An interesting series, borne from the "near miss" of hurricane Georges
in 1998.
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/thebigone_1.html
Especially interesting were these two paragraphs:
Shortly after he took office, FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh ordered aides
to examine the nation's potential major catastrophes, including the New
Orleans scenario.
"Catastrophic disasters are best defined in that they totally outstrip
local and state resources, which is why the federal government needs to
play a role," Allbaugh said. "There are a half-dozen or so contingencies
around the nation that cause me great concern, and one of them is right
there in your back yard."
There is a big difference, IMO, between blame and responsibility. I
often suspect those who are quick to attribute blame to others are the
ones who actually had, but did not take, responsibility. Laying blame
is a way of diverting attention from their abdication.
I have more thoughts, but this is enough of OT posting for me...
BTW, last week I did some shooting with the 35SP and some non-Olympus
RFs, using el-cheapo OEM ISO 200 colour neg film. Really interesting
results. I also had taken the OM-1n with a few lenses. I could have
sworn it had Elitechrome 100 in it. I was shooting with colour
transparency in mind, but when I rewould and removed the roll, aaack! it
was Agfapan APX 100 b&w. Well, it will be interesting to see the
results! Most of the shots were during a paddle up the Black River near
Milford, Ontario. There were a couple of rain showers during the trip.
I had the gear in a dry bag, but it did get a tiny bit damp... not a
problem, but it occurred to me that the weather sealing of the E-1 may
trump the E-Volt if my choice comes down to one of those or their
successors.
Earl
Barry B. Bean wrote:
>On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:19:41 -0400, John Hermanson wrote:
>
>
>
>
>>It's wierd, these guys say they're Christians, but this is not Christian
>>behaviour.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>He (Bush) wants to investigate himself to find out why the
>>response to New Orleans was so bad. Hey buddy it's YOU!
>>
>>
>
>FWIW, here's what a friend of mine from NOLA has to say on the matter:
>
>Well, I've trod in here on this subject before and been heckled a bit for
>it, but here's another try...
> Two days before the storm, the president declared a state of emergency.
>This allows the governors in affected areas to call up the National Guard
>and get them staged and ready to move in. According to news reports I've
>heard, Gov. Blanco did not do this. I hope that those news reports were
>wrong. That, of course, led to some delays as it's hard to quickly mobilize
>personnel and equipment to address such a large problem.
> Mayor Ray Nagin is a decent, honest man. He is one of the first
>uncorruptable mayors of NOLA in recent memory. He sought to move the city
>from the 19th to the 21st century by computerizing records (formerly kept on
>hand-written index cards in the case of property taxes, for example),
>modernizing City Hall, repairing roads and related infrastructure, and
>trying to fix the school system. I don't know if he had a plan for something
>like this, if he thought his emergency manager had a plan for this, or what.
>In retrospect, it looks like his plan was to rely on federal assets.
> I also think that he had a too high opinion of the amount of personal
>responsibility among the people in town - - who are now the majority of the
>people who are stuck at the Convention Center - - and that they'd follow his
>advice and secure 5 days food and water. Now, I'll agree that many may have
>lost this stockpile in rapid flooding in the 9th Ward, but prior to his
>opening the Superdome, he told people to come AND bring 5 days worth of food
>and water for everyone in their group. This is the fifth day after the
>storm; food and water started arriving in mass quantities Thursday and
>Friday. Had people heeded his advice, there would be much less misery.
> As for planning and coordinating a federal response, one reason NYC had
>such a good handle on things is that they had prepared and done drills for
>just such an emergency. Back-up communication plans were developed. People
>knew how the chain of command worked, etc. You'd like to think that LA and
>San Francisco do the same for earthquake preparedness, Seattle for volcanic
>activity on Mount Rainier, DC for terrorists, etc. As far as I know, NOLA
>didn't do such a thing. We were told to get out of town, if we couldn't get
>out on our own steam to bum a ride, if we couldn't bum a ride, to get food
>and water for five days since the city couldn't help us.
> Mix into this lack of planning - - the police didn't even stockpile enough
>food and water to feed and hydrate the police force!! - - the total loss of
>electricity and cell phones, and that there were apparently no backup
>provisions made, and you can see how the local civic response was
>ineffectual. This left state leadership as the next link in the chain of
>command.
> Gov. Blanco must have thought Nagin had a plan and was executing it. I have
>heard that Nagin had not been able to communicate with Governor Blanco about
>the situation in NOLA. The feds apparently were thinking that Blanco had a
>plan and were waiting for her to tell them where to go and what to do, but
>apparently she didn't. So while she did go on the air and ask for a day of
>prayer, she apparently didn't make specific requests for deployment of
>federal assets - - e.g., MREs and water for 50,000 to be delivered to the
>Dome and Convention Center.
> When it became clearly evident - - Wednesday pm, Thursday am - - that the
>Governor and Mayor were relying on the federal government to provide not
>just relief but much of the planning as well, things at that level kicked
>into high gear and we can see the results on the ground with troops, food,
>water, and evacuation and the like. Thus Senator Landrieu's request for a
>Cabinet-level person to do the recovery planning work - - state and
>municipal leadership have demonstrated their inadequacy to the task.
> As for the violence perpetrated on locals and tourists, here's my take as a
>resident the past six years. There is just a staggering amount of drug
>activity in NOLA among the undereducated and unemployed. This begets much
>violence and human life isn't valued as it is in other places, apparently.
>Recall the black on black crime discussion on this list earlier this year.
>The drug pipline is deader than the gas pipeline, and addicts got desperate.
>Mix in the dichotomy between the haves (predominantly white, but with a
>large upper-middle class black component) and the have nots (predominantly
>black), and there's a great deal of bitterness due to past injustices from
>racism, civil rights, etc. My personal belief is that those involved in the
>drug/thug culture in NOLA had been nursing real and imagined grievances
>against the "haves" and seized this as an opportunity to settle a few old
>scores. Sadly, they seem not to realize that they have hurt themselves as
>much, if not more, than their innocent victims.
> My $.02 worth, for what it's worth. I welcome debate, comments on this
>important issue, but please let's not start name-calling.
>
>--
>Barry B. Bean
>Bean & Bean Cotton Company
>Peach Orchard, MO
>www.beancotton.com
>www.beanformissouri.org
>
>
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