Can't believe what's happening in America!!!!!

[Forgetmenot]

Have just watched the news and I'm so upset seeing all those people who just seemed to have been abandoned by the authorities, their government and the rest of their country!!!
They have no food or water and the police are only concerned with looters!!
Why isn't the whole country rallying round to help for gods sake!!!

[sharklet]

Well some people are really showing thier xenophobic colours here aren't they!

My god. People are dying and some of you seem to think that slagging off the American Nation is apropriate. Firstly lets make a distinction - the US Government is not the US Nation. Tha nation is made up of Millions of individuals. less than half of whoom voted for the current incumbent. Many of whoom cannot stand him, chance a look at Michael Mooore who has already been mentioned and many of other voices who agree.

Terrible mistakes have been made over this, seruois questions need ot be answered - like why didn't FEMA have an adequate plan for dealing with this (which lets be honest was going to happen some day considering New Orleans' topography) Why wasn't the military called in days ago. Immediately - there are bases in the are right next to New Orleans and all around the affected states - the infastructure is there to use.

I have family missing in New Orleans. We haven't heard from them. We can only hope. But it would be lovely to log onto baby world and not have to llisten to the amreican hating which seems to be simmering below the surface. I'll readilly agree with you that the Government there is a piece of s* but what a hurrican disaster has to do with thier foreign policy is beyond me. Lets show a bit of compassion, as Brits I know we are capable of it. I'd ove my husband to feel he doesn't live in a nation of people who hate him for his accent and his accident of birth in being from the USA, I'd love to think you don't hate me daughter for being half infidel and some seem to imply. Watch it becasue your bordering on racism - or xenophobia both of which are pretty distasteful.

Don't tar everyone with the same brush. Not all Septics are asshole and if you could see the US news you'd know they are jumping to help and doing all they can.

Emma x

[suedonim]

I'm surprised there doesn't appear to have been any sort of emergency plan. After 9/11, I'd have thought all cities would have some sort of an evacuation/refugee plan in case of a chemeical/dirty terrorist bomb. It also seems crazy that all those yellow school buses weren't used to help people get away.

It's been an awful week altogether, heartbreaking to see such desperate people in the US and dreadful to see the agonies of all those involved in the fatal stampede in Bagdad.

[expatinscotland]

I think a lot of people are missing the concept of state government and the role it plays in the US system of government. The United States operates on a tiered system of governance. Local level, like a British council. Then there's state level. States do all the policing, governing and regulating of their citizens except in issues where it's necessary for the federal government to play a role - federal income taxes, interstate commerce, for example. There are state courts, state prisons, state military guards, state highway patrols, state universities, etc.

The federal government allocates funds from its treasury to each state every year to cover a variety of expenses -road maintenance, medical expenses, keep up levees, sewage systems, etc. - usually based on the state's population but other circumstances factor in - and the state is supposed to pretty much run itself.

In this instance, disaster relief was approved by Congress before the storm hit, obstensibly so that state officials could access and use these federal monies to evacuate people, hire generators, mobilise their state guard, etc.

It appears, however, that none of this was done. No real plans were made at the local and state level. Even tho the storm was supposed to actually be worse than it was. Thus, w/i days, you had chaos break out. It was only then that the federal government has had to step in.

Vast numbers of refugees have been sent to neighbouring states. These states have had to use resources allocated to govern their own populations to accommodate large numbers of people.

Yet there's been a surprising lack of press from Louisiana's state officials - other than the mayor of New Orleans.

And it's making a lot of other states scratch their heads.

This is an incredibly large nation with a HUGE population. Not everyone is a greedy, war-mongering racist - just like in any place.

[expatkat]

V. well explained, expatinscotland.

[Earlybird]

I've just come back from America (Thursday), and it was fascinating/horrifying to be there watching the disaster unfold.

The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana gave a press conference early Saturday evening urging all citizens of New Orleans to evacuate immediately. They already seemed at a loss for what to do practically because, until Friday night the hurricane was predicted to hit Florida and Alabama. When Katrina suddenly turned to the west on Saturday, it became clear that Louisiana and Mississippi would bear the brunt of the storm.

