Hurricane Katrina
Aug. 31st, 2005 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxNew Orleans is just terrifying at the moment.
You know there's the saying that we're all just three meals away from anarchy and New Orleans is bearing that out.
And there's simply no such thing as a simple explanation. It makes sense that those in dire situations would loot food and water, even clothing. And you can completely understand how those under such strain and in such desperate straits would. Then you see someone hauling out a big screen TV and go "WTF?" I have to think that there's some sort of underlying psychology to that, some sort of seizing control or power over a situation, because you sort of sit there and wonder what good a big screen tv would do if your house is under water. It has to be something else fueling that.
And then there's the scariness of the looting of guns and how guns and gangs are increasing the danger within the city (even in the unflooded areas of the city).
There's so much pain and death and desperation. You understand why it's spinning out of control. At the same time, it's terrifying that it's spinning out of control.
The logistics of rescues are just staggering. How do you reach a city when the port is closed and clogged with damage, the airports are flooded, and all the bridges are out?
And you have to feel for the rescuers. The police in New Orleans have also lost their homes. In fact, I would suspect so have most of the Coast Guard that we're seeing. I remembered this afternoon that the son of one of my old co-workers worked for the Coast Guard, and he was stationed in New Orleans which has a major Coast Guard base. The rescuers also have little in the way of communication with the cell towers down. And they also haven't slept or eaten.
It's staggering. Simply staggering.
You want to reach out and ... the human desire is to try to 'fix' this, to say "This could be coordinated BETTER!" Yet you know that they're only human too. They're working under incredibly trying conditions.
Ultimately you think, it shouldn't be this way, and yet...that's what a catastrophe is. Everything by definition is out of control. It's just so terrible to watch (and has to be exponentially terrible to LIVE through).
My heart goes out to all of those in such terrible and trying circumstances.
My thoughts are with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pfeifferpack who hasn't heard from her neices since they evacuated Biloxi, heading to Mobile prior to the storm. Hopefully they will check-in from Mobile soon.
On a brighter note,hazel75 has reported in from Mississippi, safe and sound -- though she still doesn't have power.
You know there's the saying that we're all just three meals away from anarchy and New Orleans is bearing that out.
And there's simply no such thing as a simple explanation. It makes sense that those in dire situations would loot food and water, even clothing. And you can completely understand how those under such strain and in such desperate straits would. Then you see someone hauling out a big screen TV and go "WTF?" I have to think that there's some sort of underlying psychology to that, some sort of seizing control or power over a situation, because you sort of sit there and wonder what good a big screen tv would do if your house is under water. It has to be something else fueling that.
And then there's the scariness of the looting of guns and how guns and gangs are increasing the danger within the city (even in the unflooded areas of the city).
There's so much pain and death and desperation. You understand why it's spinning out of control. At the same time, it's terrifying that it's spinning out of control.
The logistics of rescues are just staggering. How do you reach a city when the port is closed and clogged with damage, the airports are flooded, and all the bridges are out?
And you have to feel for the rescuers. The police in New Orleans have also lost their homes. In fact, I would suspect so have most of the Coast Guard that we're seeing. I remembered this afternoon that the son of one of my old co-workers worked for the Coast Guard, and he was stationed in New Orleans which has a major Coast Guard base. The rescuers also have little in the way of communication with the cell towers down. And they also haven't slept or eaten.
It's staggering. Simply staggering.
You want to reach out and ... the human desire is to try to 'fix' this, to say "This could be coordinated BETTER!" Yet you know that they're only human too. They're working under incredibly trying conditions.
Ultimately you think, it shouldn't be this way, and yet...that's what a catastrophe is. Everything by definition is out of control. It's just so terrible to watch (and has to be exponentially terrible to LIVE through).
My heart goes out to all of those in such terrible and trying circumstances.
My thoughts are with
pfeifferpack who hasn't heard from her neices since they evacuated Biloxi, heading to Mobile prior to the storm. Hopefully they will check-in from Mobile soon.On a brighter note,
hazel75 has reported in from Mississippi, safe and sound -- though she still doesn't have power.
