Katrina

[Doreen Peri]

New Orleans is underwater. Rescue efforts continue. Many in Mississippi have lost their homes. Miles and miles of coastline buildings have been destroyed, leveled. Thousands may have lost their lives. There is potential disease, famine, dehydration. I am watching rescue efforts on CNN and I'm just floored by this. I have never in my lifetime seen anything like this, other than the recent tsunami. Both events are totally foriegn to any experience of mine and I am 52 years old. I have known of natural disasters but not of this magnitude.

Do any of you have relatives or friends in the area? If so, have you heard from them? Are they safe? Do we have any Studio 8 members from that area?

[Doreen Peri]

I'm really surprised that this post has gone by without reply.

I'd love to hear what you all have to say about the disaster in New Orleans and Mississippi.

I've been watching the news a good part of the day. I can't get all of those people outa my head. I'm soooooo worried about everyone who is there and concerned about those who have missing loved ones.

New Orleans is 80% under water. The water is gross. Diseases will happen. People have nowhere to go. They are stealing guns among other things. There are families without food or shelter. There are still people stuck on roofs or in attics who have not been rescued.

I'm just so darn upset about it all. I was hoping to talk to somebody on the internet about it.

I want to help! I don't know what to do! I have 2 empty rooms and I have been seriously considering offering them for 2 displaced people who have lost their homes and need a place to stay. If they can travel this far... if they can get out of the area and get to Virginia.... why shouldn't I offer that? What do you all think about this idea?

New Orleans must be hell on earth right now. I envision it getting WAY worse before it gets better.

Doesn't anybody want to talk about it?

[mousey1]

Well, my silence on the situation is not one of unconcern. I've been watching CNN and our own Canadian coverage pretty well nonstop. What's happened is absolutely horriffic and my feeling is one of complete helplessnes. But at this point for most of us it's just a wait and see thing. Our government has offered whatever assistance is required but basically at this time it amounts to waiting for those organizations that know best to determine what's needed and then call for it. Naturally the automatic response is to want to roll up your sleeves and dive in and help but everything takes time....unfortunately in the interim people who need help now are suffering great hardship. Frustrating situation!

I think if you contact the Red Cross or FEMA or some such other organization they can advise you how best to help.

Help is amassing Doreen you can be sure of that. I just heard on the news that our search and rescue emergency response teams or whatever you call them have just gotten the word to head down so things are happening it just seems slow.

My heart and mind and prayers are with them for sure. I try to imagine how I would feel being in that situation. It's catastrophic and I wonder if New Orleans will ever be rebuilt or even if it should be, given it's location below sea level. They say it really was a matter of time before something awful like this happened.

It's hard to take it all in Doreen! So much suffering, so much loss. But you know the human spirit....never give up....never give in.....this too shall pass. But yes, make no mistake about it, it'll be years before things are back to normal, if then. People will be homeless for an awfully long time....

And the looters...I have no words for that kind of behavior....there energies would be better spent lending a fucking hand instead of adding more terror to a bad enough situation. Some people are beyond redemption....jackals!!!

[Arcadia]

for what I read in on line newspapers it reminds me somehow the flood in Santa Fe (with the difference that in Santa Fe there wasn´t a previous warning to the population). It´s sad.

[stilltrucking]

I'm really surprised that this post has gone by without reply.

wireman wrote

could not stand
the weight
of the wind,

I don’t know what to say except those levees were built to withstand a F-3 storm. Probably more economical than building them to withstand a F-4 storm. Bottom line thinking prevails, And I been thinking about Katrina And The Waves

[K&D]

well as many of you know, i have relatives in Baton Rouge....but Baton Rouge is fine, other then the fact that everyone is taking shelter there so there running out of gas and theres so many people there. other then that my family is fine...well acutally, my grandfather, is in a home there, my mom's going to visit him, she says untill he finishes dying, she thinks he's going to die soon, and they have lost electricity...i do worry a little about my grandfather, but i don't try to think about it that much.

[stilltrucking]

Why is New Orleans below sea level?
The law of unintended consequences

Paste

The Causes of Coastal Impacts on Coastal Louisiana
The fundamental problem facing the region today is the loss of that balance. Human activities such as levee construction, and channelization have to a large extent shut down the land building part of the process. Millions of tons of land-building sediment are now dumped into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico rather than into the marsh where they could create or stabilize land.
At the same time the land-building process was effectively halted, human activities were also altering or stressing existing wetlands to the point that, during the twentieth century, more than one million acres have been lost. Lost not primarily to actual development but to open water. Thousands of miles of oil and gas canals and navigation channels have carved up the coastal marshes, changing their hydrology and making them vulnerable to saltwater intrusion.
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/arc ... /davis.htm

