought refuge in the Superdome, which Jones said hadn't been stocked with food or water because it was only supposed to have been used as a shelter of last resort.
"Should the people have gotten out? Should have," Jones said. "What does `mandatory' mean to everyone in here? If someone tells you it is mandatory to get out of this room right now, what are you going to do? I'm headed for the exit."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Escape from New Orleans
Why not? This happens in normal times in New Orleans. Why would a disaster present any lesser amount of this kind of activity?
Yup, they were just ordinary folks, but when that hurricane hit, why, they just felt compelled to bust into the old Wal-mart, pick up a few long guns and some ammo, and then head out and bag them a few of them nasty old rescue workers. Could happen to anyone, even you.
What order???
The one that nagin/blanco NEVER GAVE!
I think Mr. Jones is correct. Disaster, recovery, and continuity planning do not usually cover such behavior as contingencies.
just out of curiosity - Id like to know the stats on wildlife that was poached after the storm
Just my guess,,,, but there were enough illegal firearms in the corrupt and crime ridden city of NO before Katrina to cause France to surrender faster than they ever have to Germany.
Nagin did give such an order, but did not attempt to enforce it, nor supply any transportation for those without their own or access to that of others. The order came about 20 hours before the Hurricane hit, while planning indicated that it would take 48 hours to evacuate the city.
Of course anyone with half a brain had initiated their own evacuation as soon as it became obvious that it would be a big storm, and would come very near New Orleans.
Who also lived in the low lying areas of the city, those lower than the Lake level and probably those lower than the river level as well. Of course that's most of city save some western areas.
Translation: Next natural disaster, the 2nd Amendment goes out the window right away.
Then they are fools. I guess I wouldn't have anticipated they'd fire on the rescuers in quite the way they did. But they should have expected gun thefts, and armed looters, who would shoot when confronted by police or Guardsmen. They should also have expected the hijacking of rescue vehicles both public and private.
I call BS on this, and have been looking for citations to substantiate the fact that SOME planners have their eyes open.
In any major city any moron would know that this is going to be a problem. If this is really the case, that planners didn't consider it in making plans, then they need to fire some disaster planners because they are certainly not planning for a realistic disaster scenario.
I agree.
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