NEWS: A Letter From New Orleans

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.

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?


[Edited on Sep 01, 2005 by Gilane]

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.

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.

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

That's what youre worried about?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

^^^brackish water.

^^^Yes.

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]

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

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

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

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.

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?.....

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.