----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 8:18
PM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] hurricanes
"And yet apparently there was no emergency
plan and no resources to evacuate "the carless, the homeless, the aged and
infirm." "
And
why the hell not--why did New Orleans City gov't in coordination with
Louisiana and then in coordination with the Feds not have a plan and
resources. Every town and city in the US as had to come up with a
vulnerability study and had to create an emergency response plan--at least all
water plants did. It is truthfully absolutely atrocious that at least an
evacuation plan was not in effect--and I still stand by my contention that
such planning is ultimately the responsibility of the Town and State. Buses
should have been lined up far in advance of the storm--bottled water supplies
should have been warehoused as should have been food. And there was lead time
for this storm. I agree that this is a Big One, and that is all the more
reason that the City and State should have been preparing for such an
eventuality for years and years.
Here
in North Carolina, we have been through many hurricanes ourselves, and after
each there is a reassessment of what went right, and what went wrong. There is
a command and control center to coordinate all the multitudinous things that
have to be coordinated. I will hold judgment until later, as I think others
should do, to understand the causes of the massive failings of this operation.
But, for many in the world, including Pitas, who do not understand the
governmental structure of the United States and the role of the Federal
Government--let them understand that the individual cities, then the
individual states are the first responders. It is not the job of the Federal
Government to have emergency management plans for every potential disaster in
every location in the country.
I
think there is plenty of blame to be doled out--but the idea of the Mayor of
New Orleans saying he is pissed at FEMA is a bit absurd. He should be pissed
at his own people, and at himself, to allow such a thing to get so
completely out of control.
Save
lives first, then property, if possible.
It would obviously costs billions and billions
to harden NO against such an occurrence, and maybe the funds were not there,
etc. BUT KNOWING THAT--the fallback plan of not having the proper
infrastructure should have been the safety of the people--especially for those
that did not possess the means themselves. There are not but about 5 main
functions of municipal government--to provide water, wastewater, public
safety, orderly growth, and fire protection. NO failed miserably in planning
for these things. And yes, I do understand the enormity of the task, so when
one cannot provide those functions due to disaster, then one needs to make
sure that the citizens are evacuated to a place where they can be provided.
Tommy Armstrong
PO Box 484
Lillington, NC 27546
"Science is extraordinarily stupid
about people as people and the consequence of this stupidity is going to do us
all in if we don't do something about it"
Walker Percy
Tommy,
I think you are underestimating the enormity of this
crisis. No one city government could handle a crisis that has been
compared to: the "Big One" hitting California, or a major terrorist attack
(greater than 9/11) hitting New York City (see article below) - years
before it happened. There were a variety of things that needed to be
done - before and after - at the city, state, and federal level - that weren't
done, for whatever reason. The solution to preventing or lessening the impact
of this had to come from all levels. At this point, after the fact, NO
can't do anything more than what it is doing, and some say Mayor Nagin's
impassioned plea was strategically planned to get the feds in action when
they were dragging their feet and making the tragedy even worse. Whether
it was or not, whatever planning NO or any other city might have been able to
do for this, they would have needed more help - sooner - than what was
provided.
KP
Poor, sick, aged left in the lurch
No plan ever made
to help New Orleans' most vulnerable
Leonard Witt - For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, September 1,
2005
Leonard Witt is the Robert D.
Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State
University.
Each time you hear a federal, state or city
official explain what he or she is doing to help New Orleans, consider the
opening paragraphs of a July 24 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
"City, state and federal emergency officials are
preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans' poor a historically blunt
message: In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."
The story continues:
"In scripted appearances being recorded now,
officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay
Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the
city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated
134,000 people without transportation."
The officials made those statements fully knowing
that those 134,000 people were very likely to end up in dire circumstances or
even die.
Here is what National Geographic magazine
wrote in an article published in October 2004 about a possible
hurricane scenario for New Orleans:
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency
lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the
nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack
on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the
city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great."
In that article National Geographic predicted with
eerie accuracy that more than a million people would evacuate, but some
200,000 would remain, including "the carless, the homeless, the aged and
infirm."
The New Orleans Times-Picayune ran its own series
in 2002 in which it wrote:
"If enough water from Lake Pontchartrain topped the
levee system along its south shore, the result would be apocalyptic. Whoever
remained in the city would be at grave risk. According to the American Red
Cross, a likely death toll would be between 25,000 and 100,000 people,
dwarfing estimated death tolls for other natural disasters and all but the
most nightmarish potential terrorist attacks. Tens of thousands more would be
stranded on rooftops and high ground, awaiting rescue that could take days or
longer. They would face thirst, hunger and exposure to toxic chemicals."
And yet apparently there was no emergency plan and
no resources to evacuate "the carless, the homeless, the aged and infirm."
In this era when we are a nation at risk of
terrorism and natural disasters, we can only hope that what is happening in
New Orleans is not built into the fabric of our national homeland security
policy. We should provide security for everyone, including the poor, aged and
infirm.
