Afterthoughts on the Aftermath
Katrina was the most destructive hurricane the U.S. has experienced since an unnamed category four storm destroyed Galveston, TX in 1900. Gas, water and sewer lines are broken, utility poles are down and cellular towers disabled in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In fairness to state, local and federal officials, New Orleans became a logistical nightmare with only one passable road into and out of the city, deep water and disabled lines of communication.
Slow federal response was criticized. President Bush said, "the results were not acceptable." The government could have moved ships and other equipment closer to the region, but out the storm’s path, earlier. Had it had done so, and the storm turned out to be weaker than predicted, the government would have been under fire for "panicking" and wasting resources. By law, the federal government must await authorization from state governors before moving in. It can’t just take over.
A slow federal response does not absolve state and local governments of responsibility. There was an AP photo on Friday’s Drudge Report of a flooded parking lot full of schoolbuses. Why weren’t these buses used prior to the storm to evacuate New Orleans residents without transportation and then moved to higher ground for later use?
A major misjudgment in New Orleans was the initial assignment of all police to search and rescue leaving none to maintain order. Looting went unchecked. To matters worse, Mayor Nagin excused the looting with the statement, "It’s really difficult because my opinion of the looting is it started with people running out of food, and you really can’t argue with that too much." Actually, one can. Looting ensures that scarce supplies go to the biggest, strongest and best armed. Here is an excerpt from the Washington Post article, "Biloxi Mayor: ‘This Is Our Tsunami’," by Peter Slevin and Sylvia Moreno: "The police, hurrying to stock shelters for people who can not return home, commandeered a supermarket across from headquarters." In that case, supplies go to the needy rather than the greedy. Looting was less severe in Biloxi than in New Orleans. With little early law enforcement and Nagin’s initial acceptance, looting increased and looters armed themselves. By Thursday, Nagin ordered police to abandon search and rescue because lawlessness was out of control to the point at which thugs were shooting at rescuers.
New Orleans seemed to suffer from a lack of emergency preparedness. Ann Gerhardt’s Washington Post story, "’And Now We Are In Hell’," contains the following statement by a National Guard MP outside the Superdome, a man who had returned earlier this year from a 14 month deployment in Iraq: "I’d rather be in Iraq. You get your constant danger, but I had something to protect myself. And three meals a day. Communications. A plan. Here they had no plan." The same article quotes an evacuee at the Superdome saying, "None of this has been planned. Not a single elected official has come down here in days to talk to us and tell us anything, not the mayor, not the police chief, nobody."
At a time like this, leaders’ words matter. Nagin said on local radio, "every day we delay, people are dying and they’re dying in the hundreds. I’m willing to bet you." Is that the best thing for stressed, hungry, thirsty people to hear? Contrast that with the words of Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour: "We’re going to be fine at the end of the day. But the end of the day is a long way away, and we’re going to need a lot of help in between." Which statement is likely to increase panic and which is likely to inspire people to tough it out?
Media coverage has placed much emphasis on lawlessness and little on victims’ attempts to help one another. ABC’s "Prime Time Live" broadcast depicted a woman at the Superdome searching for food and water to give to the sick. I suspect that was more common than fights and looting. One of the last paragraphs of Scott Tyson’s Washington Post article, "Desperate Victims Turn Combative," states that a rescue team wouldn’t have found a 70 year old woman "without the help of a boy who had been swimming back and forth to her second story apartment to provide her with food." The title makes the article’s emphasis clear. That account was more interesting than looting. It should have been given more prominent placement. I believe the looters are not typical of New Orleans’ population. Every city has some thugs and hoodlums. Extensive media coverage of them slammed New Orleans and our nation almost as much as Katrina did. Greater coverage of those who donated money, supplies, services and even their own homes to those who lost everything to Katrina would give a more balanced view.
The federal government is sending $10.5 billion in aid to stricken areas. In light of this natural disaster, could Congress de-appropriate funds to the pork in the highway and energy bills?
The lesson we should take from Katrina is preparation. Families and individuals need to have their own plans, protection, supplies and self-reliance because the government can’t instantly come to our aid. As a people, we have become too dependent on government. This should be a wake-up call to regain the self-reliance that made this country great.
