2005-09-01 - 5:02 p.m.
I’ve been following the events of the last few days pretty closely. Part of it is professional interest; we have a lot of clients in the Gulf Coast and we’re expecting a lot of calls as soon as things settle down a little. Part of it is just plain old horrific fascination. All the stories of violence and death and charity and heroism, everything that grabs our attention.
It’s interesting to compare the mainstream news to the various Internet sources. The mainstream news shows relief choppers and lots of activity. The bloggers talk about how the NOPD has essentially shut down in the face of looting and riots, and in some cases actually done some looting themselves. This guy in particular has some gripping stuff. He’s former military, and you can watch the gradual shift in his attitude from civilian to soldier as he writes.
Something is bothering me though. A number of people, both on websites and in conversation, have stated that the people who didn’t get out of the city in time were either too dumb or too stubborn to leave. That ain’t the case, folks. By and large, the ones who couldn’t get out were the ones who were too poor. If you have no car, no money for gas or food or lodging, and you don’t want to go walking in 80 MPH winds to catch a bus that may or may not be running, then you stay put and you pray. Apparently the evacuation plan was “Load up your car and get out ASAP.” No provision was made to evacuate those without transportation. They were basically left to drown. Saying that they chose to stay is tacky. Saying that they were too dumb to leave smacks of racism.
Now the state of Louisiana is commandeering school buses and anything with wheels, the National Guard and the military are moving in with troops and supplies, and it looks like things are turning around. I won’t go into FEMA budget cuts and failing infrastructures and disappearing wetlands and global warming right now. Suffice it to say that this is not the end.
A couple of weeks back, we lost our electricity during a storm. We moved all the perishables into a cooler, listened to our wind-up camp radio, and just waited it out. The power came back on after about 22 hours. Nothing really drastic. If it had lasted longer, we might have had to eat a lot of ice cream and grilled chicken. But this gets me thinking: are we really ready for a major disaster? If we suddenly had no water or electricity or gas, what would we do? If we had to evacuate, what would we take with us?
(Personally, there isn’t much of my own stuff that I’d take. Clothes, the TV, the VCR, all that stuff can be replaced. Let ‘em loot the house. J might take some of her jewelry. Mostly I’d load up with food, water, toiletries, and a few days’ clothes. My most precious, irreplaceable treasures are my wife and children, and as long as I have them I can keep going.)
