Hurricane Katrina

[FlaSoxxJim]

Yeah it kinda upsets me too.  Its one thing to be emptying a supermarket because you have nothing to eat, and I don't think anyone would begrudge that type of behavior.  But you are talking about rapes, shootings, and just general anarchy conditions.

 

I was curious about historical context when I asked earlier, when was the last time that something like this happened.  When was the last time that a major US city was basically destroyed by a natural disaster?  The last two I could come up with were San Francisco in 1906 and Chicago in 1871.

 

Those would be the other historic benchmarks, I'd say. And only San Francisco really compares as far as the size of the impacted aream (not to diminish the loss of 17,000 buildings, or 90,000 or so in any way), loss of life, and the loss of infrastructure. Tragic as it was, the Fire only killed around 250-300 people. They fact that once a fire is out it's out also helped a rapid return to a semblance of normalcy. Desoite the Tribune building being destroyed, they only missed one publication date in the wake of the fire, and had the famous "Chicago Will Rise Again" edition out the next day, printed from a hastily settled new office. And supposedly by the next day, provisions were being handed out to people and someone was selling fruit from a stand he erected in the burned out city center. Interestingly, there was initial looting and lawlessness here as well, but citizen vigilante groups quuickly put that down.

 

It has also been pointed out by recent city hhistorians that Chicago was rebuilt so quickly because it was in the right geographical place at the right historical moment. Chicago was in it's golden age, had sprung up out of nowhere withing a couple generations, had passed St, Louis as the 4th largest citty in the country, and pretty much was the epiphany to the rest of the country that urbanization was coming and coming to stay.

 

I don't really know anything about the SF earthquake, other than the fatality estimates are vildly varying. As low as 500 people to as high as 4,000! I don't know why the number is not more precisely known. Maybe the number of poorly documented Chinese working on the railroad, I don't know.

[Texsox]

I was curious about historical context when I asked earlier, when was the last time that something like this happened.  When was the last time that a major US city was basically destroyed by a natural disaster?  The last two I could come up with were San Francisco in 1906 and Chicago in 1871.

 

Galveston last 6,000 souls in 1900 from a hurricane.

 

http://www.1900storm.com/storm/index.lasso

[FlaSoxxJim]

Galveston last 6,000 souls in 1900 from a hurricane.

 

http://www.1900storm.com/storm/index.lasso

Damn, I've been reading up on 1900 (and the Keys in 1935), and all of a sudden they both slipped my mind.

 

Is this what it's like being old, Tex?

 

P.S. does the coffee taste better with the senior discount?

[southsider2k5]

Galveston last 6,000 souls in 1900 from a hurricane.

 

http://www.1900storm.com/storm/index.lasso

 

I though about Galveston but discounted it. Just now I remembered that Galveston was the biggest city in Texas at the time of that hurricane. Good call.

 

More what I was looking for was has anything like this happened in the US in the last 100 years? I can't think of anything else.

[Steff]

I sat in front of the television most of the night last night and again this morning when I couldn't sleep watching the coverage. This is just so amazing to me. So sad. So angry. I was mesmerized by the water coming out of the faucet as I brushed my teeth...

[Queen Prawn]

I was mesmerized by the water coming out of the faucet as I brushed my teeth...

 

I know what you mean.

 

Brian and I are going to stock up on water and canned goods this weekend. We've been doing the canned good thing in our house for about 6 months now, but want to make sure there are bottles of water available as well. Made our donation to red cross this morning - wish there was more I could do, but it seems donating is the best that we (as in citizens not near the area) can do for now. Donations and , that is.

[Steff]

They are doing some food air drops, now.  This picture is in front of the convention center.

 

 

The subject of FEMA's ignorance of the thousands of people at the convvention center well into yesterday afternoon is still really odd.  During the 8 am news hour on NPR yesterday there was a piece that explicitly noted the small city that had sprung up at the coonvention center, how looters vere basically using it as a staging area and bartering their hauls there at an ad hoc market of sorts.

 

Eight hours later, and FEMA doesn't know there was anybody there?!? 

 

 

Sadly... dropping the supplies was not the plan.

 

"A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times on Thursday to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away."

 

 

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/page/2/

[Steff]

I know what you mean.

 

Brian and I are going to stock up on water and canned goods this weekend.  We've been doing the canned good thing in our house for about 6 months now, but want to make sure there are bottles of water available as well.  Made our donation to red cross this morning - wish there was more I could do, but it seems donating is the best that we (as in citizens not near the area) can do for now. Donations and , that is.

 

 

Jim and I are going to buy that garage fridge tomorrow, and a bigger generator also. Just got off the phone with Life Source for tomorrow as well.

