Riding Out Katrina

[Torneyboy]

You would think there was some kind of plan as many storms head that way....

I am amazed at how long it is taking to see some action....like at least food drops.

All i notice today is 17k troops being sent in....

[..]

Dude, you let them off faaarrr to easily, and therefore no accountability for their actions. If anything, we should be very much prepared for a diaster since 911, What has all the homeland security money been spent on? If we react this poorly given a five day notice, what would happen if God forbid a major terrorist attack happened again? You gotta hold their feet to the fire!!!!! I hold my country to the highest possible standards. Afterall, they claim to be the beacon of everything for everybody, so prove it. Why do you let them slide?

 

Now this is sad. How a poor third world country handles a hurricane (thanks to Goatscrot for pointing me to this):

 

The Two Americas

By Marjorie Cohn

Saturday 03 September 2005

 

Last September, a Category 5 hurricane battered the

small island of Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds.

More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher

ground ahead of the storm. Although the hurricane

destroyed 20,000 houses, no one died.

 

What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret?

According to Dr. Nelson Valdes, a sociology professor

at the University of New Mexico, and specialist in

Latin America, "the whole civil defense is embedded in

the community to begin with. People know ahead of time

where they are to go."

 

"Cuba's leaders go on TV and take charge," said

Valdes. Contrast this with George W. Bush's reaction

to Hurricane Katrina. The day after Katrina hit the

Gulf Coast, Bush was playing golf. He waited three

days to make a TV appearance and five days before

visiting the disaster site. In a scathing editorial on

Thursday, the New York Times said, "nothing about the

president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual

to the point of carelessness - suggested that he

understood the depth of the current crisis."

 

"Merely sticking people in a stadium is unthinkable"

in Cuba, Valdes said. "Shelters all have medical

personnel, from the neighborhood. They have family

doctors in Cuba, who evacuate together with the

neighborhood, and already know, for example, who needs

insulin."

 

They also evacuate animals and veterinarians, TV sets

and refrigerators, "so that people aren't reluctant to

leave because people might steal their stuff," Valdes

observed.

 

After Hurricane Ivan, the United Nations International

Secretariat for Disaster Reduction cited Cuba as a

model for hurricane preparation. ISDR director Salvano

Briceno said, "The Cuban way could easily be applied

to other countries with similar economic conditions

and even in countries with greater resources that do

not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba

does."

 

Our federal and local governments had more than ample

warning that hurricanes, which are growing in

intensity thanks to global warming, could destroy New

Orleans. Yet, instead of heeding those warnings, Bush

set about to prevent states from controlling global

warming, weaken FEMA, and cut the Army Corps of

Engineers' budget for levee construction in New

Orleans by $71.2 million, a 44 percent reduction.

 

Bush sent nearly half our National Guard troops and

high-water Humvees to fight in an unnecessary war in

Iraq. Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for

Jefferson Paris in New Orleans, noted a year ago, "It

appears that the money has been moved in the

president's budget to handle homeland security and the

war in Iraq."

 

An Editor and Publisher article Wednesday said the

Army Corps of Engineers "never tried to hide the fact

that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as

well as homeland security - coming at the same time as

federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain,"

which caused a slowdown of work on flood control and

sinking levees.

 

"This storm was much greater than protection we were

authorized to provide," said Alfred C. Naomi, a senior

project manager in the New Orleans district of the

corps.

 

Unlike in Cuba, where homeland security means keeping

the country secure from deadly natural disasters as

well as foreign invasions, Bush has failed to keep our

people safe. "On a fundamental level," Paul Krugman

wrote in yesterday's New York Times, "our current

leaders just aren't serious about some of the

essential functions of government. They like waging

war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing

those in need or spending on prevention measures. And

they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice."

 

During the 2004 election campaign, vice presidential

candidate John Edwards spoke of "the two Americas." It

seems unfathomable how people can shoot at rescue

workers. Yet, after the beating of Rodney King aired

on televisions across the country, poor, desperate,

hungry people in Watts took over their neighborhoods,

burning and looting. Their anger, which had seethed

below the surface for so long, erupted. That's what's

happening now in New Orleans. And we, mostly white,

people of privilege, rarely catch a glimpse of this

other America.

