Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: VAlibrarian on 31/08/2005 04:21:23
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It has been discouraging for me to watch the news on Hurricane Katrina. It seemed clear to me on Sunday that New Orleans really did not have a good plan for evacuation- because their plan did not address their residents who lacked cars. Today there are 30,000 people at the Superdome without electricity, without sanitation, with very little water to drink, and some of them with broken bones. It sounds hellish!
Watching the news today with the steadily increasing reports on the magnitude of the damage and flooding it seems clear to me that a tent city needs to be constructed North of the damaged and flooded area- maybe in Northern Louisiana?- to house the refugees for the next few months while they are pumping out and cleaning up New Orleans. I remember a tent city went up in Florida after Hurricane Andrew, and Katrina seems to have left more damage and flooding. So why is this not being discussed yet? Does anyone else think it odd that we are unprepared for a disaster that was sure to happen sooner or later?
chris wiegard
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Terrible images coming from New Orleans and the surrounding area - I think most people are surprised and shocked at the effect that weather can have on a modern city. I dare say that most cities and countries would be caught out by such a disaster.
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I think the events of the past few days seem to support the idea that it could have been better handled. I don't know if the tent city would have made sense- clearly the authorities preferred the idea of sending groups of people to various locations.
But the main lesson I see is that voluntary evacuations make no sense in the case of category 4 or 5 hurricanes. We need to stick with mandatory evacuations sufficiently early, and make some provision for people who have no car and no money. Making those difficult arrangements really could have saved some lives, perhaps many lives.
chris wiegard
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I’m not a bush lover but I feel all the criticism he has been getting is totally unjust.
No one could have prepared for what happened; the hurricane devastated an area larger than the UK. How could you prepare for something that hit such a large area?
New Orleans was just one of many places that needed help but if you listened to the news broadcasts and the people in New Orleans you would be forgiven for thinking they were the only ones in need of help. You can’t help everyone at the same time; resources are limited even after an event like Katrina.
Also the thing is you will always get some people who won’t leave even if the evacuation was made mandatory. I accept some of the people who are now being rescued couldn’t leave because they were too poor or had no transport, but I bet a lot of them people claiming they couldn’t get out on the news were really people who thought they could sit it out and had no intention of leaving.
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someone in a news report said that it was easy just to walk out of new orleans. the roads were dry - and this includes the roads right outside the convention centre. people were even getting taxi's to the airport. its appalling that there wasn't some kind of aid available for people who really needed it - those who were ill, handicapped, elderly etc, who couldn't have I walked out if they wanted to. Americans do seem to have forgotten what their legs are for!! it does seem like the majority of people who chose to stay wanted to take advantage of what was left behind.
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YEP
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New orleans flooded again. you have got to feel sorry for the residents.
Hopefully they all got out this time.
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Katrina now Rita, Why is it always the women that cause the trouble :) [:)]
Michael