A Disaster Compounding a Disaster

First of all, I'm sure everyone of all political stripes are saddened by the disaster along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Furthermore, I realize countless other places and websites have posted this, but it does not hurt at all to be the umpteenth person to do this. Plus, if one person clicks through this or adds it to whatever they have, then it this would have easily been worth it. So, here it is:






American Red Cross






USA Freedom Corps

Thankfully, we have the American Red Cross and the USA Freedom Corps. And thankfully we have the generosity and support of the American people that assist these organizations in their relief efforts. These organizations will also need continued assistence from the public as time moves on in order to further aid those affected in the future.

The Red Cross has provided much relief since the storm and the Indian Ocean tsunami team of former Presidents Clinton and Bush to further assist the relief effort.

Additionally, I'd like to thank all the nations and people from around the world that have contributed to the rescue and relief effort along the Gulf Coast. No matter what political differences we all have, it is always heart-warming to know that we will not abandon each other in our time of need. Thank you, all of you.



WARNING: I will post my views on the government's relief effort. Remember that these are my views, if your views differ from mine, fine. Also, if you do not want to read something like what I've written after this, that's fine, and I understand. Please read no more on this post if that is your wish or come back to read it should you ever want to in the future.



Okay, it's been about a week since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29th. It's been six days since the levees gave way, flooding the city of New Orleans even more than the storm itself had done. For several days, it was an almost numbing experience anytime I watched TV or listened to the radio or found the news on the internet. After those first few days, my numbness turned to a greater awareness. And the more I saw, the more I was humiliated and angry. I began to think more and more about the situation those people found themselves dealing with. I began to try to imagine being in their shoes.

I thought about being stranded on a rooftop. I thought about the heat and humidity, probably not unlike what New York had gone through for much of the summer. In my mind, I'd look to my left and my right, only to see a sea where there should be a street. I might even see a bloated corpse or two floating in the water, the sight of it making me gag. I thought about the horrible, unimaginable stench that must have been there. I thought about the horrible pain I would have been in, if not from any physical injuries, then from the incredible thirst and hunger and perhaps illness. And then, I thought about wondering, after days had passed, if I was to be abandoned and left to become a corpse like the others.

I also thought about being in the Superdome. Having managed to go through the storm. Then, being surrounded by a mass of humanity that hadn't showered or had access to proper bathrooms. The fear. The rumors that must have gone on that help was right around the corner. Or that a few crazies with guns were waiting right outside. And the constant wondering of how my family and/or friends fared. If I hadn't come into contact with any of them by then, that worry would be more than I could withstand.

Then, back in my own life, I saw the front page of the Friday, September 2nd edition of the New York Daily News with a picture of a bloodied and beaten man just outside the Superdome being carried away by others trapped in the area. I don't know this man. I don't know anyone in New Orleans. But this enraged me.

Looking in the newspaper after I brought it back to my apartment, I found a little story on how Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice enjoying Broadway in yet another stylish fashion statement. This being on top of the President being in San Diego the day after the hurricane to commemorate the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, the end of World War II. The hurricane earned a mention at the beginning of the speech, but that was it. Appearance is everything in this media age, and it certainly didn't look like everyone up and down was consumed fully by the disaster unfolding at the Gulf coast. This would look like nothing if it didn't look like there were snafus everywhere in the rescue efforts. However, it just adds a little more, not much, but a little, to the pile that has made the rescue look like a disaster in itself.

First of all, shame to Congress that hadn't bothered to fund the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen and raise the levees around New Orleans in years past. For years and years, that project had gone underfunded while the rest of Congress went on a spending binge for their own pet projects. The most egregious example of a member of Congress "bringing home the bacon" is Alaska's lone representative, Don Young. Over $200 million for a bridge connecting a town of 14,000 to the nearby airport on an island, even though it takes only four minutes by ferry. Constrast this with the $27 million that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested for this fiscal year. Congress provided only $5.7 million, according to Senator Mary Landrieu's (D-Louisiana) office. The Congress has been penny wise and pound foolish on many things, but I never thought such a thing would end up possibly taking out a large part of a city.

The long-term causes for this disaster are the result of Congress shortchanging efforts to improve the levees that protected New Orleans. As we all saw, those defenses failed after the hurricane produced violent storm surges.

Although long-term, that ounce of prevention might have prevented ten tons of heartache, this wasn't the situation we were given, unfortunately. So, we had to hope that the full strength and resources of the United States were thrown into the relief effort as fast as possible. Did that happen? I'm sad to say that the answer to that question is no.

First off, it didn't look like New Orleans had a real evacuation plan. As I usually see it every time a town is cleared out because of an approaching storm, the plan is essentially "This is a highway, go that way." That's fine and dandy if you see the storm a day or two days out, so that people can wait their turn in traffic and get out. Problem is, not everyone has or can afford a car. And, in a case like New Orleans, the rental cars were rented out, the trains and buses stopped before everyone could get out. And even those cost money not everyone might have. Whoever was supposed to plan for an emergency in the city didn't think things through beyond pointing out a highway leading out.

