Originally posted by: DPmaster
Originally posted by: Jnetty99
I know that I?m happily sitting here in my cube at work in NY with no real understanding on what is going on in New Orleans, but from what you see online and on TV, it doesn?t seem like our Government is doing all it can do to help the people.
What you have to remember is that it's not just New Orleans that's affected. Southeast Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, and Southwest Alabama were all deeply affected. You've got places like Slidell and Biloxi that are arguably worse off than New Orleans.
Towns like Waveland, Mississippi were completely destroyed. There are many other towns out there that were in the path of Katrina that are just devastated as well. You just don't hear about it because the area in and around New Orleans were the most heavily populated.
I argee we are not prepare and underestimate the need (gov, or FEMA if you want to point finger to)
How can they not divide up the "resource", towns may be 10,000 and most are long gone before the storm.
You got 15,000 to 25,000 people at least at the convention center now that are 3 days and counting and not a single drop or pick up over there...
Quota from MSN:
?This is a national disgrace,? said Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans? emergency operations. ?FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control,? Ebbert said. ?We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can?t bail out the city of New Orleans."
"We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking but we?re not getting supplies,? he said. He said the evacuation was almost entirely a Louisiana operation. ?This is not a FEMA operation. I haven?t seen a single FEMA guy.?
Mayor Ray Nagin, in issuing his dire plea, said: ?Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don?t anticipate enough buses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people.?
Dead bodies outside center
Outside the center, people complained that they were evacuated, taken to the convention hall by bus, dropped off and given nothing.
At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry people broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.
An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.
?I don?t treat my dog like that,? Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. ?I buried my dog.?
?You can do everything for other countries but you can?t do nothing for your own people," he said. "You can go overseas with the military but you can?t get them down here.?
The street outside the center, above the floodwaters, smelled of urine and feces, and was choked with dirty diapers, old bottles and garbage.
?We are out here like pure animals. We don?t have help,? said the Rev. Isaac Clark, 68.
People there, some holding crying babies or elderly barely able to stand up, shouted for help as TV news crews passed by.
Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals with 360 patients called The Associated Press pleading for rescue, saying they were nearly out of food and power and had been forced to move patients to higher floors to escape looters.
?We have been trying to call the mayor?s office, we have been trying to call the governor?s office. ... We have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us,? said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital.
Other parts of the city saw similar desperation. ?We need help,? Polly Boudreaux, clerk of the St. Bernard Parish Council, told WAFB-TV in a phone interview in which she broke down crying.
?We're just been absolutely devastated,? she said, and many residents still need to be rescued.
Little outside aid has reached the parish, she added. ?We are not seeing it.?