NEW ORLEANS—JUST NORTH OF ATLANTIS?The Problem with Louisiana's Disappearing Coastal Wetlands
Will New Orleans sink into the sea like the mythical Atlantis? Will mermaids be lifting their shirts to get strings of beads? Not likely, but over the last 50 years, the state of Louisiana has been losing more than 40 square miles of coastal wetlands each year. And since the wetlands act as a storm buffer, their disappearance will leave New Orleans more exposed to the effects of big hurricanes
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/03-0 ... rticle.htm

10:00 Gulf Coast: Rescue and Relief Efforts
Many thousands of people still need to be evacuated from New Orleans. We'll get an update on the ongoing rescue efforts and longer term relief plans
Guests
Michael Tidwell, author of "Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast."
Barry Scanlon, SVP, James Lee Witt Associates
former advisor at FEMA
Thomas La Point, director, Institute of Applied Science, University of North Texas
Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist,
Deutsche Bank
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/
The show is on now you can replay and listen anytime.
Worth listening to.

[Glorious Amok]

ever get the feeling the earth is pissed off at us?

[stilltrucking]

yes exactly.

But then again I guess Falwell and Robertson will blame it on tree huggers, liberals, gays, free thinking women and so on.
A righteous god giving us a warning to shape up.

[mtmynd]

Glorious - re: "ever get the feeling the earth is pissed off at us?" Arguments could be made that our treatment of the world environment is less than kind on too many levels, for sure. No need to go into any details as we all aware of what our humanity has done to our One Earth, our Only Home.

One could easily connect some dots on what you've asked, especially regarding the U.S..

Try this: Devasting hurricanes hitting Florida, the state that cheated George W. Bush into office.

Try this: Our devastation to Baghdad and now a flip of the card onto one of our own cities, New Orleans.

I don't want to mention the connection of these natural disasters and their impact on the so-called 'red states'... but.... it can leave one wondering.

This current disaster which has left those in deep poverty in the worst of conditions could certainly signal something about inequalities.... serious financial inequalities within our country which have grown since Dubya's takeover.

But I shall stop for now. All these mentionings I should speak of in another rant or Stream some day... it is much more complicated than simply that, but those could be signals of something much larger.

[Doreen Peri]

Yeah, right, Cecil. The hurricane had something to do with Florida helping to cheat Bush into office and it was a spiritual retaliation by Baghdad in reaction to the destruction we caused and are causing there.

Sounds sorta like this... God's retaliation to sin city? lol
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2005/08/31/2


I'm anticipating someone making claim that the weather was manipulated by terrorists.

*sigh*

----

Thanks to all for your comments on this thread. I will reply to other comments later.

[K&D]

all those kids are going to have to transfer school right? because New Orleans won't be up in running for a whle right?

what would happen without a New Orleans, i mean it sort of is a hub...dor how do you paste a pic...i'm not a comp person in that sort of way? i got this pic of Bourbon street from two weeks before the storm i would like to put it on. [/code]

[Doreen Peri]

It's not only kids who will need to transfer schools.

The population of an entire large city has been displaced. Many will not have homes to go back to..... for many months or maybe ever.

People will eventually travel to other cities to look for housing and work. This will effect the nation in ways we can't even conceive of now.

Add to that, the possibility that they are planning to move the water back into the lake which feeds into the Gulf of Mexico... without plans to clean it first? I don't know. I hope not! Imagine what could happen then? That water is polluted and has chemicals in it!

Where is the pic located? Is it on the web somewhere? Do you have a URL for the pic? If so, paste the URL for the pic here and I'll teach you how to add the image tags so the image appears on the thread.

[Doreen Peri]

Why aren't they dropping food from helecoptors?

Where is the water? Why aren't they air dropping water to these people?

There is no security, no law enforcement, virtually no help for these people whatsoever at this point.

Sure, they say help is on the way, but WHEN?

This is day FOUR, for crissake!!! What's going on with our government? Are they doing the best job they can?

I really don't understand it. This is so upsetting.

[hester_prynne]

Indeed! why aren't they dropping food and water? Why does it take FEMA 5 or more fucking days to activate?
Take a look at the people we have put in office and how they are dealing with this...it's pathetic! They couldn't care less really about the people, just the gas prices going up. Oh boy. That's what they are weaning us onto you know, higher gas prices. Their job is done basically....and the victims are like iraqi victims....unreal, unimportant, not in the picture.....just a damn irresolvable consequence....
Pisses me off so bad....

Elitists just can't deal with the poor! I remember a quote by Barbara Bush regarding the Iraq invasion, something like, "why should I waste my beautiful mind on stuff like that...."
Good one barbara, you fucking mindless whore cunt brain.

This is a wake up call for all of us to see and take action on.
It's up to us to be aware and look out for the victims of this storm, for they are us. We are them
THEY ARE US!
WE ARE THEM!
Think about it.......
Speak up for them!
Great idea Doreen, offering up a room for victims. I'm gonna do it pronto! Why the hell not????? I mean, it's an opportunity to help!

You rock Doreen.... you really do, through and through....
H