How Hard Could It Be
Journey to the Bayou (thanks to Robert for the link)
Students travel to Big Easy, help Katrina victims
Four days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, unleashing her winds and floodwaters into the Big Easy and surrounding areas, Buder said he saw plenty of television coverage of the disaster but no relief in sight for the survivors.
“CNN is there, but the National Guard can’t get there? There’s something wrong with this,” Buder said, adding that he called Byrd to tell him, “We’ve got to go, we just gotta go.”[snip]
But the trio said a military blockade was preventing people from driving into the city. Knowing that press officials were allowed to pass, however, Byrd said he came up with the idea of pretending to be members of a media organization to gain access. “I walked back into the news station and found a press pass, so I just yanked it off the desk,” Byrd said. He added that he swiped an official news station shirt as well.
“For $11.68 at Kinko’s, we made press passes and business cards,” Hankla said.[snip]
After making the drive to New Orleans, Hankla explained that the National Guard was turning away car after car in front of them at the military checkpoint at the entrance to I-10—the freeway that leads into the city. When it was their turn to show identification, the boys said they held up their Kinko’s press passes to the guard and waited.
To their surprise, the trio said, the guard waved them past. “‘Can you believe that?’” Buder recalled them asking each other.
“People stayed four, five days with no food, no water, little girls getting raped in bathrooms, dead bodies lying all over place,” Buder said. “[The U.S. government] could have driven trucks in. I mean, we drove a Hyundai.”
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This is how bad it is, folks. Can anybody actually still call themselves a "Bush supporter" now?
Mexico Sends First Aid Convoy Ever to U.S http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050907/aponrelaamca/katrinamexico
Kind of off topic, but I was trying to think of solutions to this crisis.
How about moving all the people from the disaster areas to all of the abandoned ghost towns throughout the american west. there are dozens of these towns with already built structures, wiring,and water. Many officials, law enforcement, doctors , firemen and Essential city services could all resume their occupations in these new (old) towns, set up an interim municipal goverment while they set up and arrange foe elections to fill the void. As more people come they will need to build new houses, schools and much more to make those communities grow. The surrounding land could be used for localised farming, and or industry purposes, manufacturing plants/ assembly etc., thus creating jobs and purpose for the new townsfolk. This could be permenant solution for some and a transitory solution for others. Not everyone is going to want to stay, but when you got nothing, a little omething would be nice for the time being. Every town in America started out a small community, and some grew to be giant mega-cities while others still survive as small communities. I believe this is something worth concidering, It may not be the best solution , but its an option.
:P Just a thought.
Might like to put these links on the front page.
National Geogrphic has posted the video of a story they did in 2001 on the Wetlands and levees around NO. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0831050831levee_video.html
Also there's a great story from the october issue last year.
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/
from this article "Such high stakes compelled a host of unlikely bedfellows—scientists, environmental groups, business leaders, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—to forge a radical plan to protect what's left. Drafted by the Corps a year ago, the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) project was initially estimated to cost up to 14 billion dollars over 30 years, almost twice as much as current efforts to save the Everglades. But the Bush Administration balked at the price tag, supporting instead a plan to spend up to two billion dollars over the next ten years to fund the most promising projects. Either way, Congress must authorize the money before work can begin."
How much is it going to cost to undo the damage. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Speaking of which, I've read a few columns arguing that while the Federal response was too slow, Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco were primarily responsible for the chaos that followed the hurricane because the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan was not followed before and after the storm. The plan states that the
It's been mainly pro-administration columnists and bloggers arguing this. Does anyone know both sides of this story?
Oops, hit send before I pasted the quote. The plan states that the
"authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane."
Adding to JAYMZ HUGHES thoughts maybe they could be moved to now defunct military bases (thanks George). They are already equipped with housing & facilities for large numbers of people.