Katrina

What in the world is going on?
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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 1st, 2005, 4:13 pm

Hest... I don't know whether you and I live too far away to even offer but I'm planning on hitting this link and seeing if there's a 1500 mile away radius available - http://www.hurricanehousing.org - I have to talk to my family about it first.

I don't know whether they are doing all they can do or not! According to reports from govt officials, they are! They don't have enough resources, apparently, or that's what they say. "It will take time," they say. I just don't get it, though, because I've seen them drop water and food by helecopter to refugees in other countries. I don't understand. That's why I keep watching and learning so that I can understand more.

Right now, they have Clinton and Bush, Sr. on CNN being interviewed and it's very interesting. Both joined forces to help in the tsunami. It's beautiful to see partisonism disappear like this.

ellipsis
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Joined: September 20th, 2004, 4:41 pm
Location: montgomery, alabama, usa

just a bit

Post by ellipsis » September 3rd, 2005, 1:56 am

i've been so obsessed with the situations along the coastline that i can't bear to read all of the posts up to this point. i think that responding with my bit will be good, though.

i've never before witnessed a catastrophic hurricane. the only ones i've directly witnessed have been hurricane opal (1995), the one that taught me that hurricanes are messy (torrential rain, fallen trees, flying debris, tornadoes spawned by the storm and the like); and hurricane ivan from almost exactly a year ago, when a city as far inland as montgomery all ran in fear to the comfort of our homes. even my father and i thought our brick house would blow off its foundation, though the hurricane weakened a bit more than we thought it would, and i ended up reading a book about the horrors of stalinism on the front porch in 75-mph winds. and generally, hurricanes, to me, have meant evacuation from the coast, moderate damage to highly expensive luxury and vacation homes along the coast, some flooding and a bit of damage to tourist-sucking coastal businesses. woo. so before katrina came ashore a few days ago (the first time), i was planning my hurricane party of dancing in the rain, running against the wind with my bottle of wine and singing about how awful it is that rich people are going to collect thousands of dollars in insurance money once they settle their claims.

except this is the most nauseating slap from reality i've ever been dealt. late friday afternoon katrina was headed for the florida panhandle and predicted to move northward toward montgomery, and nobody thinks very much about hurricanes making landfall. that is, until one threatens new orleans, as this one did by about noon on saturday. also, nobody expected this storm to come ashore as nearly a category 5, either. the mississippi towns took the direct hit from katrina, and though the terribly impoverished state is losing a great amount of revenue from the destruction of the casinos, the coastal cities of mississippi don't use public transportation. the people there have private vehicles, so they (at least most of them) had chances to evacuate. new orleans is different, though. a great deal of the population is dependent upon public transportation and don't own vehicles, plus they're too poor to buy bus tickets or flights out of the city, and some were too injured, old, or sick to flee to even the superdome, so they were trapped.

the most infuriating part, to me, is that this could have been prevented. it's generally well-known that new orleans is built in a bowl, with 70% of the city built below sea level. levees protect new orleans from the mississippi river and lake pontchartrain (i think that's how it's spelled), and even without the threat of a storm, 22 pumps must constantly work to keep the water from these two bodies from flowing into the city. but consider this: since hurricane camille struck in 1969, people have been waiting in fear of new orleans being ravaged by another hurricane. but those levees were only built to withstand the wrath of a category 3 hurricane (though the things can be as intense as a category 5), and they've been in need of repair for <i>25 fucking years</i>. and why haven't they been repaired enough in response to the threat of increasingly threatening tropical storm seasons? budget cuts. yep... budget cuts. i understand we can spend billions of dollars to kill ours and theirs on their land for no reason at all, but we can't afford to protect those impoverished, vulnerable people living in that vulnerable city.

so now we have 80% of new orleans submerged, under 15 feet of water in some places; chemical waste so abundant on the water that when stranded victims leave their rooftops to wade or swim to another dry surface, they cut thick paths in the water; the dead bodies of people and animals floating about in the water; burning chemical plants; gang rapes; violent crimes amongst residents and against officers and emergency personnel attempting to rescue the dying; fire opened on rescue helicopters and the humvees as the humvees were attempting to evacuate the critically ill from tulane hospital; fire opened into the back of tulane hospital; people who were too old, too ill, too injured or too young to make it any farther from the water than the neck-deep situations in their attics, where some have been trapped for four days; people who have been without food, water, or medication for four days; people dying left and right; people with severed limbs; people who have no idea whether their family members and friends have survived; even dogs tangled in fallen power lines who were still alive, being electrocuted in the water.

budget cuts. right. billions of dollars for a fucking useless war. right.

i've been glued to news articles, tv reports, online videos since monday. i've finally had to back off for a bit because each time i even hear anything about hurricane katrina, or new orleans, or the gulf coastline, i feel sick. then i have to leave so my bosses or coworker or family don't notice me shaking and crying and very obviously too weak to see how something so preventable has been working to destroy thousands of people.