We have the resources. On Wednesday, it seems FEMA
found 475 buses to help with the belated evacuation effort. Unfortunately,
when it comes to looking after the carless, homeless, the aged and infirm in
our country, we --- in our quest to become an ownership society --- seemed to
have allowed our good senses, good will and compassion to go on vacation.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 8:34
AM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] hurricanes
I am at a bit of a loss about all the ranting and
raving about the Federal Government's response to this huge disaster. As a
member of local government and the super of the water treatment plant and
the wastewater treatment plant (albeit in a very small town), I am at a loss
as to where the City of New Orleans' emergency response plan was? Even
we have plans in place and on the shelf to put into action in response the
the eventuality --and that word means what it says--eventually it WILL
happen--of a hurricane or other natural disaster. To hear the mayor of New
Orleans say he is pissed at the Fed. Governments response, if I was
a citizen of NO, I would be pissed at the City's lack of adequate
planning and pissed at him, the commissioners, and the whole
damned City government . It is first and foremost the
responsibility of the local officials. They above all others should be
the "First Responders." They know their city,
their vulnerabilities, their citizens. The city and state of
Louisiana should bear the brunt of the the criticism in my opinion. Where
was the back up water supply located (bottled water,etc)--where were the
backup food supplies located, where was the means and
organizational structure to distribute them, etc. etc. What should the
procedures be to get the people out of harm's way in event of a
disaster--after all this is over--someone should study the failures of not
the Fed Governments response, but the response of the City of New Orleans.
There was no evacuation plan not because the Federal Government did not have
one, but because the City of New Orleans did not have one, or if it did, did
not competently put it into action. And after the town is evacuated,
who should provide security. Should not the mayor of NO have immediately had
his request for the National Guard to come ready to sign or already signed?
The order of business in such circumstances as
disaster planning seems to be for local governments " Its just too
costly and complicated for us to do and the Feds will come in anyway". Now I
am in perfect agreement that the Feds should provide relief--and the bulk of
the aftermath rebuilding, but in their main role is as support troops
to implement already in place strategies that the local governments have in
place.
If it had happened on Martha's Vineyard, I dare say
that the FED govt. would not even have to have been involved, as the
officials there are probably competent. And that has really nothing to do
with race or economic factors.
The Quote:
"yes your all correct. did you know that our federal government, has
strict guidelines on how it must respond to the sufferings of
african-american people. the lack of help, was actually due to a specific
wait time, we must follow, whenever there is a crisis involving poor black
persons such as just happened. our governing officials actually sit and
watch and chuckle at their suffering. then at the last moment, decide to
send in help. oh wait, actually, they knew what was going to happen, and
could have prevented it. "
Is completely without basis--not everything that goes wrong in
the world can be distilled down to "racial bigotry". The severity of the
disaster in New Orleans had nothing to do with racial bigotry. It had to do
with an incredibly destructive "Act Of God" and a lot of incompetent
(and in many many instances, competent) planning and/or incompetent
execution of those plans. No matter how well any plan was conceived and
executed, there would have been great amounts of damage--but I do find some
fault in the City of New Orleans for not adequately preparing for the safety
of its citizens.
Tommy Armstrong
PO Box 484
Lillington, NC 27546
...with the method of science one beholds what is generally
true about individuals, but art beholds what is uniquely
true.
Walker Percy
Signposts in a Strange Land
Agreed, Mr. Mitchell. And while we are human and fallible, some
of us also are exceptionally corrupt and incompetent, as, for example, the
entire political infrastructure of New Orleans, which knew about its weak
sea walls for years and did nothing, and which tolerated also for years a
violent and increasingly brazen criminal element (a violent crime rate
10 times the national average). New Orleans cannot manage itself on a good
day, and so if one wants to know why it could not coordinate a swift and
effective response on a sequence of very bad ones, one may of course look
for blame to the distance as it one's predictable political cant, but
it would make more sense to look no further than an inept, third-world
city hall.
well
since both list are talking about it, and since both share common
readers... why not chime in a piss people off.
yes your all
correct. did you know that our federal government, has strict guidlines on
how it must respond to the suffereings of african-american people. the
lack of help, was actually due to a specific wait time, we must follow,
whenever there is a crisis involving poor black persons such as just
happened. our governing officials actually sit and watch and chuckle at
their suffering. then at the last moment, decide to send in help. oh wait,
actually, they knew what was going to happen, and could have prevented it.
we are human and fallible, and im certain mistakes were made and will
be. but if you think this is race driven... call me cold, kick me off your
listserves, but your full of shit!
my rant amidst a time of great
sadness for those hit by a hurricane,
ken mitchell
quotes:
"It's the first week of school and I am utterly haunted by the
horrors
of the Gulf Coast area (Why is help taking so long? Why
isn't the
media asking the class or race questions?) I know
these are not
direct Percy points, but I think there are
parallels. Your point
about mimetic desire would be a lovely
thread at which to pull.
Surely this applies to Tom More and the
man on the train (pre-crash)
and even Will Barrett."
"IMHO the most significant anachy assoicated with the disaster in
New Orleans is the US Federal government's woefully indifferent and
criminally inadquate response to the suffering of poor black
americans. As an american I'm ashamed of our religious and racial
bigotry. First Iraq and now this. May god forgive
us. "
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