too little too late...

When I started writing yesterday, I really intended to write about how angry I am about the way this storm was handled. I should warn you that I haven't read EVERY news story about New Orleans so maybe I'm getting some of this wrong so feel free to comment on it.

When I was watching the weather news about the approaching Catagory 5 hurricane Katrina last week, I knew that something horrible was in store. I have been watching hurricane stories as long as I can remember, as I mentioned in my earlier post. I've seen several news conferences with LA authorities and they seem to be saying that what they did was based on the worse case scenario that they could imagine and they just couldn't imagine this kind of devastation. However, I read today that the levees that broke were only built to withstand a Catagory 3 hurricane. And I seem remember hearing before the storm hit that possible breaches in the levees were going to be diasterous. So what I want to know is why the authorities allowed so many people to stay in the city but more importantly, why more was not done to assist the people who did not have the means to escape the wrath of a catagory 5 hurricane! (I know it was a 4 when it hit completely but it was a five right before landfall too).

THey are now bussing the 20,000+ refugees from the Superdome to the Astrodome in Housten. This is what I mean by too late. There was an interview with a couple refugees at the Astrodome and they had legitimate reasons for staying in New Orleans - the woman's mother had just had a triple bipass surgery three weeks ago and they felt unsafe moving her. I can see why they would be concerned about the mother and grandmother but perhaps if evacuation procedures relating to the areas of the state farther from the hit point were improved, they could have felt safe leaving the most dangerous area to be in for a safe place even just a little farther away. What I'm trying to say is that the people of the South, my brethern, need to find a way to communicate to more people in times of crisis and open their doors more readily. A lot of these people probably did not have access to any news about the hurricane other than maybe some radio reports and the police information given about the evacuation. I am lucky enough to have access to the Weather Channel and 5 other news stations playing 24 hour coverage of the hurricane, tracking it along its path but so many of the people in New Orleans have little more than the clothes on their backs and food to eat. A lot of people probably can't even comprehend what wind at 150 mph means! Don't even get me started about immigrants with language barriers. So not only was there a problem in not helping people evacuate more, there doesn't even seem to be enough education on what these storms can do! The women in the interview admitted that the higher catagory number should have warned them to leave but they didn't understand what just two numbers higher than a 3 could mean in terms of the storm!

I know that all of this is clear to us in retrospect but it's important to talk about failures in this crisis in order to have more success in the inevitable future hurricanes. New Orleans will never be the same, not just because of the extreme damage to the city but also the emotional toll it has taken on the entire country. Every death I hear about is one that I feel could possibly have been saved if Americans adheared better to the Golden Rule.

I don't understand why the city didn't make people leave. I don't understand why the government didn't send in those massive amounts of troops BEFORE the storm in order to enable and encourage people to leave the area. I don't understand why some people don't understand how this devastation feels the same or even worse than that of September 11th. I guess it is because the warning signs of this diaster were not very cryptic and there was no possibility of accidently ignoring warning signs. We knew what could happen and we knew it would probably be worse than many hurricanes in the past but instead of going the extra mile to ensure safety, the same procedures we have used for years for mandatory evacuations were used even though the breaching of the levees would likely cause major problems.

I'm sure Ive been quite redundant in the past few posts and I apologize. I spent a lot of today wondering again what I can do to help both the people of the Southeast and my own mental health. I still haven't figured out what to do for the former but for the latter, my own mind, I can write and try to stimulate conversation and education. At this point, it is all I can do other than pray.

God bless America. Please.