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9/6/05

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SignalNoise

SignalNoise

Chicago, IL
February 2004

SEP 01, 2005 08:12 AM

not to be like a dick or anything ... but if the media isn't covering this and this guy isn't in new orleans.... how does he know what's going on?

i'm sincerely curious, and if there is a reasonable way folks would be privy to this - i'd like to know.

Gilane

Gilane

Boston, MA
June 2003

SEP 01, 2005 08:18 AM

I can't speak for anyone else. But I can tell you I get far more information watching local news from N.O. streaming on the web, such as WWL, and reading local news sites like NOLA, than you will get watching CNN and such. I also lived in N.O. for eight years and my wife grew up there. So I'm fairly familiar with the local situation normally, and we have been monitoring the news very closely, and have been on the phone and IM with friends and family that left and are/were sheltering nearby as well as people who are inside still that we have not had contact with since Sunday.

That help you any? mad


[Edited on Sep 01, 2005 by Gilane]

I_Poop_Too_Much

I_Poop_Too_Much

I'm lost
February 2004

SEP 01, 2005 08:40 AM

Gilane said:
Second, N.O. has devastating crime at the best of times. It's a very poor city in a poor state that is rife with corruption. It has an underfunded and understaffed police department. Unless you have seen the worst projects in the N.O. area you really can't grasp what it's like, and that was before Katrina hit. IMHO the poorest parts of N.O. are the absolute worst places in this country.

Sure, be furious at the beasts who are shooting at helicopters. But understand that they are a small minority of the residents, and are the type that would have shot at a helicopter even before Katrina hit the city. Remember that N.O. averaged over one homicide a day, some years close to two a day, in a city with a population under 5000,000. Those individuals (organizing into gangs) have no interest in being rescued - they believe they're lot would only be worse elsewhere.



Agreed. Life in New Orleans was just.....yea. Not pleasant, and I never set foot in the WORST parts. It may not be the WORST place in the country, but it's definitely up there on the list.

SignalNoise

SignalNoise

Chicago, IL
February 2004

SEP 01, 2005 08:51 AM

Gilane said:
I can't speak for anyone else. But I can tell you I get far more information watching local news from N.O. streaming on the web, such as WWL, and reading local news sites like NOLA, than you will get watching CNN and such. I also lived in N.O. for eight years and my wife grew up there. So I'm fairly familiar with the local situation normally, and we have been monitoring the news very closely, and have been on the phone and IM with friends and family that left and are/were sheltering nearby as well as people who are inside still that we have not had contact with since Sunday.

That help you any? mad


[Edited on Sep 01, 2005 by Gilane]



actually, seriously, that *does* help - answers my question and all makes sense now.

sorry if i offended - i really was just curious how folks were still getting info. cross my heart.

buggrit

buggrit

Portland, OR
January 2005

SEP 01, 2005 08:52 AM

ok, being a new orleans resident even if i am living in portland now, i've been buried in informatino since this started. i moved to portland last year, prior to that i lived in new orleans for 10

1: the looters attacking children's hospital did happen, however they didn't get in and left for easier pickings

2: there were plans, and they were put into effect, however even with a mandatory evacuation order you can't make everyone leave

gilane hase the right idea, i haven't even looked at national news media, i've been on wwltv and nola for most of the news


in some ways the national media is underreporting, in other ways they're overhyping, it's the nature of the beast that is news media

TheSinner

TheSinner

Seattle, WA
October 2004

SEP 01, 2005 08:54 AM

TheBastard said:
I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. It looks like I'll never get the chance now. frown



That's what youre worried about?

ZPO

ZPO

Olympia, WA
July 2004

SEP 01, 2005 09:01 AM

Gilane said:
Please read the Times-Picayune. There were plans. More importantly, N.O. and local FEMA and Army Engineers have been BEGGING for years for the resources to properly prepare for an event like this, including improving the levee system.

But funding has been steadily declining over the past 4 years, becoming functionally non-existent in 2003. The Times-Picayune has published no less than 8 articles in the past two years on this very subject, and the potentially catastrophic consequences!