[Queen Prawn]

Jim and I are going to buy that garage fridge tomorrow, and a bigger generator also. Just got off the phone with Life Source for tomorrow as well.

 

After the wedding, we are going to be getting a small chest freezer. I don't know if we have a generator or not truthfully (he's got so many things in the garage that I lose track every now and then), but that is something to look into getting.

 

We had a fridge for the garage but friends of ours mentioned they needed one so we gave it to them only to find out they gave it to someone else who ended up throwing it away - kinda ticked us off as we would have kept it for the garage if they didn't want it (that or see if anyone else needed one).

[Steff]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9157866/

 

Bush says relief efforts are ‘not acceptable’

President plans tour of hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast

 

 

For the first time, however, he stopped defending his administration's response and criticized it. "A lot of people are working hard to help those who've been affected. The results are not acceptable," he said. "I'm heading down there right now."

 

 

"But Bush was avoiding an in-person visit to the worst areas of New Orleans, mostly drowned in rank floodwaters and descending in many areas into lawlessness as desperate residents await rescue or even just food and water. Instead, the president was taking an aerial tour of the city and making an appearance at the airport several miles from the center of town."

 

 

Good decision.

Edited September 2, 2005 by Steff

[Texsox]

This should play into Bush's strong suits.

 

Play tough cowboy and stare down the lawless and looters.

Be compassionate towards the victims.

Whip up the volunteers who I am certain are starting to fatigue and burn out.

 

Above all he needs to be specific on what relief is coming and where to. What exactly is being done right now and over the coming weeks.

 

I have confidence in him in a situation like this.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Spoke to a friend who lives in Houston last night. She said some of the residents down there are not exactly thrilled to have these people there. Supposedly some of them have been roaming around asking for beer and cigarettes.

It'll be interesting if things get tense or violent down there, because you can pack heat in Texas and a lot of people do. That's Bush country, there will be no anarchy down there.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Houston's situation:

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3335968

[Texsox]

World stunned as US struggles with Katrina

Sep 02 10:08 AM US/Eastern

 

 

By Andrew Gray

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.

 

World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern United States whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.

 

But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world -- looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people gathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.

 

"Anarchy in the USA" declared Britain's best-selling newspaper The Sun.

 

"Apocalypse Now" headlined Germany's Handelsblatt daily.

 

The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.

 

But some view the response to those disasters more favorably than the lawless aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

 

"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 

"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

 

SINKING INTO ANARCHY

 

Many newspapers highlighted criticism of local and state authorities and of President Bush. Some compared the sputtering relief effort with the massive amounts of money and resources poured into the war in Iraq.

 

"A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush," France's left-leaning Liberation newspaper said.

 

"(Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, nice and dry in his hideaway, must be killing himself laughing."

 

A female employee at a multinational firm in South Korea said it may have been no accident the U.S. was hit.

 

"Maybe it was punishment for what it did to Iraq, which has a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster," said the woman, who did not want to be named as she has an American manager.

 

"A lot of the people I work with think this way. We spoke about it just the other day," she said.

 

Commentators noted the victims of the hurricane were overwhelmingly African Americans, too poor to flee the region as the hurricane loomed unlike some of their white neighbors.

 

New Orleans ranks fifth in the United States in terms of African American population and 67 percent of the city's residents are black.

 

"In one of the poorest states in the country, where black people earn half as much as white people, this has taken on a racial dimension," said a report in Britain's Guardian daily.

 

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, in a veiled criticism of U.S. political thought, said the disaster showed the need for a strong state that could help poor people.

 

"You see in this example that even in the 21st century you need the state, a good functioning state, and I hope that for all these people, these poor people, that the Americans will do their best," he told reporters at a European Union meeting in Newport, Wales.

 

David Fordham, 33, a hospital anesthetist speaking at a London underground rail station, said he had spent time in America and was not surprised the country had struggled to cope.

 

"Maybe they just thought they could sit it out and everything would be okay," he said.

 

"It's unbelievable though -- the TV images -- and your heart goes out to them."

 

(With reporting by Reuters bureaux around the world)

[Texsox]

Bush and Clinton ride again . . .

 

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following President

Bush's announcement today that former Presidents Bush and Clinton will lead a

nationwide fundraising effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Wal-

Mart President and CEO Lee Scott contacted President Clinton and the White

House and committed $15 million from Wal-Mart to jump-start the effort.

    As part of this commitment, Wal-Mart will establish mini-Wal-Mart stores

in areas impacted by the hurricane.  Items such as clothing, diapers, baby

wipes, food, formula, toothbrushes, bedding and water will be given out free

of charge to those with a demonstrated need.

