So how did the destruction of New Orleans happen?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Ted Striker


BS

You're making excuses for lack of Federal action based on states rights issues? Horrible.

The President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world. When **** hits the fan, bureaucracy rules and traditions be damned.

This is beyond the state of an emergency and emergency action needs to happen without all this red tape BS you're talking about.

If Bush can fly into Baghdad he can certainly get his ass on the ground when his country needs him the most.

Admit it, you're just trying to get him killed.

As for LA / NO why didn't they fund the improved levee system themselves? It seems a case of penny wise, pound foolish. It may be the same for the Feds, but the Feds have a lot larger constituency and don't suffer as much if LA gets hosed by flooding.

One thing for sure, there should be an in depth study before we sink zillions of dollars into rebuilding the city on the same spot. Is a major city on that spot tenable over the course of a couple of hundred years, with potential increases in the sea level from global warming?

[Jon Miller]

we should consider whther or not the netherlands are tenable

JM

[Solly]

It is not feasible to rebuild the city, increases in sea level or not.

[Solly]

As for any whining Brits in this thread...

We are trying our best. You have to put this in perspective. The devastated area is approximately 100,000 sq miles, the entire size of the UK is 93,000 sq miles, now think of that. It's not just the 20,000 at the super dome. It's the 300,000-500,000 that are stranded all over that large area. Think about saving 500,000 in an area the size of the UK with approx 200 helicopters. The people seem to be only getting the news about the super dome, those people are alive, we need to save the people everywhere, then fine enough food , water, and shelter for approx 1,000,000 (when it's all over). You just can't get enough water to feed a million sent to LA in 40 hours. My brother is down there, in the rescue effort. We sent down 30,000 bottles of water from New England , but that takes 2 1/2 days to get there. This is not sending a few bottles of water from Southampton to Portsmouth. Think of saving everyone from Scotland in 40 hours, feed, clothe and shelter them in less than 3 days, after you rescue them one at a time off there roofs.

[Odin]

I heard on NPR that Shrub forced the Army Corps of Engineers to cut all the funding to an improvement of the flood protection around NO to pay for Iraq.

[dannubis]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
we should consider whther or not the netherlands are tenable

JM

well, they did a better job with their storm levees in any case...

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Constitution allows the Congress to spend taxes in almost any way they see fit.

Including hurricane preparedness

The Feds could easily have giving the Army Corps of Engineers in the area more money to build more levees.

[Solly]

What was that about hindsight again..

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Odin
I heard on NPR that Shrub forced the Army Corps of Engineers to cut all the funding to an improvement of the flood protection around NO to pay for Iraq.

"And make doubly sure that the money we cut from flood protection goes to Iraq. I don't want that money going to pay someone's damned entitlement!"

G. W. Bush

[Starchild]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
we should consider whther or not the netherlands are tenable

JM

The Netherlands spends more money on better defenses against a much much smaller risk than what New Orleans faced pre-Katrina.

Economic overkill maybe but better a few wasted euro than seeing your nation underwater.

[techumseh]

Given New Orlean's position in the hurricane zone, it's well known vulnerablity to flooding and it's large population of poor people, one has to wonder why the disaster plan was so inadequate. Cities in Canada, and I'm sure the US as well, must have a disaster plan in place, which has to be updated regularly.

I don't really know which level of government (city, state or federal) is responsible for what, but cooperative joint planning for this type of situation is what was required. Whatever planning there was, it was woefully inadequate.

In order to deal with a major disaster like this, you need to consider realistic evacuation plans, deal with the possiblilty of electrical, water and sewer system failure, have emergency medical plans in place, search and rescue, food and water, and a housing plan for refugees. Equipment and supplies must be assembled in advance. Command and control issues must be resolved ahead of time.

You can't do this planning while the disaster is happening. You must do it in advance.

[Patroklos]

You guys are impossible

If you honestly think that there was any way to plan for this, and plan for this for every city in America you are stupid. And not just plan for this in every city in America, but also for earthquakes, tidal waves, meteor strikes, locaust swarms...

Given the scale of this disaster, and that the vast majority of the effected ARE getting help, your critisisms are neither warranted or constructive.

Obviously the hardest hit and the most difficult to help will be in the center of teh disaster, that would be the very definition of "center."

[DanS]

As for LA / NO why didn't they fund the improved levee system themselves? It seems a case of penny wise, pound foolish. It may be the same for the Feds, but the Feds have a lot larger constituency and don't suffer as much if LA gets hosed by flooding.

I've tried that line, Sikander. But at this point, it smacks of blaming the victim. Maybe in a month or two, I will take the line back up.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Patroklos
You guys are impossible

If you honestly think that there was any way to plan for this, and plan for this for every city in America you are stupid. And not just plan for this in every city in America, but also for earthquakes, tidal waves, meteor strikes, locaust swarms...

Given the scale of this disaster, and that the vast majority of the effected ARE getting help, your critisisms are neither warranted or constructive.

Obviously the hardest hit and the most difficult to help will be in the center of teh disaster, that would be the very definition of "center."

That being said, I do think that the existing plans underestimated what level of response would be needed on what day. For example, the effect of the breakdown in civil authority was woefully inadequate. They seem to have believed that americans would behave better than Iraq's or Lebanese where such authority has disappeared.

It seems like a terrible thing to say at this time but the inadequacies of this response will help us prepare for the next hit on a US city be it natural or not.

[Sava]

That's right.

Nobody is allowed to criticize anything.

Even the most obvious examples of gross incompetence.

Doing so helps the terrorists and makes baby jesus cry.

Stupid libruls