 

"I think a lot of it has to do with race and class,"

said Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the

Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. "The people

affected were largely poor people. Poor, black

people."

 

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reached a breaking point

Thursday night. "You mean to tell me that a place

where you probably have thousands of people that have

died and thousands more that are dying every day, that

we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources

we need? Come on, man!"

 

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had

boasted earlier in the day that FEMA and other federal

agencies have done a "magnificent job" under the

circumstances.

 

But, said, Nagin, "They're feeding the people a line

of bull, and they are spinning and people are dying.

Get off your asses and let's do something!"

 

When asked about the looting, the mayor said that

except for a few "knuckleheads," it is the result of

desperate people trying to find food and water to

survive.

 

Nagin blamed the outbreak of violence and crime on

drug addicts who have been cut off from their drug

supplies, wandering the city, "looking to take the

edge off their jones."

 

When Hurricane Ivan hit Cuba, no curfew was imposed;

yet, no looting or violence took place. Everyone was

in the same boat.

 

Fidel Castro, who has compared his government's

preparations for Hurricane Ivan to the island's

long-standing preparations for an invasion by the

United States, said, "We've been preparing for this

for 45 years."

 

On Thursday, Cuba's National Assembly sent a message

of solidarity to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It

says the Cuban people have followed closely the news

of the hurricane damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and

Alabama, and the news has caused pain and sadness. The

message notes that the hardest hit are

African-Americans, Latino workers, and the poor, who

still wait to be rescued and taken to secure places,

and who have suffered the most fatalities and

homelessness. The message concludes by saying that the

entire world must feel this tragedy as its own.

[..]

chocolat steve said:

BOTH parties reward their campaign staff and supporters with crony, cushy jobs...How many of Clinton's appointments were people he knew from his Arkansas days? His FEMA head was James DeWitt, from Arkansas and Clinton's friend. To be fair, although he was in the construction business, he did have emergency services experience.

Why should anyone have a problem with cronyism, IF the person in question is qualified for the job. I sure don't and I practice it too. Meaning I would rather do business with someone I know than those that I do not. It is human nature to want to deal with a known quantity than the unknown.

 

Bush's problem is that he continuously appoints people who are not qualified or worse, negatively qualified for a position. THAT is a problem.

 

Regards,

SD

[pattaya127]

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us

--------------------------

Flash, do you mean the official response or the people? I am not on top of every news, but it seems that a good part of "the people" is responding, in what way seems the best for them.

[Khun_Kong]

P-

 

I believe this quote is from the article that FM quoted, not from FM himself

[RayRay]

lazyphil said:

People not affected who twist this into a political issue make me puke ::

 

Of course the Bush administration would never politicize a tragedy. Hell, they've been milking 9/11 since the second Bush finally put down "My Pet Goat" and hid like a little bitch on AF One.

[Hugh_Hoy]

Well, things sure are bad down south right now. But in the intervening time since you started this thread, a number of comments have been made and quoted that really disturb me. Similar comments were made after the SEA tsunami. Those comments to which I am referring are ones which typically cry out "our government wasn't prepared" or "so-and-so is not qualified" or some political diatribe that would even be levied against some politician if the event was a meteor landing in Omaha.

 

What strikes me is what seems to be an ever-increasing reliance on the federal government for anything and everything. And ever-increasing blame placed on the federal government for anything and everything.

 

When you have several days notice that a major hurricane is aimed at your front door, is it not logical for local and state officials to take pre-emptive measures? Are you not personally responsible for initiating an appropriate response of some kind? I hear nobody saying, "Why the f___ didn't these people try to leave?" "Why did they insist on staying behind?" I also ask, why didn't the Mayor of New Orleans, after ordering evacuation, press all available busses and trains to start picking up people and getting them out of harm's way? I can't believe that the Mayor or the Governor couldn't have arranged for 100's of rail cars into the areas for people to jump aboard. Trucks and trailers also. It is apparent that the local and state officials did little other than yell "Get out of Dodge; that's an order". Well, Louisiana is one of the poorest (if not the poorest) states in the Union. So, it is reasonable to suspect that many would not have cars to take them out of the area. That's what good local leadership is all about. Plan and organize. Don't wait and then start crying about lack of leadership/perceived inadequacy of a federal govenment. It's mostly your own (personal) responsibility and that of the local/state agencies to address these matters. And that goes for the craziness of living in an area that's below friggin' sea level and next to the largest, most powerful river in the U.S. which is known to flood from time to time.

