September 02, 2005
Delayed response to the damage
I've been putting off posting anything about the New Orleans and Katrina hurricane disaster, but I decided to say a couple things.
It overwhelms me the madness, chaos, death and suffering that this act of nature has caused, and I cannot imagine how the folks down there feel or how they are coping with it. I can only offer my hopes and prayers that things will turn out better , much better, and very very soon.
On one side I feel humbled and small next to the power that created the destruction, we humans are mere gnats buzzing around a stagnant pond, one big gust comes up and we're blown away. Gnats are tough to wipe out though, although their lives are short every year they come back in force. Humanity is tough, we come back, and we stick around.
On the other side it seems from my perspective (albeit limited) that the disaster efforts for the big tsunami that recently hit were more well organized, funded and quicker in execution. The supposed richest country in the world hit once again unprepared and naive. Much like the villagers in the story "The Little Boy who cried Wolf", there were those who had heard the warnings so many times before about annihilation, and after living through it figured they could once again weather the storm. I often think the US gov'ts delayed response to action was also linked to them being taken completely by surprise by the magnitude of the disaster. It angers me somewhat that once again the US gov't is blindsided by disaster.
Anyways, I came across a great link to FEMA from The Accordion Guys blog, it suggests sending money, not items, and it gives a good list of US volunteer agencies for Disaster Relief. I can't decide where to send money, but the Canadian Red Cross seems like a good place to start. I have very little to give, as you all might know, but every little bit helps.
[update] Looks like the online donation must be mega busy for Canadian Red Cross, perhaps 2 am would be a good time to try.
Posted by Oorgo at September 2, 2005 12:02 AM Permalink - Category: Things | TrackBackUnreal pics here ...
Posted by: Juan Demonio at September 2, 2005 03:04 AMDon't forget, the primary responsibility for the safety of the city lies with the local government. The mayor of NO has been shooting off his mouth, but I think a big part of that is to deflect attention from the fact that his emergency plan was totally inadaquate.
Nobody thought that NO would be "instant asshole, just add water". Gangs and looters started in as soon as the storm ended. These weren't desperate survivors, these were scumbags who couldn't wait to start destroying and acting out their power-trip fantasies.
The secondary responsibility lies with the State. Louisiana has over 65% of it's National Guard in-state, yet didn't make it into the city until two days had passed. Recently, Pennsylvania sued the Federal Government over closures of National Guard bases, and a Federal judge ruled in favor of the state. The states have ultimate and final control over their National Guard units unless federalized for overseas deployment.
The US is not an overarching do-all and be-all government. The idea is to provide services too big for any one state (national defense, interstate transportation regulation, etc), while staying the hell out of the business of the individual states.
Was the federal response too slow? Yep. But a lot of the finger pointing going on right now is aimed at the wrong people. A huge part of the problem was at the local and state level.
Posted by: Ted at September 2, 2005 10:41 PMJust donated $25 to the Canadian Red Cross as I did for the tsunami, hope others give what they can to help.
Posted by: Juan Demonio at September 8, 2005 12:42 AM|
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