Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Hurricane Katirna - NOT mud-related

Jazuela · 09-03-2005, 11:31 PM

The press had satellite access and were already there (New Orleans has TV and radio stations, no?)

The reason the coordination was so lousy was because the government was reliant on communications from within. You can't call the state house, as a mayor, if your phone line is dead. You can't radio for the military if your cell phone tower was knocked over. You can't signal on a short-wave if you don't have electricity, or oil to keep your generator running.

They did have communication at first, then they lost it almost completely for a couple of days. I can even understand how they could say they didn't KNOW the convention center was filled with people. They had originally warned everyone to get OUT of the downtown area and head toward the Superbowl. They had to assume (since they had no other options at the time) - that the vast majority of people did that. They had no way of knowing - at that time - that people were going to the convention center.

The federal government had no way of knowing (at that time) that the state government told citizens to go to the convention center. They just weren't capable of communicating this, and most of those feds weren't watching CNN on TV - they were a little too busy trying to figure out what the heck was going on, and where, and with whom.

When they DID find out that those people were there, they had to do something. But they didn't think 3 days prior "Hey - we might get a hurricane tomorrow, that's currently a cat1 but will surely become a cat5,, so let's send a whole bunch of troops to the surrounding area so they can rescue a whole bunch of people we know will show up at the convention center.

They had no reason to know, they had no way to know, and by the time they found out, it was already chaos.

Hopefully people all over the country will learn from this - if the government orders a mandatory evacuation, even if they order one every freaking week for 2 years in a row - LEAVE. Don't say to yourself "Oh posh, we left every week for 2 years in a row and it hasn't been a big deal so far" - because you never know when it'll be the one you really should've left for.

I don't think any amount of pre-arrangements could've prevented the disaster. But the people themselves could've done things to prepare for themselves - because they had almost 24 hours notice and warning to get supplies, food, water, medicine. They knew this almost a full day in advance of the storm's arrival.

Some couldn't get out - elderly, infirm..but did the elderly and infirm all live secluded with no neighbors, no family members to prepare on their behalf? I mean - they knew they were living in sub-sea-level topography. They knew the levees weren't capable of handling anything over a cat3. And they knew a cat5 was on its way.

Regardless of Bush's brain-dead decision to reject funding for catastrophe planning in New Orleans a year prior - the people knew about this the day before the storm hit.

09-03-2005, 11:31 PM	#22
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	The press had satellite access and were already there (New Orleans has TV and radio stations, no?) The reason the coordination was so lousy was because the government was reliant on communications from within. You can't call the state house, as a mayor, if your phone line is dead. You can't radio for the military if your cell phone tower was knocked over. You can't signal on a short-wave if you don't have electricity, or oil to keep your generator running. They did have communication at first, then they lost it almost completely for a couple of days. I can even understand how they could say they didn't KNOW the convention center was filled with people. They had originally warned everyone to get OUT of the downtown area and head toward the Superbowl. They had to assume (since they had no other options at the time) - that the vast majority of people did that. They had no way of knowing - at that time - that people were going to the convention center. The federal government had no way of knowing (at that time) that the state government told citizens to go to the convention center. They just weren't capable of communicating this, and most of those feds weren't watching CNN on TV - they were a little too busy trying to figure out what the heck was going on, and where, and with whom. When they DID find out that those people were there, they had to do something. But they didn't think 3 days prior "Hey - we might get a hurricane tomorrow, that's currently a cat1 but will surely become a cat5,, so let's send a whole bunch of troops to the surrounding area so they can rescue a whole bunch of people we know will show up at the convention center. They had no reason to know, they had no way to know, and by the time they found out, it was already chaos. Hopefully people all over the country will learn from this - if the government orders a mandatory evacuation, even if they order one every freaking week for 2 years in a row - LEAVE. Don't say to yourself "Oh posh, we left every week for 2 years in a row and it hasn't been a big deal so far" - because you never know when it'll be the one you really should've left for. I don't think any amount of pre-arrangements could've prevented the disaster. But the people themselves could've done things to prepare for themselves - because they had almost 24 hours notice and warning to get supplies, food, water, medicine. They knew this almost a full day in advance of the storm's arrival. Some couldn't get out - elderly, infirm..but did the elderly and infirm all live secluded with no neighbors, no family members to prepare on their behalf? I mean - they knew they were living in sub-sea-level topography. They knew the levees weren't capable of handling anything over a cat3. And they knew a cat5 was on its way. Regardless of Bush's brain-dead decision to reject funding for catastrophe planning in New Orleans a year prior - the people knew about this the day before the storm hit.