Re: New Orleans
- From: Oz <Oz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 08:48:19 +0100
Gerald L R Stubbs <stubbs@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>So what the hell is happening in New Orleans and the coastal districts
>adjacent to it ?
People have short memories.
>When the Tsunami hit the countries around the Indian Ocean, aid was
>fairly swiftly supplied.
Took many days, actually.
Some say it still hasn't arrived on the ground (fairly recent tv
programme). Ache isn't much changed, that's for sure.
Also not that the tsunami arrived and then within the hour conditions
(as in wind, tide, weather) were more or less back to normal.
In the US the hurricane took several days to pass through.
It actually devastated most of louisiana and mississipi and made life
difficult even further north.
It dumped rain (6" to 9" in southern states) and 4" north of them, in
about 24 hrs.
Now consider that:
Louisiana 52,000 sq miles
Mississippi 48,000 sq miles
England 50,000 sq miles
Imagine how the UK's infrastructure would be with this sort of rainfall
EVERYWHERE. Then add downed powerlines, phonelines and so on as well.
And I doubt that the level of the mississippi didn't exactly go down
when handling this level of rainfall....
>In the richest federation in the world, people have been left without
>food or water, where they are known to be in large numbers, excepting
>supplies chucked out of Hueys, with no organisation as to the
>distribution, resulting in the young and fit grabbing the stuff to the
>detriment of the needy.
Yes. From about day 2.5 the response has been dreadful.
However I suspect most counties in louisiana, mississippi and adjacent
are quite busy looking after their own problems from the storm.
The impression I have got from watching hurricane reaction over the last
two years (http://www.hurricanereport.com/) is that local people deal
with the problem using finds from central govt when disaster is largish
(pretty well any hurricane seems to generate a 'disaster area' funding).
After all these things happen most years, often several times a year, in
the afflicted states. They are (normally) kitted out to handle it.
I think the real problem, which I don't think was thought out, was that
an evacuated city with probably many police and infrastructure people
having left with their families, became completely isolated by road
(internally and externally) for what seems like several days. The
superdome was clearly expected to be used for just the peak of the storm
and then everyone seems to have been expected to go home. To be fair
this is what seems to happen in the reports of other large hurricanes
elsewhere (eg florida).
The level of storm surge at biloxi (and probably elsewhere) is pretty
unexpected. If I lived in brick built apartments 800m from the sea I'm
not sure I would feel too unsafe. Yet these apartments were completely
erased, just the floor slabs remaining.
I'm surprised that anyone should be surprised at the level of looting
and lawlessness. As I understand it NO and environs was pretty poor and
had significant levels of crime even with the policing at normal levels.
We have had riots in the UK, too.
Although I doubt it will happen, NO ought to be abandoned.
--
Oz
This post is worth absolutely nothing and is probably fallacious.
Use oz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [ozacoohdb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx functions].
BTOPENWORLD address has ceased. DEMON address has ceased.
.
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