For what it's worth, I don't think this can be compared to the tsunami at all. I've gone through the aftermath of a major hurricane, and I was in Thailand a few days after the tsunami. Huge difference.

I read an article about how various organizations in SE Asia are trying to mobilize as much as they can. Remember, the countries most impacted by the tsunami are nowhere near as wealthy as the US; there are areas that haven't even recovered. Besides, there aren't that many international aid organizations in that part of the world...most are based in the US or Europe anyway.

Agreed. I turned on my local news this morning to see something besides Katrina and the only story they were reporting was a major marina where about 50 good sized boats (some liveaboards) were on fire. So much for trying to get something a little less sad.....

I agree..........

People ought to listen to Mother Nature.

My heart goes out to all on GC who have family and friends affected by this tragedy.

My mom's neighbor has a son who lives in Metairie and he came up here on Sat. He said he doesn't know if he has a house to go back to or not.:(

Somebody want to explain to me why 1500 police officers were ordered to stop search and rescue so they can focus on arresting looters???:rolleyes::mad:

Nahhh....let 'em loot. Right now they feel powerful...probably have never felt this powerful in their lives. So let em grab all the moldy shoes and jeans they can grab.

They'd just be the LAST ones on the evac train if I were making decisions.....

PsychTau

(honestly, I can probably see why they are psychologically motivated to loot. However, when this is all over, they STILL won't have gotten any farther ahead. They still don't have a home, and a few pairs of jeans and a stereo aren't going to help them get one. That's the sad part...they can't see too far into the future).

Seriously people, the looters should not be the focus right now. If they are harming others, then that is different. But most people are just wanting to eat. Let them be.

I concur. But this is Louisiana and our state government has the inability to focus on the issue at hand most of the time. My reaction to hearing that was simply.... "The city is 80% under water WTH use will that flat screen TV be anyway? Basically, who cares!" Thousands of people have drowned and they're concerned about businesses with OMG insurance.....go figure. There are some people who have resulted to violence, frustration and a sudden surge of powerfulness perhaps. Those people should be handled but those cases are a very VERY small percentage of what's going on.

Not while the Army Corps of Engineers yells more loudly that they can tame nature.

A few things bother me about this situation:

1. This could have been avoided. The city of New Orleans itself wasn't actually HIT by the hurricane the issues came due to flooding which EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE in Louisiana knew was going to happen. I found this out freshman year of high school, we're not at all surprised.

2. Why weren't provisions made to get people out of the city? A mandatory evacuation was issued yes, and those with the MEANS to evacuate did that. The people who remainded in the city were the poor or those with nowhere else to go, plain and simple. City buses could have been used to get those people out of the city. New Orleans, the state of Louisiana made NO effort whatsoever. Basically, our government decided that certain people were expendable.

3. Why is New Orleans the only focus? In Gulfport, MS alone 80 people died. In Slidell, LA which is near New Orleans the city is GONE not flooded, not in trouble G O N E! We're talking damage you can't imagine.

1. That is why I question the rush to rebuild everything. Perhaps they should take their time and if they feel they must rebuild, then get some good engineers in there to build decent levees that can withstand something like this (if there is such a thing). Right now, they can't even figure out how to temporarily fix the breach so that the water can be pumped out.

2. CNN was showing city buses going up and down the streets and taking people to the Superdome on Sunday and Monday morning. Some people refused to leave. I don't know whether they got to every street/neighborhood with the buses, but it did look like they tried. I saw someone sitting in a third floor apartment who told the Coast Guard out the window that they weren't leaving because they had food and water. This was yesterday and the water was up to the second floor. That's nuts.

3. New Orleans isthe focus because the situation is still getting worse there. I'm seeing a lot of footage from Slidell and also from Gulfport. But, food, ice and water are making it to Gulfport right now and it's more shocking to see people sitting on their roofs waiting for rescue than to see the damage in Gulfport. I did see a lot of Gulfport coverage though. New Orleans is also more well known and has a larger population. This doesn't make Gulfport less important, just less newsworthy to the media, I guess.

I am definitely impressed with Texas. I saw a news clip a little while ago where he was saying that they are preparing their schools to take in the kids from New Orleans who are being bussed to the Astrodome. That's really amazing. A reporter asked where the money was going to come from to cover all the expenses and he said it didn't matter, we have to take care of people first and figure the rest out later. Very impressive man, in this situation anyway. (I don't know anything about him otherwise).

The whole thing is just so incredibly tragic, for everybody affected.

Speaking of looters
 

I don't appreciate how the media is trying to play on steretypes when it decides to make the distinction between "looting" and "finding".

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...24#post1084224

This is some bull. People are dying/starving and the media is trying to play up on people's fears (and ratings I'm sure) with this mess. :mad:

Sorry for the double post. I just found an article that details why the mayor is moving police to stop the looters. Apparently they are now looting places like nursing homes, threatening the staff and residents, etc. The article

Nagin told The Associated Press that looters are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas including hotels and hospitals. He said police will "stop it right now."

Even a nursing home was targeted by looters, who took a bus and threatened the driver and residents. The home plans to relocate residents and its director said she's considering arming workers.

The top Homeland Security official in New Orleans said bands of gunmen are roaming through the city.

Terry Ebbert said looters have been breaking into stores all over town to steal guns. The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the gun section at a new Wal-Mart has been cleaned out. And the thieves are apparently using their new guns, with shots heard through the night.

A spokeswoman for Louisiana's governor said workers at Children's Hospital huddled with sick kids and waited for help to arrive as looters tried to break in, but help never came.

I heard him on NPR earlier today talking about this. Like you, I was impressed. :)


ETA: Why would you break into a hospital? Good grief.....

You made some great points.

But the city taking people to the Superdome is not what I was speaking of. The Superdome already had leakage problems prior to them arriving there. I meant taking them out of the city. Even if it meant staying on the bus for extended periods of time, out of harms way is most important. And then in the Superdome the National Guard didn't have the food or resources to feed the people housed. Now, call me crazy but if a city, state, government knows that it has to make provisions to house around 15,000 people for at least a weeks time shouldn't there have been SOMETHING done prior to their arrival? Why was there no food, this is Louisiana food is not a scarce resource. Why weren't blankets and pillows for some of the homeless who had to be housed? We live in a very giving community, the community organizations in Louisiana have literally storage areas full of donated supplies.

The problem was it was expected that this was going to be another, hit and miss. That Katrina was going to skip over New Orleans as other storms have done. They just dropped the ball, they really did.