The mayor admitted that their evacuation plan was a 72 hour plan, and at that point they had only about 36 hours notice of the new predicted landfall location. Whether or not the plan would have been effective if they had had the time to execute it, who knows. But, it was a moot point, and it became a situation of every man for himself.

Sadly, due to economics/lack of resources, many people did not have any options. I think others counted on the fact that these storms are often not as bad as the media predicts, and also New Orleans has survived many, many "near misses" in the past without having to endure an actual hurricane.

This storm was worse than anyone predicted, but once it had passed there was a palpable sense of relief in the news reports that, while the storm was awful, New Orleans had survived intact. And, then of course, less than 24 hours later, the levee failed....and the nightmare took on completely different dimensions.

[SueW]

We're all supposed to have a strategic emergency plan aren't we? What % of companies still don't have one in case of terrorist attack in the UK? Thousands, I'll bet. I wonder how many councils have really got their plans sorted? I do believe that London's emergency services are prob pretty well sorted though.

How many people have the dried food and recommended amount of water stored in their house? How many of us have bought a wind-up torch/radio? Would know how to make up sandbags or have the resources handy to do so if we live even rmeotely near a flood plain?

There have been many comments that people stranded cannot even be told/find out that help is on the way because there's no electircity so they don't have access to TV, radio etc.

[Janh]

sharklet, I've just skimmed the last few posts and I'm so sorry to hear you have family missing. I really hope they turn up OK.

[Earlybird]

I'm rubbish at links, so will excerpt the following from an interview with the mayor of New Orleans (Nagin). Transcript is from the CNN website:

WWL: If some of the public called and they're right, that there's a law that the president, that the federal government can't do anything without local or state requests, would you request martial law?

NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans. We did that a few days ago.

WWL: Did the governor do that, too?

NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think so.

But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people, but they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources, and we hold it under check.

I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.

And I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of them.

Now you got some knuckleheads out there, and they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.

And one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.

You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will.

And right now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're seeing is drug-starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wrecking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter around them and hope to God that we're not overrun

[alux]

Too long.

My family weathered a category 5 hurricane in 1961 in Belize. I was in NO @ 1994 when Andrew (another cat 5) was bearing down on NO and was amazed at the lack of concern of so many people. People did not do what Belizeans have always done for hurricanes. Stock up on food, water, cooking fuel and batteries to live campstyle. I was frankly shtting myself in NO. My friends took me to see the levees which would 'protect' the city. they had such faith in the levees. I was not convinced and thanked my lucky stars that Andrew, a powerful but compact (about 70 miles across) hurricane diverted just enough that the impact on New Orleans was more like that of a category 2.

I heard on 5 live yesterday that it was known at the time of construction that the kevees could only be guaranteed to withstand a category 3 hurricane. I also read that just months ago NO asked the FEMA - the national disaster agency for something like $10,000 to repair on of the flood pumps and they were turned down.

Katrina was 400 miles wide. They knew for days that it was coming. No small diversion would make little difference to its impact. I watched hurricane Mitch also a cat 5 pound Central AMerica in 1997 for 5 days. Nothing would have been left of NO if Katrina had behaved like Mitch.

I find it shocking that a city the wealthiest nation in the world did not have a viable mass evacuation plan. Did people see the footage of the masses of school buses all lined up in the foodwaters?

NO is one of the poorest cities in the US. 25% of its population live below the poverty line. It is shocking that if you did not have your own car you were up sht creek.

This situation was destined to disintegrate into hubris when on the day after the hurricane there was a shoot to kill policy on looters. When the first course of action is to shoot the population rather than start to alleviate the suffering that any delay would cause, I can see why people have broken into Gun shops to arm themselves.

People become desperate and they feel a need to 'protect' themselves and family from those 'more desperate' than themselves. My husband, a model citizen, said he would head to the nearest Walmart depot and do the same.

If they could bring in the heavy artillery - seen the footage of armoured cars with about 10 men perched on top with assault rifles? to patrol NO then they can easily evacuate the city despite so many of the US military being in Iraq.

