RRC Archives

I love how easy it is to stand on dry land saying things should've been done. This isn't news that people are basing their opinions on, it's infotainment. CBC, ABC, Fox, even CNN. Stop and see how much of each story is actually relevant. If it's not entertaining and engaging people will change the channel and the network loses revenue for their commercial spots that they use to pay the bills. I can't make an objective decision on what is happening down there since I have no experience with these things.

Prevention? Go back 6 months and try to tell these same people that are trapped and dying down there that you need to cut money to welfare and street improvement plans in order to improve a levee from cat3 to cat5. See how far that idea flies. People won't always let you protect them from themselves. But then when things go wrong, it certainly makes for good news ratings.

marathonmedic wrote:I love how easy it is to stand on dry land saying things should've been done. This isn't news that people are basing their opinions on, it's infotainment. CBC, ABC, Fox, even CNN. Stop and see how much of each story is actually relevant.

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I agree, marathonmedic. Pointing out how some person or some group screwed up gives that delicious surge of righteous indignation.

ZSpider

vic wrote:The bracing, the prevention, and preparness (to me) was of very VERY poor choice. If someone tells me today that nothing could have been prevented, and they were as best prepared as they could... I just have to freeking laugh out loud... that until you can prove it to me - because I am gonna have a really hard time believing it.

Yeah. And Bush could have prevented 9/11. It's incredible how easy it is to figure out what should have been done after the fact. Hindsight is 20/20.

Zspider wrote:

marathonmedic wrote:I love how easy it is to stand on dry land saying things should've been done. This isn't news that people are basing their opinions on, it's infotainment. CBC, ABC, Fox, even CNN. Stop and see how much of each story is actually relevant.

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I agree, marathonmedic. Pointing out how some person or some group screwed up gives that delicious surge of righteous indignation.

ZSpider

CNN or whoever doesn't have to say anything - the films of those people crying for help at the Superdome and convention center says it all.

I have made 2 seperate trips down to differing parts of Mississippi in the past 2 weeks. The first was to Hattiesburg and the second was to Biloxi. During the second trip, I was able to spend time with someone in a leadership position within the community and here are some of his views and comments:

-A manditory evacuation order was given to all residents living south of I-10. They were not going to utilize the available resources to go house to house insuring all left the area. If anyone was seen/caught in the area prior to the "All Clear", they would be fined at that time. The responsibility was with the individuals to leave but it was also emphasised that they must assist their neighbors who were unable to help themselves. You know, the neighbor helping neighbor thing.

-The area we were focusing our relief efforts was between 4 - 6 miles in from the coast. The tidal surge washed OVER a 2 story school. No one expected there to be this level of destruction this far inland. This area was in the manditory evacuation area but he knows there were people who decided to ride it out. Their homes are gone. They most likely are gone too.

-He and his family rode out Camille in 1969 in their home in Bay St Louis. After that storm, everyone was aware of the buildings that had withstood that storm. From then on, those were considered "Safe Places" to go prior to a hurricane. The thinking was that it withstood Camille, it can withstand anything. All that remains of his childhood home is the front steps, everything else was washed away along with the current owners of the house. Most of those "Safe Places" met the same fate.

-Within his jurisdiction, there is a 3 tier support mechanism used to communicate the needs of the residents he serves. In turn, this mechanism is also used to distribute materials/supplies thus reducing the drain on outside resources. Their rational is that the more we can do for ourselves as residents of our community, the other resources can focus on other essentials such as search and rescue, recovery, utility restoration, etc. This is part of their disaster plan established PRIOR to Katrina. Actually, it is part of the community's general disaster relief plan which is revisited and revised after each time it is implemented. It is based on the community doing whatever it can to help itself.

-He is already communicating to a church I worked with on this last trip what the anticipated needs will be next month. This information is coming up through that support tier from his constituants. This is providing us the opportunity to gather these items and deliver them in a timely fashion.

The several people that I worked side by side with in MS, particularly in the Biloxi area, were very appreciative of the response and support they had received from all over. They said the faith based organizations were the first on the ground providing food and water, followed closely by the Red Cross with meals, clothing, and shelter, and then the various groups covered by FEMA. Understanding the magnitude of the disaster, the general consensus was that they were very pleased with the way the state and local officials were prepared and how they executed their disaster plan.

The one consistant complaint was the lack of attention the MS coastal region was getting due to the focus on New Orleans. Their feeling is that the press is focusing on an area where the planning was non-existent and the results have been painfully obvious. They have seen and experienced the benefits of a well planned, well executed plan and this is not being publicized at all by the media.

One last point, many of the residents I interacted with were very thankful for the support shown to them, their one real concern is that there is a flood of support now but what will it be in a month or two? What about a year from now? This being the case, my church has entered into a long term partnership with a small church in Long Beach, MS where we will be supporting and providing for the needs of that community for several years. I encourage everyone to search for ways where you can continue to show your support for our neighbors and not just sit back and say that it's not my responsibility. The government should be taking care of them.

GWG

marathonmedic wrote:Prevention? Go back 6 months and try to tell these same people that are trapped and dying down there that you need to cut money to welfare and street improvement plans in order to improve a levee from cat3 to cat5. See how far that idea flies. People won't always let you protect them from themselves. But then when things go wrong, it certainly makes for good news ratings.

i think it's interesting that people always assume it comes out of the social funds like welfare or infrastructure maintence. why don't we ever say that it's coming from the military or the nsa or funding for subsidies, country building, nation propping, corporate support, formal dinners for the elite?

Paul3eb wrote:i think it's interesting that people always assume it comes out of the social funds like welfare or infrastructure maintence. why don't we ever say that it's coming from the military or the nsa or funding for subsidies, country building, nation propping, corporate support, formal dinners for the elite?

I'll admit that those are rather standard places to say that funding is coming from, but the idea is still there. People working in the local governments have to take care of immediate problems of any kind first long before they can take care of future ones.

Well done GWG!!!

Kudos, GWG....

Our team worked the Pass Christian / Long Beach areas. It is nice to know that it was in good hands after we left. Good nieghbors like you, even from hundreds of miles away, are hard to come by.

Yeah, there is always a limit as to how much we / they / one can prepare (prevention-wise). I think it's sunk in now, and transforming a cat3 levy into a cat5 levy was a plan that didn't fall through as planned. Having said this, and from a rescuer's point of view, I'd say that it's sad that there was SO much rescueing.
So I will state it again: in the state in LA, there could have been a little more prevention to further save lives, to diminish the over-whelming rescues needed.

You know you got a cat 3 wall, and a cat 5 is coming... You know it's gonna go.
So I ask only one small question: What is cheaper / better:

A) Prevention: send buses, get people out prior... etc...
B) Best Rescues: afterwords... get as many victims as you can after the storm...etc...

That's the sort of simple prevention I was aiming at...
There is no one to blame... I am just saying that there is just too much that happened the wrong way, and every little mistake inflamed itself - and large ones were catastrophic.

I'd love to hear how we can do better next time... and for those who assume we are doing so great, let's just say that... we can always do better, so no hard feelings.