New Orleans Hurricane

The topic of New Orleans and the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina have been on my mind since the storm hit.

I listened to a lot of name calling and blame being passed around various government agencies. Recently they even held hearings where several residents got to vent to congress. My first question is why the Mayor is getting off so easy?

There were discussions of studies conducted in New Orleans in regards to what the city could expect to have happen if the evacuation order were given. From what I heard the study findings were highly accurate. Unfortunately I forget the exact number but they were something like 40% of the population wouldn't leave the city either because they were stubborn fools who deserved to die when told a massive storm was coming and they should evacuate and they refused OR they were too poor to be able to afford to evacuate.

I don't believe it is the national governments responsibility to have evacuation plans in place for local cities when trouble first hits. Although some problems are foreseeable, like a big hurricane crossing the Atlantic, some aren't, like and earthquake, so local governments have to provide the first response to an emergency. When New Orleans ordered an evacuation they should have had a plan in place to put folks on buses and whatever to get them out of the area. Baton Rogue wasn't really that far away in the scheme of things, I doubt they had housing but I bet it would have beat riding out the storm in the city. There was no such plan. The Mayor is responsible for this and yet I don't see him getting called to answer for this failure. I wonder if it is because he is black and we all know the federal government didn't care because all those stranded were poor and black, making them democrats no doubt. I lost all respect for a few individuals who started spouting that garbage - enough said.

The post-Hurricane mess falls on a lot of shoulders. Once the city was wrecked the state and national governments have to step in and they both failed miserably. When they tried to do something they were fighting each other over control and failed to deal with this issue because they were all busy issuing press releases blaming each other for the problem.

The only thing I have heard that worked was the Astrodome in Houston. Kudos to the group that operated this evacuation point. A gentleman from the Coast Guard was in charge and according to all reports performed admirably - too bad the government treats the Coast Guard like a bastard step child while requiring so much from them. Perhaps the other services should have their budgets butchered, perhaps they would learn to perform better using what they have better. Wishful thinking and not really something I would want to test out. But do redirect your money to a satellite network that can track the Iraqi bombers!

After the disaster many communities opened their doors and took in the displaced, Houston perhaps taking in more then anyone else on a fairly permanent basis. Now the news is filled with stories of anti-New Orleans sentiments and ill feelings between the students from Houston and those from New Orleans in the local schools, especially high schools. At least one school had some serious rioting occur.

Now I could act like an ultra-right wing bigot and say it is a turf battle for the local drug trade in Houston but that would just be using extreme stereotypes and making myself to be an idiot. High School is a tough time for many people and is a place where people start identifying their place in the world and society. I think the sudden influx of a large number of new students dramatically upset this structure in Houston. Suddenly you go to school and you don't know a lot of the faces you see and you wonder about them. Then some of the new students will displace the status quo on sports teams or whatever it may be. Those displaced will be upset and blame the new students for their loss of stature, their life long friends will support them in this and suddenly you have riots in the schoolyard.

The news reported that graffiti had been sprayed on one high school door accusing the New Orleans girls of being sluts. I am sure this is debatable but once again it was the status quo being turned on its head, some Houston guys started dating some New Orleans girls and the Houston girls were upset. I bet if we did a little research we would find that the ladies from both towns are equally as promiscuous. The Houston guys probably just wanted something they hadn't already despoiled.

What Houston did taking in those displaced is laudable. I think social workers need to explore the issues that arose with the new students and learn how to better meld two disparate cultures in the future should another disaster like this strike.

The Mayor of New Orleans needs to accept responsiblity like the head of FEMA and resign taking his proper place in the past. The owners of a nursing home that failed to move it's patients resulting in the patients deaths are facing manslaughter charges, why shouldn't the mayor as well?

I almost forgot - the looters who shot at the rescue people and ended up getting shot and killed themselves, excellent! People who take advantage of situations like this and start rioting and acting like gangsters deserve what they get. I hope the individuals involved in shooting them are getting apropriate counseling, they don't deserve what they have to deal with. The widespread looting, I don't really have a problem with that in general, the stores were closed an folks needed food and in some cases clothes. Taking HD TVs and waht not, shoot them as well.