Copyright Eva Ellsworth, 09/04/05, all rights reserved
Slow federal response was criticized. President Bush said, "the results were not acceptable." The government could have moved ships and other equipment closer to the region, but out the storm’s path, earlier. Had it had done so, and the storm turned out to be weaker than predicted, the government would have been under fire for "panicking" and wasting resources. By law, the federal government must await authorization from state governors before moving in. It can’t just take over.
A slow federal response does not absolve state and local governments of responsibility. There was an AP photo on Friday’s Drudge Report of a flooded parking lot full of schoolbuses. Why weren’t these buses used prior to the storm to evacuate New Orleans residents without transportation and then moved to higher ground for later use?
A major misjudgment in New Orleans was the initial assignment of all police to search and rescue leaving none to maintain order. Looting went unchecked. To matters worse, Mayor Nagin excused the looting with the statement, "It’s really difficult because my opinion of the looting is it started with people running out of food, and you really can’t argue with that too much." Actually, one can. Looting ensures that scarce supplies go to the biggest, strongest and best armed. Here is an excerpt from the Washington Post article, "Biloxi Mayor: ‘This Is Our Tsunami’," by Peter Slevin and Sylvia Moreno: "The police, hurrying to stock shelters for people who can not return home, commandeered a supermarket across from headquarters." In that case, supplies go to the needy rather than the greedy. Looting was less severe in Biloxi than in New Orleans. With little early law enforcement and Nagin’s initial acceptance, looting increased and looters armed themselves. By Thursday, Nagin ordered police to abandon search and rescue because lawlessness was out of control to the point at which thugs were shooting at rescuers.
New Orleans seemed to suffer from a lack of emergency preparedness. Ann Gerhardt’s Washington Post story, "’And Now We Are In Hell’," contains the following statement by a National Guard MP outside the Superdome, a man who had returned earlier this year from a 14 month deployment in Iraq: "I’d rather be in Iraq. You get your constant danger, but I had something to protect myself. And three meals a day. Communications. A plan. Here they had no plan." The same article quotes an evacuee at the Superdome saying, "None of this has been planned. Not a single elected official has come down here in days to talk to us and tell us anything, not the mayor, not the police chief, nobody."
At a time like this, leaders’ words matter. Nagin said on local radio, "every day we delay, people are dying and they’re dying in the hundreds. I’m willing to bet you." Is that the best thing for stressed, hungry, thirsty people to hear? Contrast that with the words of Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour: "We’re going to be fine at the end of the day. But the end of the day is a long way away, and we’re going to need a lot of help in between." Which statement is likely to increase panic and which is likely to inspire people to tough it out?
Media coverage has placed much emphasis on lawlessness and little on victims’ attempts to help one another. ABC’s "Prime Time Live" broadcast depicted a woman at the Superdome searching for food and water to give to the sick. I suspect that was more common than fights and looting. One of the last paragraphs of Scott Tyson’s Washington Post article, "Desperate Victims Turn Combative," states that a rescue team wouldn’t have found a 70 year old woman "without the help of a boy who had been swimming back and forth to her second story apartment to provide her with food." The title makes the article’s emphasis clear. That account was more interesting than looting. It should have been given more prominent placement. I believe the looters are not typical of New Orleans’ population. Every city has some thugs and hoodlums. Extensive media coverage of them slammed New Orleans and our nation almost as much as Katrina did. Greater coverage of those who donated money, supplies, services and even their own homes to those who lost everything to Katrina would give a more balanced view.
The federal government is sending $10.5 billion in aid to stricken areas. In light of this natural disaster, could Congress de-appropriate funds to the pork in the highway and energy bills?
The lesson we should take from Katrina is preparation. Families and individuals need to have their own plans, protection, supplies and self-reliance because the government can’t instantly come to our aid. As a people, we have become too dependent on government. This should be a wake-up call to regain the self-reliance that made this country great.
Copyright Eva Ellsworth, 09/04/05, all rights reserved
1 Comments:
"Nagin said on local radio, "every day we delay, people are dying and they’re dying in the hundreds. I’m willing to bet you." Contrast that with the words oMississippi Governor Hailey Barbour: "We’re going to be fine at the end of the day. But the end of the day is a long way away, and we’re going to need a lot of help in between."
Where's the part where they say "The Buck Stops Here!We pooched it! This is what we need the folks of Gulfport, Biloxi, And New Orleans to do to help themselves, and each other,to get through this........."?
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