There's a lot of criticism from all sides. What do you think should've been done?
What Would YOU Have Done Differently For Hurricane Relief?
by minimus 14 Replies latest jw friends
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JH
With a city that size, and a hurricane only a few hours away, they didn't have much time to do anything, except tell them to get the he** out of there.
A city under sea level next to the gulf of mexico was a disaster waiting to happen, and it did.
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Sara Annie
There's a lot of criticism from all sides. What do you think should've been done? That is a REALLY tough question. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I think we can all come up with plans that might have helped alleviate the suffering of the people who were (and still are) stranded.
But without knowing just how devastatating the aftermath of the storm actually would be, I just don't know what should have been done differently--I would proabably have mobilized the national guard, relief supply channels, etc. and had them actually standing 'on call' and ready to move out as soon as possible. I think it would have been far better for there to be mass criticism of the cost of such an effort if there had been less devastation than to not be prepared for what DID happen.
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minimus
One thing I can understand is the frustration that the mayor and others waiting there are going through. You can't leave helpless people in a sweltering building and have no oversight.
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Elsewhere
Instead of locking everyone in the Superdom and Convention center and blocking the highway out, I would have let the people simply walk out of New Orleans. I'm not lying... anyone who tried to leave New Orleans was forced to turn back by authorities and return to the deplorable conditions.
Watch this video where they talk about it...Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera were livid about the situation in NOLA as they appeared on H&C. When Hannity tried his usual spin job and said "let's get this in perspective," Smith chopped him off at the knees and started yelling at him saying, "This is perspective!" It was shocking.
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Simon
There is no hindsight required. Scientists and engineers were warning that this was GOING to happen. There had already been previous floods from lesser hurricanes in a hurricane-rich area. The politicians decided that the money could be better spent killing people apparently.
For the disaster relief itself there should have been a plan already in place for WHEN NO flooded. 5 days before the storm hit the aid should have been ready to be assembled, helicopters and troops ready to move in.
It seems the government sat and watched it happen, then once the disaster and chaos was on TV thought "hey, maybe we ought to start thinking about possibly looking and maybe doing something to help?". Yeah - d'ya think ?!?!
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AK - Jeff
Criticism is like Monday Morning Quarterbacking. It is ineffective, usually misdirected, and typically arrogant.
I am not saying that mistakes were not made. Certainly that is the case. But no one, from an armchair perspective, can understand all the logistics and issues that were involved here. The standard issue liberal/conservative fights began immediately. Pro Bush people thinking that he has done a marvelous job under the circumstances, and with compassion. Anti Bush people thinking he is worse than a madman for the way he has dealt with the issues.
Accusations and innuendo are of less than no value. They are distracting to the task at hand, therefore distructive and negative. The blame game is not the way to solve a national crisis of this proportion.
As stated before, this was an incident waiting to happen since the first levee was installed around the city. Unfortunately the designer of such great stupidity is dead and we can't hang him from the Superdome roof as an example!
Jeff
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upside/down
The politicians decided that the money could be better spent killing people apparently.
So why doesn't the media IDENTIFY exactly who these influential people are/were and have a trial of crime against humanity...or at the very least destroy their names and reputations...
They should be banned from public service (I use that term very loosely) FOREVER and be made to make reparation payments and serve jail sentences...
Come on...let's put the bell on the cat.
u/d
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jeeprube
The first responsibilty lies with the city of New Orleans. They didn't have a proper disastor plan in place. This entire situation is there fault, period. Having said that, the State and Federal government should have called up the National Guard on Monday morning. By 2 p.m. Monday afternoon Guard trucks should have been rolling. The news today said that the hospital ship "Hope" has departed Baltimore harbor en-route to New Orleans. It will be there next Thursday. Why didn't it leave on Monday? It could have been resupplied by helicopter along its journey. By the time it reaches New Orleans next week, it will be too late.
The ball was dropped here by EVERY government agency from the local level, right up to the Federal level. I would have thought we would have learned from 9-11, but apparently we haven't. That's not a good sign for the rest of the country.
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patio34
The looting, etc. probably didn't happen all that rapidly---what did NOT happen was a sufficient law enforcement force. The city's enforcement was overwhelmed. I'd wager the same would happen in any city the law enforcement broke down. Why did it take days and days for the feds to send National Guard? What about unneccessarily dying, starving people, desperate because assistance wasn't sent promptly?? Why didn't the army do much about the looting in Baghdad? Because this administration is more about war than rescue. Where are the majority of National Guard troops, the helicopters, the Army Corps of Engineers? In Iraq! Who slashed their (FEMA, Corps of Engineers) budgets by 50-90% in the past few years? What city or people on earth could cope with their normal defenses against a disaster of this magnitude? Why does America have FEMA and such? How long did it take to get help to New York on 9/11?? This just in re today's news:
acknowledging the initial federal relief effort for Hurricane Katrina was unacceptable, said on Saturday he will send 7,000 additional troops to storm-ravaged region. --Reuters