i know there have been worse situations, like the war in iraq and the tsunami, among other things. i just have a stronger immediate reaction to this, i think, because not only do i have constant media coverage of this situation... i've walked through the streets of new orleans several times. i know what hurricanes are capable of (though i haven't ever experienced a truly devastating one, i've read reports and seen pictures of devastating hurricanes i thought were in the past along with old technology, unless new orleans were concerned). i can almost walk down canal street now, or down magazine street, or past mulates and later about the agonizingly obnoxious bourbon street with its noise and lights and frightening people that drive me to order a great amount of purple haze or rum and coke, and i can compare these scenes with what i see in the news reports along with screaming, crying victims, the obviously stricken new orleans mayor, uncontrollably weeping news reporters.

and i thought that waiting until midnight to go outdoors to avoid the worst effects of heat and humidity, and discovering after walking for hours that almost all eateries were closed, were bad. fuck, these people have been waiting with no air conditioning, some without their medication, with no food or water, some disconnected from their families and friends, since monday. some are trapped in the water, others on their roofs. dangers from disease and violent crimes against rescue personnel are escalating.

this is one of the worst obsessions i've ever had. i'm driving myself mad with it.

so i'll stop now. i need to study or something. i'll explode if i keep doing this.
this is supposed to be my signature. i like to think of it as such.

ellipsis
Posts: 28
Joined: September 20th, 2004, 4:41 pm
Location: montgomery, alabama, usa

edit as a reply

Post by ellipsis » September 3rd, 2005, 3:16 am

i was highly interested to read that new orleans wasn't, in fact, built in a bowl, that instead it's been washed out into the gulf over the years. that makes sense.

also, i didn't mean that nobody thinks about hurricanes making landfall. i was thinking about people who decide to "ride out" hurricanes, oblivious to their danger (as i was, before this one, i admit), and also: i'm a bit pissed that those buses transporting evacuees to texas and arkansas didn't arrive <i>before</i> the hurricane made landfall. this really is, geologically, one of (if not <i>the</i>) worst place for a hurricane to make landfall (new orleans, i mean), and i'm highly upset that more people didn't pay attention to the danger of this hurricane sooner. on saturday, when i read that the projected path of the hurricane included new orleans, my heart sank--not because i have any special affinity for the city, though i have a little of an affinity for it, but because of how vulnerable it is.

i can only hope that this abomination changes our attitudes toward humanitarian help and planning. this issue has been ignored for far too long. just last july, i invited a friend to come with me to new orleans, so he could see it before a hurricane destroyed it. i wished i'd been ridiculous.

i wish i still had my apartment to offer as a home for a few refugees. if i did, i think i'd find some way to push my way through to new orleans and bring a few refugees here. i'm upset that the only way i can help is to donate what i can afford, which i'll find out after i pay my last utility bills. as it is, though, i had to give up my keys yesterday morning. a couple of car accidents forced me to move back into my father's house, so that's the end of freedom for me until i can afford rent--that is, until after i can afford the medical bills entailed in repairing my back.

i really can't do anything except drive as little as possible until fuel becomes more plentiful. montgomery was supposed to receive 6 shipments of gasoline today, but we only received 1. i'm worried about everything.

yes, before i become terribly upset again, i stop. i do want to say, though, that i'm terribly glad to see that <i>someone</i> cares. my family don't care and simply ignore the news.
this is supposed to be my signature. i like to think of it as such.

mtmynd
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Post by mtmynd » September 3rd, 2005, 10:05 am

Hi, ellipsis. Two well done releases of emotions. Good for you.

I, too, have been glued to the aftermath, my emotions going in every imaginable direction at one point or the other. It's difficult not to blame certain actions that should have been done and then again realize that what's really important is the Now of it all - people still on rooftops and stranded in their attics and balconies, etc... it all seems so overwhelming, but we've just gotta keep hope that eventually most will be rescued, fed, watered, bathed and bedded down in some semblance of security. It's all one enormous step-at-a-time and seemingly too slow (which it definitely is in so many cases), but we are so used to everything being sooo fast! Fast food, fast cars and planes, fast internet connections, fast photo developing.. too much too fast... and this event sure slows things down. It's all a series of lessons that can be learned if one looks at it that way...

Take care and thanks again.

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stilltrucking
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Post by stilltrucking » September 3rd, 2005, 10:11 am

In the back of mind I have weird thoughts of who Is Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, et all who will they blame this on. The incompetence at every level of the federal government has to be covered up. If ever there was need for a scape goat it is going to be now. I have a morbid curiosity how Rove and the boys are going to spin this fuk up away I have heard it said that it is an ill wind that blows no good, i hope those flood waters will reach washington dc and flush those turds right out of there. This could be the end of the neo cons. I have a compulsive personality. I only let myself watch so much of the story at any time. We are blessed with an excellent NPR station here. It plays in the back ground. I lot of interviews with survivors. I don't have cable so I just can't watch the air heads on local TV who are obviously happy as hell to be on camera so much with such a hot story.
Cecil says he has a rant about radio vs tv. To me TV is cold passive it forces me to sit there and watch. Radio is hot, I can go about my bussiness. I been feeling numb for days, the way I feel after the funeral of a loved one.
It does not matter that New Orleans was built above or below sea level. My point was that the city is sinking. It is built on fine alluvial soil that is compacting more and more. I am thinking about Venice, that city was sinking too, but the Italians managed to deal with it. Stabalize it. But it would probably cost too much for us to do it. Maybe as much as we are spending in Iraq in a week.
take care

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