Thank you for your very cogent response. You've hit the nail on the head. I'm not at all surprised that NOLA finally got hit, we've talked about it in EM circles for years. I'm also not at all surprised that the response is fragmented and turf-wars are dominating. Looting - fully expected.

Look at the aftermath of hurricane Andrew. It will take up to a week to get the first-round of response out of the beauracratic logjam.

The NGOs like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army will be the first ones to start putting real relief on the ground and pushing it out. Thats the way it usually works.

If you can - visit their websites and make a donation. Once you've done that, visit the FEMA web site
and especially review their disaster preparedness guides. Take stock of your own preparedness. If you lost water, power, and the ability to travel for 5 days - how would you do?

skunkboydevo

skunkboydevo

Golden Valley, AZ
July 2004

SEP 01, 2005 09:06 AM

DrChaos said:
Mary Dejevsky, writing about the New Orleans disaster in the Irish Independent, makes a cogent observation:

"Given that most of New Orleans lies below sea level, it is hard to believe that there was no contingency plan for this event."

And so we are left to react after the fact, by means of charities, and disaster recovery teams, and (always) the efforts of many unsung individuals.

To the extent that people render mutual aid towards each other, we may hope that New Orleans, Biloxi, and the rest of the Gulf Coast should in time recover from their trauma.

But what about the next time disaster strikes? Is your city or town or state or country really prepared to handle it? (Is mine? I wonder.) Are you? (Am I?) Perhaps, once we have done what we can to aid the Gulf Coast cities, we should check that our own homes and neighborhoods are prepared to handle future calamities. Just in case.



There actually was a contingency plan for this sort of thing. In the event of a class five Hurricane hitting New Orleans, the emergency resources from the surrounding areas (Missisippi, Alabama) were meant to converge on N.O. The problem is that the surrounding areas were also devastated. If you look at the last two class fives to hit America (Camille and Andrew) The local damage was every bit as devastating as Katrina, however Katrina was much larger than anybody ever imagined.

Sambaloco

Sambaloco

New York, NY
OLD SKOOL

SEP 01, 2005 09:46 AM

Honestly, if you're in baton rouge. You don't know exactly whats going on in N.O.. There is no communication, right? Speak the rumors as truth and you are as bad as the media.
its a lot more complex than that.

Your anger is valid. I understand people are hurting and its probablly total mayhem but don't pretend you know whats really going on outside your own immediate environment. Peoples lives are way too complex for you to make calls like that.

The "looters", as the media are describing them, are mostly the poorer people who A) couldn't afford to leave town or B) refused to leave out of ignorance and now need to survive somehow. We would all be in there stealing water and food if it were us.

Fuck the media is right but be aware of the difference between what you know as truth and what you know as rumor.


I_Poop_Too_Much

I_Poop_Too_Much

I'm lost
February 2004

SEP 01, 2005 09:54 AM

Sambaloco said:
The "looters", as the media are describing them, are mostly the poorer people who A) couldn't afford to leave town or B) refused to leave out of ignorance and now need to survive somehow. We would all be in there stealing water and food if it were us.



Shooting at evacuation copters, hijacking buses and other vehicles, stealing junk merchandise, invading homes, none of these are excuseable.

SurfBetty

SurfBetty

Atlantic Beach, FL
December 2003

SEP 01, 2005 09:58 AM

MrHateYourself said:

Sambaloco said:
The "looters", as the media are describing them, are mostly the poorer people who A) couldn't afford to leave town or B) refused to leave out of ignorance and now need to survive somehow. We would all be in there stealing water and food if it were us.



Shooting at evacuation copters, hijacking buses and other vehicles, stealing junk merchandise, invading homes, none of these are excuseable.




food, water, that is understandable I would too if I had to feed my family, but 4 pairs of Nikes!??!?! really now..that is just taking advantage of the situation.

