Klarinet Archive - Posting 000011.txt from 2005/09
From: "Liz Ward" <elizabethward@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] OT: Re: evacuations from New Orleans
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 08:28:36 -0400
Thanks for that, it was interesting. I confess I was wondering why they
can't just get people out of that superdome stadium but it seems as if it is
all much more complex than those of us who are not involved could begin to
imagine.
Liz
----- Original Message -----
From: "R. Williams" <rwilliams@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 1:17 PM
Subject: [kl] OT: Re: evacuations from New Orleans
> The criticism and recriminations being leveled regarding Katrina and New
> Orleans I suppose is a natural outgrowth of people watching from the
> sidelines. I can tell you from personal experience however that when you
> are on the ground at the disaster things are not so clear.
>
> If this had occurred 10 years ago it is most likely that I and seven other
> people from our water rescue unit would have been on a plane heading
> there. I've been involved in county, state and national disaster planning
> as well so I've seen first hand what goes into it. So let's take a quick
> look at some issues.
>
> New Orleans has for years known that it was at risk from exactly the type
> of situation that occurred and the first line of defense was the levee
> system. The simple answer as to why the levee system wasn't built to
> withstand a storm of this magnitude is lack of will. At the local/state
> political level such projects are looked at from the standpoint impact on
> everything other than safety. Will the levee restrict a scenic view by
> tourists? Will the project displace homes and businesses? What are the
> odds of a cat 4/5 storm hitting, hasn't yet! Then the finale; how much
> will it cost. Even if the state and local governments are determined,
they
> must compete with people such as Kennedy and his billion dollar hole
> digging project in Massachusetts for money! Louisiana is neither rich nor
> politically powerful.
>
> There is also a very real resistance among political leaders when it comes
> to looking stupid and that acts as a delaying factor in implementing
> disaster plans. Calling up a large scale response, even if the plans are
> in place can cost millions of dollars. So people sit with their finger on
> the buttons afraid to push. Choose wrong and you loose your job and
> career, namely because the critics being heard now are just as vocal when
> you err on the side of safety.
>
> Next question is evacuation. The question; "why didn't they force people
> to leave" is a bit naive. The simple fact is that short of using armed
> troops willing to shoot people, you cannot forcibly evacuate people who
> don't want to leave. I've personally had people I was trying to evacuate
> from flood areas point rifles at me. Well guess what, they stayed because
> there is neither the time nor resources to deal with people like that.
>
> The second evacuation question is why the New Orleans and state officials
> didn't provide transportation for people who did want to leave but didn't
> have the means. That's a fair question. I think the numbers I've heard
> are that around 200,000 people remained in the city and surrounding
> area. If you cram a bus full you can get maybe 60 people on one so that's
> 3,334 busses. Then after running the risk of putting thousands of
> additional people on ground zero, you'll still have several thousand if
not
> tens of thousands still in the area.
>
> Realistically, taking into account the real world resistance to pushing
the
> button and risking Katrina taking a hard right and totally missing the
> area, they had maybe 24-30 hours to get the busses and trucks on site, get
> the people at collection points etc. Even the National Guard when on
alert
> would take 24 hours or better to respond. Time is the real issue. The
> rule of thumb to evacuate a city is that it takes a week or better.
>
> Before getting off the soapbox there is one additional point I'd like to
> make. I consistently hear people saying; "the government had a
> responsibility to whatever." Well what about our responsibility? Who
here
> can hold up there hand and say that they called a public official an
> expressed concerns about New Orleans or anything else. What happened to
> the "WE" in We the People? What happened to personal responsibility? For
> close to 20 years I and thousands of others put our hides on the line to
> protect and save people and then get nothing but why didn't you do
> more? Well if you aren't at the town board asking questions and at the
> next budget meeting, then you share responsibility.
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
