What happened and happens now in New Orleans, because of the hurricane Katrina, is pure horror, the hell on Earth. Again, a natural disaster, which is now hitting the US, after the Tsunami, and a lot of others…
Some much flooding. Homeless and dead people now (perhaps more than 20’000). A disaster…
I was *very* impacted by the thoughts of Russell in one of his last posts.
It is not the time for politics, critics or controversy. But, on the other hand, I think that we have to face the brutal reality…
I’m sorry, you can’t blame the people of New Orleans for living there, like some people have online. Everyone in the Bay Area – in most of California really – live on massive earthquake faults. Saying we shouldn’t live in this beautiful area because some day we might have a natural disaster just doesn’t work. What does work is preparation, as the catastrophe in New Orleans has shown us.
I won’t start in on the systemic problems where the poorest people were the ones that were not able to evacuate before the hurricane, and were essentially ignored for 24-48 hours after as well. Under President Bush the poverty rate in the U.S. has risen to an incredible 12.5% of the nation. We’re now watching the consequences of that massive number.
Found in the Wikipedia, just to confirm the input of Russ:
Evacuation issues.
[…] Evacuation was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out of the city. Officials knew that New Orleans has the lowest percentage of people with cars of any major city in the United States. A 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without privately-owned transportation. Officials also did not take into account the fact that New Orleans has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States at about 38%. These factors prevented many people from being able to evacuate on their own. Consequentially most of those stranded in the city are the poor, the elderly, and the sick
I hope that the US nation, with the help of other countries, will begin to manage the next steps better than now. It is *so* dramatic…
My heart goes out to all those involved in the disaster.