I don't want to question whether we could have foreseen everything that has happened with Hurricane Katrina. With perfect hindsight, we would have mobilized National Guard troops and prepositioned relief supplies within the city of New Orleans and along the coast. We all knew it was possible the levees could break, but there are numerous possible disaster scenarios that we are not fully prepared for and those failures go beyond the current administration.
However, the response since the hurricane and levee breaks has been dangerously slow. Five days after the disaster, the media should not be able to go an area with hundreds of refugees and fail to find government presence providing security and aid. There is no reason local police and fire departments as well as refugee camps should not have working communications systems. How hard is it to airdrop in water purifiers, food and medical supplies? There are steps that should have already been taken. There are steps that still could be taken and make a big difference.
None of this is to diminish the hard work that is already being done and the generosity of the American public who have donated time, money and supplies. But disasters require quick leadership and nobody seems to be in charge.
Americans are dying in the streets of New Orleans. I'm not talking in past tense. I'm talking in present tense. As I write, people are dying, being injured, going hungry, catching preventable diseases.
We can do better.
3 comments:
3.5 years ago, terrorists attacked New York City and DC, leaving around 3,000 innocents, dead, mostly affluent whites. Katrina will likely result in a similar (or greater) number of innocent casualties, mostly poor blacks. Where is Katrina's Giuliani??
I disagree. 9/11 did not kill "mostly affluent whites". The victims included people from several dozen countries, every major religion and every economic class. While the flood disproportionately affected the poor because they were the ones who were least capable of leaving, the terrorist attack really did not discriminate in its victims.
If you are looking for Katrina's Giuliani look no further than the mayor of a city "not" in Louisiana. Mayor Bill White of Houston stepped forward and personally did more as a mayor for the people of New Orleans than any goverment official in Louisiana. He made sure that Houston was not just a stop on the disater road the displaced masses fell into, but a postive proactive home. He saw to it that a massive effort was made to make these people feel very welcome here and that everything Houston had to offer them was at their disposal. Train service and bus service was made of free usage to anyone from the Hurricane area. Food (and I dont mean MRE's) was cooked 3 times daily with hot showers and play areas for children inside and out. Medical services were onsite for both mental and physical treatment. He brought in pharmacies and opened public schools with open arms to any child displaced. I could go on and on but you can read for yourself the Herculean effort hes put forth in Housing and any other way to give these people dignity and a positive road back to success. I think that Mayor White is the Giuliani of this disaster he just lived several hundred miles from the event.
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