New Orleans

[giza]

Well, I'm glad I got to see the city before THIS went and happened.

I did some research and, interestingly enough, people had been worried about this exact scenario happening for years. There are some good articles at http://salon.com/books/feature/2005/08/30/mcphee/index_np.html and http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282151.html. It seems that it's yet another case of the general population and our elected politicians ignoring the experts until it's too late. When will we learn?

Speaking of ignoring people, I also can't help but be really pissed off at the people who stayed in the city after they were told to leave by the government. Now, I'm not talking about "essential" people, such as police and hospital workers, or people who were too poor to get out of the city, or people who were in poor health. I'm talking about average everyday people like OFFICE WORKERS, and TOURISTS. People who had the means to leave the city and chose not to, because they didn't seem to think that a Category 5 hurricane was such as big deal after all. Now they're stuck in a flooding city with no electricity, no running water, and a lack of law and order. Smooth move. Maybe next time you'll actually LISTEN when you're told to get out of the city.

I'm also tempted to make some snide remark about how President Bush should declare "war on mother nature", but I think that's been underway by big corporations and oil companies for a number of years now...

Comments

[silver-huskey.livejournal.com]

I'm personally waiting until they get the looting under control. It's beyond shameful. Instead of helping others, some able-bodied people decided to use their resources to steal. Honestly, who needs a truck full of TVs and other electronics when the city has no power? What are they planning to do, go west and sell the stuff on the streets? It's not like they can do in New Orleans, not with 80% of the city flooded and the dangers of disease everywhere. It's funny how disasters can bring the best out in some, and the worst out in others.

[giza.livejournal.com]

> You have to understand that some people simply can't leave. Those that were
> left were mostly the poor and indigent. Many of them had no cars or
> transport. In other cases, their relatives were at hospitals or hospices or
> otherwise had medical problems and couldn't be moved, and family members
> who didn't want to abandon them... or their pets.

Whoops, I forgot to mention the poor, but I agree, they certainly have a good excuse. Sick people? I think I mentioned that in my original post.

> Some tourists were trapped because they couldn't get a flight out on such
> short notice... this thing blew up so rapidly in the gulf. So don't rush to
> condemn all of them.

What I do not understand is why some of the tourists did not just rent cars and drive as far north as they could. If I heard there was a Cat 5 storm coming when I was down there in May, that's exactly what I would have done. To me, it seems like common sense.

[snip]
> Save the snide remarks. They're not in the least bit helpful nor fair. This
> isn't something that should be politicized, and it sickens me to no end to
> see people trying to score political points off this.

Thank you for your concern. I'd like to point out that I do not show up in your LJ and tell you what you should or should not post, and I would appreciate it if you showed me the same courtesy in mine.