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Thursday, September 01, 2005

Apparently this low. . .

Terry Ebbert, head of the city's emergency operations, warned that the slow evacuation at the Superdome had become an "incredibly explosive situation," and he bitterly complained that FEMA was not offering enough help.
"This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace," he said. "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

The above is quoted from a news story at : http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=3795426&nav=0RZEe2BD

I've been watching the television coverage for the past two days and I'm torn between pain, hurt, and anger. There are people who deserve aid and there are people taking pot shots at the National Guard and those trying to rescue them. Patience no longer exists in the hurricane devestated areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. On the news cries of "Help us help us" resound from tired, sick, hungry, and devestated citizens. It leads me to ask the following questions:

This wasn't an unexpected event, many people evacuated out of state or to the dome atleast.

1. Why didn't these people get out of the city when they could?

2. We knew about this, why didn't we send National Guard in and evacuate those who could not do it for themselves?

3. Where is the world aid? How many times have we helped the world in aid and rebuilding? Time to step up world.

I'm not there, I didn't live through it and I've never lived through anything like this before. I will feel the effects in gas prices and increases in the price of goods and services. I can't pretend I know what they are going through and I can't pretend that I wouldn't be behaving the same way. I would hope I wouldn't. I would hope I could find a reasonable solution to the problems around me, but I don't know. To that end the blame game needs to end. There is too much at risk for disharmony to rule.