STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I know!  We can't even fathom what these people must be feeling/thinking.  It's incredibly heartbreaking.  Dallas and Houston are opening up convention centers and the Astrodome to house Katrina victims, and both areas have opened up their schools to allow children from NO and MS to attend.  Everyone is like -- what can we do to help?  One of the largest catering companies here is trying to get a group of people to go to Reunion Arena and serve food on Monday.  I have volunteered and am trying to galvanize efforts through friends and co-workers.  The more able bodies, the better.  There will be thousands of people housed at the Arena, so if anyone is in the Dallas area, and wants to help on Monday, please send me an email and I will forward to you what I have received.  Thanks.

I'm just so shocked/appalled that this in happening in our own country! Why these people aren't being helped is beyond me. I can't stop watching all the coverage and I've realized that I keep watching because I'm waiting for someone to explain where all the help is and give a good reason why the people in NO don't have any food/water. I feel like there must be some reason but I've yet to hear it.

NylaBelle wrote:

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flknight24 wrote: I'm just so shocked/appalled that this in happening in our own country! Why these people aren't being helped is beyond me. I can't stop watching all the coverage and I've realized that I keep watching because I'm waiting for someone to explain where all the help is and give a good reason why the people in NO don't have any food/water. I feel like there must be some reason but I've yet to hear it. Seriously, I'm ready to pack up a moving van filled with clothes, food, water and other supplies and drive it there myself.  Of course, it is mass chaos down there and I'm sure that when supplies are brought it, it will an angry mob effect.  I think that when something like this happens and there's a lack of the basic necessities of life, humanity starts to slip away and people are reduced to survival mode and instincts. Obviously, this is the case in NO. I never thought I would see this happen in the US.

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nyla - want to come pick me up on your way?  I wish I could pack up and drive down there too.  I'm so disgusted w/president bush and this country that these people haven't had any relief yet.  Bush was on the news this morning choking and tripping over his words.  He doesn't know what to say because there is no excuse for what's happened.  Buses should be there by now to get these people out.  Food and water should have been there by now too.  This is a disgrace to our country - it's like a 3rd world country in New Orleans now.  It breaks my heart to turn on the tv and see dead bodies wrapped in sheets and babies starving for food.  And then last night I hear people have starting raping and beating people?  I agree w/you Nyla - these people are getting desperate and they are all basically losing their sanity.  People are shooting people over food or water.  It's insane.  I just can't believe this is happening in America.  I have been glued to CNN for days..I can't stop watching, and like flknight said, I think it's because I keep waiting for answers and an explanation as to why these people are still there.

i know people are upset over all of this news coverage and what is going on down there but it is extremely hard to get stuff to those people.  The geography of new orleans and where these people are is not easy to navigate.

NylaBelle wrote:

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lsubatgirl wrote: i know people are upset over all of this news coverage and what is going on down there but it is extremely hard to get stuff to those people.  The geography of new orleans and where these people are is not easy to navigate. Right, but the point is, there was ill preparation on the part of the government beforehand. There was plenty of warning and there should have been food and supplies brought in before. And people should have been bussed out before.  Now we're running around chasing our tails and playing catch-up.

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at first i was definitely in the camp of WTF! why didn't those people leave, but the more i think about the more i realize it's not that simple. aside from the socio-economic issues imo there are a lot of logistical issues too. correct me if my time line is wrong, but i believe it wasn't until sat. morning (maybe late friday) that katrina got bumped up to a level 5 hurricane, and it hit on sunday evening (is that right). if that's the case it seems like there's not a lot of time to really create a strategy for bussing residents out and getting food in. granted we all *should* have emergency strategies, but how many of us really do. 

NylaBelle wrote:

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This had been something that has been predicted for years.  Even a category 3 could have done serious damage.  Any hurricane hitting NO could do serious damage b/c it's below sea level.  The bottom line is that the government was ill prepared for this kind of catastrophe despite the knowledge of it's occurence being extremely likely.  They most definitely had more than two days to prepare for this. They've had years.

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I have to say, some of the politicians in louisiana have been trying to get federal money for a number of projects that would have made for more secure levees, also a storm wall around the city. There was a news story last night about the number of requests over the past 10-15 years to congress for this type of project in New Orleans & it was always shot down because it wasn't cost effective. I'll do some research & see if I can find details, I'm sure they are out there because the politicians have been screaming about this for years & years. But really, if 4 or 5 years ago Pres Bush made an announcement that your taxes were going up in order to grant the dollars to a federal project in the event that a hurricane would hit New Orleans, how many people across the country would have thought this was a good idea? I mean really, ask yourself that. Hind sight is 20/20 & there is no excuse for some of the things going on there the past few days. It's not like no one has never thought to try to protect the city, but you have to have the funding. And it's not anywhere close to cheap. I would think now it appears that the wall was quite cost effective...

to piggyback on what laken 1 said, i really don't think you can say it was extremely likely that this would occur.  much of life involves making decisions based on overall assessment of risk, while i don't necessarily agree with it (hindsight and all) i don't think it was unreasonable for them to build the levees to only withstand cat 3 hurricanes given the relatively low risk of one occuring that was greater than a cat 3. it wasn't smart, but it wasn't a totally stupid decision either. 

a lot of these type arguments remind of the hoopla that came after 9/11 (or any major event for that matter). i remember one of the issues being that the iron in the buildings wasn't built to withstand temperatures above a certain point so it melted which lead to the collapse of the towers (iirc). anyway after that so many people were up in arms about why the buildings weren't built to withstand that high of a temperature (it was really high) and how it was irresponsible etc. but no one had any way of predicting that you know an airplane would fly into a building and the burning jet fuel would create such extreme conditions.

NylaBelle wrote:

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I know there are legistics to all of that, but the hurricane was never downgraded to anything lower than a 3 once it got going and that would have been enough to do some serious damage to NO as well.

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http://www.weather.com/multimedia/index.html?clip=2654&collection=topstory&from=wxcenter_video 

actually when it hit miami it was a cat 1 (that was on the 25th) it didn't pick up steam until it was over the gulf of mexico which was 2-3 (give or take) b/f it hit no

honey wrote:

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a lot of these type arguments remind of the hoopla that came after 9/11 (or any major event for that matter). i remember one of the issues being that the iron in the buildings wasn't built to withstand temperatures above a certain point so it melted which lead to the collapse of the towers (iirc). anyway after that so many people were up in arms about why the buildings weren't built to withstand that high of a temperature (it was really high) and how it was irresponsible etc. but no one had any way of predicting that you know an airplane would fly into a building and the burning jet fuel would create such extreme conditions.

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I don't disagree with this, I was just trying to somewhat defend the politicians because I have heard a lot of "why didn't the city plan for this" meaning on a long term scale, not for this particular disaster...the yoohaas did at least think of it & bring it up, but I'd imagine the amount of money that will be shelled out now will far exceed the "cost effectiveness" of doing such a project.

And of course they could have been better prepared. I think the same can be said in lots of hurricane situations. There are poor stranded people in every natural disaster, every year. Surely not to this extent - it's just so awful. I really think nobody (officials, residents, etc) could get their head around how serious this would be, no matter how much you say it. i know i never expected anything like this & I've been watching hurricanes all my life.

I do have to say again that in light of all the negative, I see positive things being done for the THOUSANDS (like to the tune of 100,000) refugees already all over Texas & I'm so proud of that.