I will answer this with another question because I don't know the answer. Do you think the rescue didn't happen people just didn't want to help them? The fact is this was the biggest deployment of the National Guard to a hurricane sight ever and they were deployed 2 days before. Why did the people at the Superdome and convention center need to be rescued? Why didn't they already have food and water? IF you (FEMA, National Guard) were under the impression that those were "safe" sites I don't believe you start your rescue operations there. Also, I don't believe they were prepared for the looting and fire they took the first couple of days. I don't believe they prepared for that. That was a contingency they were not ready for, and I don't fault them for that.

FEMA didn't understand the scope of this rescue operation, I will give you that. I am sure they planned for a rescue operation, but not this one. Should they have known the number of people that would stay behind? Should they have known the local governments would do what amounts to nothing to help it's own people? How many people are suffering in Mississippi and Alabama because of the incompetence of the leadership in New Orleans? The Guard troops that should have been done rescuing people in New Orleans days ago are still there because of that incompetence.

You are correct that we now need to concentrate on getting people to safety as fast as possible, but understanding the causes of this catastrophe is important. You want to blame the War in the Gulf and the cutting of the levee budget that is fine, but what I see is an immense natural disaster where the people who knew the most about their predicament (the state and especially local governments) did pretty much nothing. That to me seems the most obvious place to make improvements in the future. The Fed Gov. is responsible for a lot of things and at various times is in better or worse shape to deal with certain kinds of problems. Katrina may have caught us at a bad time for this type of disaster and there is a lot to learn from this how issue. I really hope the Pacific Northwest takes some lessons and starts making plans for this:
http://www.pnsn.org/HAZARDS/CASCADIA/cascadia_zone.html

It could be tomorrow or 500 years from now. The amount of preparation has been minimal so far. As far as I can tell this will make what happened in New Orleans look like a spring rain shower. The last great earthquake off the coast of Oregon and WA was about 300 years ago, they happen every 450 years or so. But, they come every 200 years to as long as every 800 years, so it could happen at anytime really. My point for bringing this up is the retrofit job would be measured in the trillions to fix all the buildings and infrastructure, so what

 

A good article, IMO, from the Washington Times:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/pruden.htm

 

[QUOTE=s2kpdx01,Sep 6 2005, 08:31 AM] I will answer this with another question because I don't know the answer. Do you think the rescue didn't happen people just didn't want to help them? The fact is this was the biggest deployment of the National Guard to a hurricane sight ever and they were deployed 2 days before. Why did the people at the Superdome and convention center need to be rescued? Why didn't they already have food and water? IF you (FEMA, National Guard) were under the impression that those were "safe" sites I don't believe you start your rescue operations there. Also, I don't believe they were prepared for the looting and fire they took the first couple of days. I don't believe they prepared for that. That was a contingency they were not ready for, and I don't fault them for that.

FEMA didn't understand the scope of this rescue operation, I will give you that. I am sure they planned for a rescue operation, but not this one. Should they have known the number of people that would stay behind? Should they have known the local governments would do what amounts to nothing to help it's own people? How many people are suffering in Mississippi and Alabama because of the incompetence of the leadership in New Orleans? The Guard troops that should have been done rescuing people in New Orleans days ago are still there because of that incompetence.

You are correct that we now need to concentrate on getting people to safety as fast as possible, but understanding the causes of this catastrophe is important. You want to blame the War in the Gulf and the cutting of the levee budget that is fine, but what I see is an immense natural disaster where the people who knew the most about their predicament (the state and especially local governments) did pretty much nothing. That to me seems the most obvious place to make improvements in the future. The Fed Gov. is responsible for a lot of things and at various times is in better or worse shape to deal with certain kinds of problems. Katrina may have caught us at a bad time for this type of disaster and there is a lot to learn from this how issue. I really hope the Pacific Northwest takes some lessons and starts making plans for this:
http://www.pnsn.org/HAZARDS/CASCADIA/cascadia_zone.html

It could be tomorrow or 500 years from now. The amount of preparation has been minimal so far. As far as I can tell this will make what happened in New Orleans look like a spring rain shower. The last great earthquake off the coast of Oregon and WA was about 300 years ago, they happen every 450 years or so. But, they come every 200 years to as long as every 800 years, so it could happen at anytime really. My point for bringing this up is the retrofit job would be measured in the trillions to fix all the buildings and infrastructure, so what

 

It more like never putting them in place. Also it would be very unlikely those measures would have even been started if the bill would've been passed.

 

It was only ever to sustain a category 3. So the likelyhood of it breaking is probably relatively high. I saw some info saying since 2000 they had asked for $495 million and had received $200million of it. I am trying to confirm this, but if that's true, it's not like they were hung out to dry completely. I will keep looking....

 

Yeah. From what i have read, this is what i am interpreting. The SELA project was funded with $7xx Million. Repairs to the levees started, then $2xx million was reallocated from the project, so the project was basically ended. To the national public it seems as if many people are using hindsight in placing blame for the results of this catastrophy. But this is not really the case. There were lots of articles published by the N.O newspaper and other editorials about the risks of not reinforcing the levees. The risks were well known.

Please see this quote from Meet the Press (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/)

MR. RUSSERT: I want to stay on this because this is very important. You said you were surprised by the levee being broken. In 2002, The Times-Picayune did story after story--and this is eerie; this is what they wrote and how they predicted what was going to happen. It said, and I'll read it very carefully: "...A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time. ... The scene's been played out for years in computer models or emergency operations simulations... New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. ...the levees would trap any water that gets inside-- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour--catastrophic storm. ... The estimated 200,000 or more people left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter for people too sick or inform to leave the city. ...But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground. Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Other will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days."

That was four years ago. And last summer FEMA, who reports to you, and the LSU Hurricane Center, and local and state officials did a simulated Hurricane Pam in which the levees broke. The levees broke, Mr. Secretary, and people--thousands...

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Actually, Tim, that...

MR. RUSSERT: Thousands drowned.

If you are looking for an interesting read, check this out. Keep in mind I would not bet my life on the legitimacy of this source. But it seems to be well informed of what the argument is. http://alternet.org/story/24871/

 

At least these cops are on the job stopping looters!!!