I've heard some people saying that whoever somehow didn't find a way out of the city should have started walking. Assuming there was two days advance notice, let's estimate an able-bodied person would be able to walk 30 miles in those two days. Even with that said, these people on foot would likely be out in the open, in the elements, rather than hoping for the best and waiting it out in their homes. Also, depending on where they were from, they might not have even been able to leave the lowlands that were flooded after the hurricane left. Even if all the people that could get out of the city did get out instead of some stubborn people remaining at home, there was bound to be thousands of people left behind anyway. This map, courtesy of Yahoo! Maps illustrates that situation.





Map of New Orleans, LA


Secondly, too much attention was placed on the looting that scarred New Orleans after the hurricane. As CBS reported on August 30th, attention and energy was placed on looting. The only time looting should have caught the attention of whatever authorities were there at that time was if the looting involved violence on other people or perhaps the taking of firearms. Most of the looters were looking for things like fresh food, clean water, shoes, and other necessities. If some people wanted to waste their energy and risk injury or worse to steal jewelry, electronics, or any non-essential merchandise, fine. There was far too little manpower to worry about looting and protecting those holed up in the Superdome or other centers. Perhaps if the authorities that were in the city then had paid more attention to other matters, I would not have had to see a beaten man on the cover of the Daily News a few days later.

Lastly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the Department of Homeland Security has completely dropped the ball. The agency should have started moving with the aid supplies and manpower as the storm was moving in the Gulf of Mexico. They didn't have to deploy these assets to the Gulf Coast. They could have designated areas inland to send these supplies, then started moving them in once the storm had passed.

As I said to someone I was arguing with on an internet forum on this very same thing, assuming it takes a week to get the supplies and manpower in place, and using a start point such as August 31st (though I had assumed the 30th, the 31st is the date BBC News gives for the federal government declaring a public health emergency, thereby speeding up the delivery of supplies to the region), that would mean that the supplies would arrive on the 7th of September. But, if we were to use the BBC timeline of events, yesterday, September 4th, was when the administration said that full federal help was in place. So, it took five days for the aid to arrive, from the 31st to the 4th.

As I said in that post on the forum, another thread tracking Katrina after the strike on Florida had begun on the 26th of August. Had the federal authorities begun to assemble all the aid at that time, knowing that it was very likely to strike somewhere along the Gulf coast, even if I were to assume it'd take an extra day for the supplies and manpower to move from their inland camps to the disaster areas, the aid would have arrived on September 1st, saving three days. A lot can depend on three days. Lives saved and lost could depend on three days. Illnesses could depend on three days. Victims of violent crime could depend on three days.

I am not pulling the idea out of thin air. As Fox News reports, the president was monitoring Katrina as it was about to hit Florida on August 25th. According to FEMA, Louisiana declared an emergency regarding the hurricane on August 27th, Alabama and Mississippi declared an emergency on the 28th. Louisiana also has a still active Major Disaster Declaration from Tropical Storm Cindy declared on the 23rd. The storm itself struck in early July. Had a public health emergency been declared anytime while Katrina was gathering strength in the Gulf or when the three Gulf states affected by the storm had made declarations of their own, a lot of time would have been saved. Why did it have to wait until the 31st?

This not including the stated goals of the Department of Homeland Security National Response Plan to gather resources needed to respond to a threat. It wasn't unreasonable to think New Orleans and other communities in the area were under the threat of severe flooding. This article from 2002 highlights that very threat.

Furthermore, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made the Sunday political talk show rounds. On Meet the Press (full transcript), Chertoff said that he stated before that the department had not built a preparedness capacity needed to deal with such disasters. He said they did prestage the supplies needed before the hurricane but that I-10 was submerged and that the breach of the levees had taken everyone by surprise.

Several problems with this: First, why didn't the department build a preparedness capacity? Was it due to a lack of funding? If so, what did you do to remedy that situation? Second, why wasn't there an alternate plan for delivering the supplies if they had been massed as had been said? Even most commuters plan out alternate routes in case their favored way was unavailiable for whatever reason. Third, why did the breach of the levees catch you by surprise? As I wrote earlier in this post, the Army Corps of Engineers had been begging for funds to improve the levees. Why didn't the DHS take up that cause?

The delay in fully commencing the rescue and relief effort had been caused by a lack of foresight and a slow response. FEMA is under Chertoff's direction. If FEMA had been failing, then it is Chertoff's responsibility to "crack the whip" and get FEMA moving. Chertoff is part of the Cabinet and as such, he is part of the executive branch. The head of the executive branch is the President. If Chertoff had failed to make FEMA get its act together, then the President should have taken up that task, however necessary, including threatening the jobs of whoever is failing, if need be. The President is supposed to depend on people like the Cabinet secretaries to run the organizations for the President. But if the secretary is failing, the President has the duty to ensure that it's running. After all, FEMA is under the command of the President.

All up and down the organization, the rescue process was stalled. Everyone shares the blame for this delay, including the President. A leader is the one that takes control, especially if other parts of the bureaucratic machine fail. Editorials from the very conservative New Hampshire Union Leader (formerly the Manchester Union Leader), to the liberal New York Times have wondered where that leader was. I wonder the very same thing. And I wonder that as my mind tries to imagine the life of someone trapped in New Orleans, possibly needing medication, possibly ill, possibly injured or elderly or merely completely exhausted. And I'll wonder where that leader is.