 

So bitch and whine and moan about the "U.S." response all you want. But you're ignoring the people who are most responsible for the human tragedy...the individuals themselves and their local "leaders" who now try to blame others AFTER the avoidable loss of life has been suffered.

 

Amen.

 

Hugh (mak)

[kamui]

Hugh,

 

have you read the article on Cuba and how well it is prepared for hurricane of this class?

 

As far as I understand in N. O. the poorest were left behind who did have neither the means nor the money to leave their houses. In Cuba they had a perfect plan how to organize the evacuation, in New Orleans they did have it NOT.

 

Some assessment already have been made in the US:

 

- to prepare for this kind of scenario it takes decades of continious work (planning of leeches, conseration of marshlands). This had been delayed again and again, but the current goverment cut the funding for this by 44%!!!

In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

 

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

N. Y. Times

 

- You need masterplans and highly trainend professionals. It seems because of the cuts many of FEMA professionals retired. Have you read how it's boss was described by the N. Y. Times?

"Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center."

 

Probably the next months will show failures on many levels of the US society/bureaucracy. To put the blame on the poorest of the poor that they should have acted more responsible is a shame IMHO. This just showes that large parts of the US society/bureaucracy don't give a shit for the people on the lower end.

 

PS: I have just seen a report the (mostley white) poeple staying in a luxury hotel where evacuted while next to them hundreds of the poor living and dying in the street where left behind. That's how the US society seem to work.

 

PS: PS: Three weeks ago while I was in Tokyo the biggest earthquake since 13 years hit the town. Only 30 minutes after the earthquake hit the leaders of the goverment met in a special designed crisis center and helicopters were already flying all over Tokyo to assess the damage.

While the hurricane hit N. O. Bush was riding his bike on his pseudo farm, Cheney was in holiday in Wyoming for holiday and it took until Saturday for him to return to Washingtion. During the week house speaker Rep. Dennis Hastered skipped the Katrina relief vote to attend congressional fundraiser and he told the press that N. O. should not be rebuilt.

 

That's probably what the Reps call compassionate conservatism.

As an American I would be embarrassed.

[Flashermac]

<< Flash, do you mean the official response or the people? >>

 

 

Don't ask me. Ask the woman who wrote it.

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

Yep. I read the article. And I stand by my statement that people need to assume some responsibility for themselves instead of relying on others and "the government" for so much. Poverty and assuming responsibility are NOT mutually exclusionary. And don't forget, that "poverty" is not only a choice many make, but it isn't always what people seem to make it. You might be surprised to learn that the average U.S. family living in "poverty" lives in a 3 bedroom house or apartment, just for instance. I'm afraid that people living in "poverty" can/do accept personal responsibility. Just as an impoverished person is not/need not engage in criminal or dishonest behavior.

 

I agree that advance planning is necessary. The question is, why did not the local and state authorities do that very thing. And with several days notice, why didn't they do more than shout a warning. Like I said, they could very well have evacuated that city of all who wanted to leave in 3 days. Shit, 100's of thousands of people commute daily in and out of major U.S. cities in a matter of a few hours! Don't anybody try to tell me that they couldn't have emptied the coastal areas in 3 days even without decades of planning.

 

Your comment about the U.S. not giving a shit about the poor is so far from the mark, it's really not worth addressing.

 

I say again:

"So bitch and whine and moan about the "U.S." response all you want. But you're ignoring the people who are most responsible for the human tragedy...the individuals themselves and their local "leaders" who now try to blame others AFTER the avoidable loss of life has been suffered."

 

Kamui, I'm kind of cutting you some slack here since you are probably quite a bit younger than I; have probably grown up in a more "socialist/socialistic" time and place than I. And I think that tends to dilute the concepts of self-sufficiency, personal initiative, and responsibility.

 

Hugh (mak)