Re: Hurricane Katrina -- The Aftermath


Madra Dubh wrote:
> "Séimí mac Liam" <gwyddon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:Xns96CB5D5D762CASim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > "Madra Dubh" <ccaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:C4XTe.208980
> > $5N3.176329@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> >
> >>
> >> "William Black" <william.black@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:dfngq1$kds$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>
> >>> "Madra Dubh" <ccaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >>> news:GxHTe.201968$5N3.141512@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>
> >>>> (I thought all the Brits were herded into the Superdome. That little
> >>>> stunt
> >>>> should set back Anglo/American relations a century or two)
> >>>
> >>> I doubt that.
> >>>
> >>> Iraq has taught us not too expect too much in the way of good management
> >>> practice from US government agencies.
> >>
> >> We should not expect too much in the way of good management practice from
> >> any government agency, anywhere.
> >> Unless of course one can find a government agency styaffed by aleins from
> >> another world.
> >>
> >>> Also, while our governmental agencies tend to be over managed our
> >>> industry,
> >>> such as is left, is almost universally badly managed.
> >>
> >> That all started when it was decided management really didn't need to
> >> manage, they only needed to push paper.
> >>
> >
> > Which is exactly the thought that ran through my mind as I read New
> > Orleans
> > Emergency Management Plan. They spent more time creating the document
> > than
> > actually coming up with a viable plan, though I'm certain it provided lots
> > of opportunities for staff and comittee meetings repleat with coffee and
> > danish.. Especially as regards evacuation of those without
> > transportation,
> > ability or means to evacuate. That Plan was, in my view, the
> > stereotypical
> > bureaucratic document. The State one was much better.
>
> Joe Stalin had one good idea.
> "Screw up and I'll have you shot".


The reverse of this is of course, "screw up and you will be shot"
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/national/nationalspecial/08cnd-storm.html?ei=5094&en=efe0a58b7fc8e12c&hp=&ex=1126238400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

September 8, 2005
New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water Recedes
By ALEX BERENSON and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten
city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including
legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass
forced evacuation of the residents still living here.

No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns,
or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass, the superintendent of police.
"Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

But that order apparently does not apply to the hundreds of security
guards whom businesses and some wealthy individuals have hired to
protect their property. The guards, who are civilians working for
private security firms like Blackwater, are openly carrying M-16's and
other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said he was aware of the private
guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their
weapons.

Nearly two weeks after the floods began, New Orleans has turned into an
armed camp, patrolled by thousands of local, state, and federal law
enforcement officers, as well as National Guard troops and active-duty
soldiers. While armed looters roamed unchecked last week, the city is
now calm. No arrests were made on Wednesday night or this morning, and
police received only 10 calls for service, a police spokesman said.

The city's slow recovery is continuing on other fronts as well, local
officials said at a press conference late this morning. Pumping
stations are now operating across much of the city, and many taps and
fire hydrants have water pressure. Also, tests have shown no evidence
of cholera or other dangerous diseases in flooded areas, though health
officials have said the waters contain levels of E. coli bacteria and
lead 10 times higher than what is considered safe.

Efforts to recover corpses have also started, although only a handful
of bodies have been recovered so far.

<snip>
With pumps running and the weather here remaining hot and dry, water
has visibly receded across much of New Orleans. Formerly flooded
streets are now passable, although covered with leaves, tree branches
and mud.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, Dan Hitchings, said 37 of
the city's 174 permanent pumps were working this afternoon, removing
about 11,000 cubic feet of flood water per second. The city's 174 pumps
have the capacity to remove about 81,000 cubic feet of water each
second when they are all operational.

<snip>
"The president asked me to come down to take a look at things, and to
begin to focus on the longer term, in terms of making certain obviously
that we're getting the search and rescue missions done and all those
other immediate things," Mr. Cheney said after touring a neighborhood
in Gulfport. "The progress we're making is significant."

<snip>

But because the New Orleans Police Department has only about 1,000
working officers, the city is largely in the hands of National Guard
troops and active-duty soldiers.

<snip>

The state disaster law does not supersede either the state or federal
Constitutions, said Kenneth M. Murchison, a law professor at Louisiana
State University. But even so, Mr. Nagin's decision could be a smart
strategy that does not violate fundamental rights, Professor Murchison
said.

<snip>
Ms. Moore and her husband, Richard Robinson, who do not drive and use
bicycles for the 5-mile ride to their jobs at the still-functioning
Ochsner Hospital in suburban Jefferson Parish, have no plans to leave.
Their circa-1895 home, on the city's southwest flank, suffered
virtually no damage in the hurricane or its aftermath. They have been
lighting an old gas stove with a match to cook pasta and rice, dumping
cans of peas on top for flavor.

<snip>
Ms. Moore said she had not worked since the hurricane because there are
few babies left at the hospital, but that she remains on standby; her
husband has been on duty the past five days.

"I don't want to go, I don't want to lose my job," she said. "Who's
going to take care of the patients if all the nurses go away?"

.

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