    Wal-Mart previously donated $2 million in cash to aid emergency relief

efforts and has been collecting contributions at its 3,800 stores and CLUBS,

and through its web sites [www.walmartfacts.com, http://www.walmart.com,

http://www.walmartfoundation.org, http://www.walmartstores.com, http://www.samsclub.com].

    Through its Associate Disaster Relief Fund, the company will also give

displaced associates immediate funds for shelter, food, clothing and other

necessities.

    Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood

Markets and SAM'S CLUBS in all fifty states.  Internationally, the company

operates in Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, United

Kingdom, Argentina and South Korea.  The company's securities are listed on

the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under the symbol WMT.

[LosMediasBlancas]

 

It embarasses me as an American that this situation has become what it is. Shameful.

[Queen Prawn]

It embarasses me as an American that this situation has become what it is. Shameful.

 

Ditto.

[Texsox]

Before long the whole family, watching the water rise, made it to the roof. Three men in a boat -- "two black guys and an Arab," Washington said -- rode by and left some food on the roof of a van parked nearby. Ernest went and retrieved the food.

 

"A little hustler he is," Thomas said.

 

"Child [is] something else," Washington said.

 

It took two days for a helicopter to fetch them. They were delivered not to some kind of shelter, but to a patch of land beneath a freeway.

 

"I thought we were going to die out there," Bernadette Washington said. "We had to sleep on the ground. Use the bathroom in front of each other. Laying on that ground, I just couldn't take it. I felt like Job."

 

Then, somehow, a bus, and then Baton Rouge. At that moment, a lady -- white -- came by the rest stop and handed her some baby items.

 

"Bless you," Washington said.

 

That exchange forced something from Warren Carter: "White man came up to me little while ago and offered me some money. I said thank you, but no thanks. I got money to hold us over. But it does go to show you that racism ain't everywhere."

 

Under the hot sun, Brian Thomas was staring into an expanse of open air. They expected another relative to arrive soon and assist them in continuing their exodus.

[southsideirish71]

Anyone who takes advantage of this horrible situation by taking up arms, robbing, looting, and raping and killing people should be shot on site. No questions asked. It never ceases amaze me how horrible human beings can be during a tragedy.

[Steff]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/2005/09/02/

 

 

I am watching this guys live cam... there are no words to describe what has happened and continues to happen there.

[southsideirish71]

"A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush," France's left-leaning Liberation newspaper said.

 

"(Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, nice and dry in his hideaway, must be killing himself laughing."

 

A female employee at a multinational firm in South Korea said it may have been no accident the U.S. was hit.

 

"Maybe it was punishment for what it did to Iraq, which has a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster," said the woman, who did not want to be named as she has an American manager.

 

"A lot of the people I work with think this way. We spoke about it just the other day," she said.

 

Quotes like this make me sick. When the tsunami hit, we went out of our way to get aid and money into that region, yet when a disaster hits the US we get the old "Well it must of been payback for this position, or bin Laden must be laughing." If this happened to any other country the UN would be asking for money, there would be world wide cries for aid to the region and it would be a different story. But because this is the US, we get a nice f*** YOU from the world and a few sick jokes at a tragedy.

[Texsox]

How this will effect food prices and hurt our farmers

[DBAHO]

Quotes like this make me sick.  When the tsunami hit, we went out of our way to get aid and money into that region, yet when a disaster hits the US we get the old "Well it must of been payback for this position, or bin Laden must be laughing."  If this happened to any other country the UN would be asking for money, there would be world wide cries for aid to the region and it would be a different story.  But because this is the US, we get a nice f*** YOU from the world and a few sick jokes at a tragedy.

That's probably because most countries think the United States can handle something like this, considering they're the world's biggest country, and have a big enough economy to handle a disaster like this, compared to the Asian Tsunami where countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia don't.

 

Not saying it's right, but that's probably the perception. I know from down here our government has pledged to help with aid and that, but nothing has been done for certain as of yet. We've still got diplomats trying to get as close to New Orleans as possible to find out info about Aussies that may be missing there etc, but they're not letting any foreign officials anywhere near there.

[mreye]

Quotes like this make me sick.  When the tsunami hit, we went out of our way to get aid and money into that region, yet when a disaster hits the US we get the old "Well it must of been payback for this position, or bin Laden must be laughing."  If this happened to any other country the UN would be asking for money, there would be world wide cries for aid to the region and it would be a different story.  But because this is the US, we get a nice f*** YOU from the world and a few sick jokes at a tragedy.

Actually, I heard a list of about 40+ nations that have offered help and aid this morning on Fox. That list included France, Russia and China.

[DBAHO]

How this will effect food prices and hurt our farmers

Yep and rising fuel prices is gonna increase the cost of a lot of things, such as food now as well, since the cost of delivering it from one place to another will have risen significantly, and that will come back to the consumer.