Disasters

[Judy]

I am absolutely appalled at the situation in New Orleans. Who would 
have thought this could happen in America?  

Preparedness in New Orleans was lacking in at least three areas. The 
first problem was that money for storm protections such as levees and 
barrier islands had been cut. [www.Salon.com has a good article on 
this.] The second problem was that many thousands of residents and 
tourists without cars were left with no way out of town. And the 
third is that the emergency workers (police, etc) were woefully 
unprepared to deal with this crisis; unable to keep order or provide 
essentials like drinking water.

The follow-up response to the disater was even worse. I heard an 
interview with the head of FEMA in which he said his agency hadn't 
known of the desperate conditions at the Superdome and Convention 
Center until Thursday.  How is that possible?  Doesn't anyone in his 
agency own a TV?

Jenny wrote:
>> Yes, the mandatory evacuation seemed to come at the last minute,
>> but it was ordered as soon as it was evident that New Orleans 
>> would be hit. When the mandatory evacuation was ordered, buses
>> were provided to
>> move people to the superdome, which was set up as a shelter.

and Chancie said:
> while there were many in New Orleans who did want to leave,
> but were unable to, there were just as many that REFUSED to leave.
> Regardless of "voluntary" or "mandatory" evacuations, no one can
> force anyone from their homes.  

One of the main factors contributing to this disaster was the 
complete lack of evacuation transportation for people without cars. 
New Orleans is an urban area where many residents and tourists have 
no cars.  I travel a lot, so I have been paying attention to the 
experience of tourists in the city.  Many tourists were desperate to 
leave before the hurricane, but no transportation was available -- 
they tried cabs, rental cars, planes, even trying to arrange a 
hellicopter -- everything was full.  

Sure, some people in New Orleans may have wanted to stay, but even if 
they had wanted to leave, it would have made little difference.  
Unless they had a car, there was no way out.  (I know there are cars 
left in the city, but many of these probably belong to two car 
families who left together in one car.  Unless one was willing to 
steal a car, and knew how to start it with no key, these left over 
cars were pretty useless.)  Why didn't the governor use school buses 
to take people to inland, higher ground?  In most areas of the 
country, schools are equiped to serve as shelters. 

As for having buses to take people to the "shelter" of the Superdome, 
the entire city was supposed to be evacuated.  What's the point of 
setting up "shelters" in an area you are trying to evacuate?

I hope this tragedy serves as a wake-up call for the U.S. We need to 
do better next time.