A few days ago, a friend of mine who lives in Scotland, was commenting about the disaster in Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. She's a very nice God fearing women, but seems to believe what BBC and CNN tell her. Which is why she blamed Pres. Bush for the disaster that is now New Orleans. I almost fell over I was so surprised to hear it come from her.
Because of this, I think a little education is in order. Apparently there are quite a few people who know nothing about hurricanes or the procedures the people in their path take.
The last major hurricane to hit between Louisiana and Alabama was Hurricane Camille in 1969. That's about 30 years ago. Generally that area just does not get severe weather because FL, and the countries beneath it, take the worst of the storms. Or the hurricane veers off and hits Texas. (Aren't they lucky?) Even should a cat. 5 start to go straight to that area of the coast, it peeters out before it hits the coast and ends up being a 3 or 2. (My family actually camped out at our house during a cat. 2-low 3 hurricane named George. We were in the eye wall and everything!)
Evacuation has *always* been the responsibility of the local and state government. A good evacuation gets everyone out on time and with the least amount of fuss as possible.
In Mississippi and Alabama very little death happened, just a lot of land damage. The reason for this is because both of those states are prepared and so are their citizens (who generally aren't nutty enough to stay in the area when a cat 5 is coming toward them). Even the poor and the homeless (which both states have plenty of) know to get out of the area and *find a way to do so*.
Louisiana mostly had problems in New Orleans. I am not the least bit surprised either. There are so many reasons why I'm NOT surprised that it's hard to find a place to start.
1: They live in a bowl, way below sea level, next to a gulf that creates more than one hurricane every year. I also believe New Orleans is near a lake or river or something that floods. Hm... terribly smart place to build a city, isn't it?
2: They haven't gotten seriously hit by a hurricane in years (Not even Camille touched them). The citizens are not prepared, mentally, for the *true* devistation a strong hurricane can cause. People stayed when they should have left, because they thought they could weather it.
Not only that, apparently most of the city's population was not aware that they lived in a *death trap*. How could they not know that? It's not like they're all new to the city, many have generations of family who lived there.
3: The Mayor just didn't prepare for it. I think he just didn't think it *would* happen, and therefore didn't prepare or make enough effort to inform his citizens. He can point fingers all he wants, but the responsibility of evacuation and up keep of his city is HIS JOB.
4: Government corruption and violence. When you have a rushed evacuation, guess what happens? BAD THINGS. Mix that with all the violence (gangs, etc) that they have in New Orleans and you get more than BAD THINGS you get AWFUL THINGS.
Also, about relief effort after the disaster(s). With Katrina, people need to keep in mind that after a cat 5 hits, there's not a whole lot any one can do at first. Catagory 5 hurricanes literally clean away the land. There is nothing left, no electricity, no communication, no running water, no roads, no people, nothing. Rescue workers can't just magically plop themselves (and there massive amount of supplies) in the middle of a diseaster area and make it all better.
For federal government to help, a request must be made *by the state*. That's the law, and that's how it's been long before a Bush was in office. I think the reason for this is so that the feds can't force their way into a situation when they're not wanted.
From what I could tell, the Mayor of New Orleans didn't even know how bad the damage was until a *day after* the fact. And then, even though he knew it was bad, he didn't know *how bad* until rescue workers started arriving. But the rescue workers were having problems because apparently everyone in New Orleans lost their minds and were breaking laws, shooting rescue workers, and starting gang wars.
Now really, is that the Presidents fault? Is that even the Federal Governments fault?! No. That is the STATE'S and HUMAN NATURE'S FAULT. Lets keep that straight from now on, alright?
Lastly, I'm so dang proud of my home state, Mississippi. God bless you, people of the coast. You had more devistation than New Orleans, yet lost fewer lives and kept your heads about you.
And if you're wondering, before I got married, I lived less than a 5 minute drive from the coast. My parents still live in that exact same spot, and there house is still standing. I gotta admit that it was disconcerting seeing places I'd walked, ate at, and visited many times nothing more than slabs of concrete. But they're alive, and so are all the people they know. That's what matters
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