AtomiPIETRO

AtomiPIETRO

Naples, FL
April 2004

SEP 01, 2005 10:04 AM

Max16Characters said:
Question: If there are sharks swimming in Lake NOLA, how the fuck did they get there? NOLA is 40 miles from the sea....wicked storm surges or no, that's a long distance for the sharks to come.



No, it's really not. Bull sharks are able to survive in both salt and fresh water. On the Gulf coast of Texas, Louisiana and Florida the bull shark population is relatively high in rivers and canals. I wouldn't want to be in that water.

SurfBetty

SurfBetty

Atlantic Beach, FL
December 2003

SEP 01, 2005 10:06 AM

^^^brackish water.

AtomiPIETRO

AtomiPIETRO

Naples, FL
April 2004

SEP 01, 2005 10:07 AM

^^^Yes.

Sloane

Sloane

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 01, 2005 10:07 AM

I have a friend in Biloxi who couldn't evacuate because he didn't have a car and couldn't find a ride. I still haven't heard from him. I'm pretty worried.

Five years ago I was teaching middle school in Mississippi, and New Orleans is my favoritest city EVER; I've spent a good bit of time there. This is absolutely devastating.

I'm remembering taking my students to the NO Zoo right now...it makes me want to cry.

frown

Please donate to the Red Cross. Yesterday one of my co-workers was saying that he's NOT going to donate because he can't afford to give enough to make a difference, and to give any less than a large sum of money would be kidding yourself into thinking you deserve a pat on the back.

THIS IS NOT TRUE! Every little bit helps. These people need food and water. You can buy a decent meal and a bottle of water with $10, right? If you have even $10 to spare, I urge you to do so.

tellyfone

tellyfone

Ithaca, NY
December 2004

SEP 01, 2005 10:34 AM

Sesshomaru said:
yea the US news is crap they don't show what's going on the BBC at least show what's really happening there it's like there reporting on two different things.

[Edited on Sep 01, 2005 7:08AM]



Yes, back when American broadcast producers decided that TV news had to be show-biz, like anything else on the tube, it was straight off a cliff from there...

No terrorist cell or military enemy could have accomplished the level of destruction resulting from this combination of an abnormally massive storm and official incompetence. Will our leaders finally wake up and do what needs to be done, instead of grandstanding?

Film at 11.



[Edited on Sep 01, 2005 1:36PM]

Callahan

Callahan

Seattle, WA
February 2005

SEP 01, 2005 09:07 PM

A few days and everything just....crumbles.

Ladies and gentleman your looking at a dress rehearsal for the end of the world.

unravled

unravled

Vancouver, WA
August 2003

SEP 01, 2005 10:27 PM

TheBastard said:
I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. It looks like I'll never get the chance now. frown


For better or worse, history shows they will rebuild. I'm sure you'll get your chance.

_DictionaryGirl_

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

SEP 01, 2005 10:34 PM

burning_bright said:

Sesshomaru said:
yea the US news is crap they don't show what's going on the BBC at least show what's really happening there it's like there reporting on to different things.



so is US news underreporting? if so, not surprising.



Yesterday I was watching the news. They reported on New Orleans for five minutes, and then... BACK TO ARUBA, FOR MORE ON THE NATALEE-- and then I howled with rage and turned the channel. mad

TheSinner

TheSinner

Seattle, WA
October 2004

SEP 02, 2005 11:09 AM

Callahan said:
A few days and everything just....crumbles.

Ladies and gentleman your looking at a dress rehearsal for the end of the world.



Jeebus dice.... did you ever read any fucking history books? Large scale natural disasters have been occuring for so many thousands of years and you think this is the end of the world?.....

Callahan

Callahan

Seattle, WA
February 2005

SEP 03, 2005 05:19 AM

This is by no means the end of the world. Nor did I claim it to be. I hope you dont fire off as quick in bed as you do on the boards.

I equated the things we're seeing occuring on a small scale to the things that we'll be seeing on a large scale when our house of straw finally comes tumbling down.


I happen to be a student of history. History doesn't tell us much about the end of the world cause large scale natural disasters tend to wipe things clean. Need I point out all six major exinctions?

Fuck Dude.

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