The day the military turns its army on its populace is the day is an act of civil war.

I have always regarded america as a thinly veiled police state. I have been harshly criticized by many Belizean American friends for holding this view. I dare not say 'I told you so' because this tragedy is not the time to do it.


My heart breaks for the children.

[alux]

Sorry should say

the day the police and military is instructed to turn its citizenry - especially in the face of such desperation - is an act of civil war.

[HappyMumof2]

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[Rhubarb]

I understand that our first reaction is 'how can we help? Who can we give money to?', and not to sound coldhearted but America is one of the richest countries on the earth, it is surely the responsibility of the government to plough some of it's own money into providing speedy aid for it's own people. When you think about how much they have spent in blowing people up in Iraq, it would cost just a fraction of that to get emergency aid to those people TODAY. America has the means. It reminds me of what a campaigner against the one child policy in China told me, that the government there will happily sit back and do nothing to help the children abandoned in orphanages, because other countries and aid organisations are doing all the hard work for them, leaving them to spend government money on more pressing matters like arms.

I am appauled by the human suffering going on, the images are truly shocking, but I am also very angry that these people have to rely on overseas aid and charity and not their own country.

[HappyMumof2]

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[monkeytrousers]

Most people are looting for food surely? Why are they being lumped in with druggies and criminals? What are they supposed to do in absence of any real aid? Babaies need milk and water, people need food and shelter. This 'shoot to kill' policy is a shocking response from the republicans and reveals the racism at the heart of the administration.

[HappyMumof2]

Message withdrawn

[HondaDream]

just shed a few tears for a lady whos 9 day old baby was in intensive care and she didn't know which hospital he had been evacuated too, luckily she found him but her and her husband had been searching for 3 days...I am going to be so nice to my kids today.

[katierocket]

It's just disgusting. Like everyone says, they knew it was coming, they have the money, they have the resources, so why the hell have these people been abandoned. Because they are poor and black and not as important in Bush's eyes as 'folk' from NY or LA or Washington.

[Ameriscot2005]

Don't think being black is the issue (except for being at odds with the police). There are white folks stranded in the flooded areas too, but just not where the TV cameras happen to be (and the TV cameras aren't there because the areas are very hard to get to).

But they are poor and in the lowest echelons of society. The ones with the means a) didn't live in the downtown area and b) got out before the storm hit.

[alux]

no one said it was only the poor was black in NO or the south. I have seen some desperate white hilly billy communities in these 3 states. And we are seeing coverage from these people do. They are saying the same thing. What is unfortunate though is that % for % blacks are disproportionately poor and therefore are also suffering disproportionately from this catastrophe of Biblical propertions. There you go Mr. Bush. You are a man who claim to be of the Bible.

What I hope black leaders will learn from this is to start to look after their own. I am sure they always knew deep down that the rich whites just look after themselves.

Time for another civil rights revolution. Time to get black people to be a part of the election process. In key states like Florida (Jeb Bush governor and being groomed for a presidential role - did you see him in Asia after the tsunami in an official role?) They have found clever ways to disenfranchise poor minorities. I am sure it isn't the only state where it happens.

[alux]

it was heartening to see that some police officers turned in their badges rather than shoot people trying to survive. Of course, some self preservation went into that equation too....

[alux]

notes from inside New Orleans

[expatinscotland]

Britain is one of the richest societies in the world. You should see their 'plans' for a bird flu epidemic before pointing fingers. Of course, anti-viral supplies have been ordered for those in government. And for an additional, whopping 2% of the population. Everyone else? Good luck!

[ruty]

i was also appalled to see the hundreds od school buses lined up under water which could have evacuated so many people. Negligent planning by local govt definitely, and disastrous response by national govt after. Is it true one of the problems is so many troops out in Iraq? I have seen no real emotion from bush - mock tough 'we're going to solve thois problem' talk yes, but only mild embarrasment and bravado, no compassion. Am I wrong? Please tell me if i am.

[ruty]

agree expatinscot about terrible planning for bird flu epidemic. But two wrongs don't make a right.

[cod]

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