Blogging Katrina
"The mayor of New Orleans is an
idiot"
As soon as the catastrophe is over, every
politician elected by the people of New Orleans and every government official in
charge of emergency planning for that city should hang their heads in shame and
submit their resignations.
As the hurricane approached there was never any attempt to evacuate the poor, the sick or anyone else who didn't have access to private transportation. The planners and politicians have known for decades that a great hurricane like Katrina would eventually strike the city. They began their preparations by writing off one fifth of the population.
The last week we've seen gruesome images of dead bodies, devastated neighbourhoods and starving survivors. But nothing has made me more angry that this picture.
Over two hundred buses that could have been used in the evacuation were abandoned to the flood.
I followed the disaster by reading the Irish Trojan's blog by Brendan Loy. I got there via the Instapundit on Friday August 26, by which time Loy had already described Katrina's evolution from Tropical Depression 12 into a threatening hurricane. He seemed to know a lot about big storms and I was fascinated so I kept checking in every few hours. My interest turned to alarm when he made this post:
In fact the evacuation order did not come until Sunday. Apparently it took phone calls from the President and the Governor to get the Mayor to make a decision. That's when Loy began calling Mayor Ray Nagin an idiot.
I recommend Loy's entire blog from Aug 24 until today. Right now that consists of two very long web pages, here and here. He has given notice that those urls are not permanent so if you want to read some of the most informative and prophetic blog journalism I've ever seen go there now.
Today the New York Times is reporting that the Bush administration is the target of most criticism by embarrassed and outraged Americans. At least he has admitted that the federal response was unacceptably slow. The new Department of Homeland Security sure looked incompetent.
However the official with the prime responsibility and authority for the evacuation was the mayor. By some accounts he's an honest and sincere reformer, trying to turn around a corrupt city. Regardless, he and his colleagues at all levels of government knowingly left the most vulnerable to fend for themselves as the flood waters rose.
As the hurricane approached there was never any attempt to evacuate the poor, the sick or anyone else who didn't have access to private transportation. The planners and politicians have known for decades that a great hurricane like Katrina would eventually strike the city. They began their preparations by writing off one fifth of the population.
The last week we've seen gruesome images of dead bodies, devastated neighbourhoods and starving survivors. But nothing has made me more angry that this picture.
Over two hundred buses that could have been used in the evacuation were abandoned to the flood.
I followed the disaster by reading the Irish Trojan's blog by Brendan Loy. I got there via the Instapundit on Friday August 26, by which time Loy had already described Katrina's evolution from Tropical Depression 12 into a threatening hurricane. He seemed to know a lot about big storms and I was fascinated so I kept checking in every few hours. My interest turned to alarm when he made this post:
I'm not a meteorologist. I'm just an amateur weather enthusiast, a law-student blogger who happens to be a hurricane buff. But if I lived in New Orleans, I would definitely leave at this point. Tonight. Barring a major change in the forecast, I expect the evacuation orders to come tomorrow. That will produce massive traffic jams and general confusion. My advice? Beat the rush; get out now. For it is imperative to get out. Katrina probably won't destroy New Orleans -- but it could. So if anyone in New Orleans is reading this, I'd personally advise you to get the hell out of dodge.
In fact the evacuation order did not come until Sunday. Apparently it took phone calls from the President and the Governor to get the Mayor to make a decision. That's when Loy began calling Mayor Ray Nagin an idiot.
I recommend Loy's entire blog from Aug 24 until today. Right now that consists of two very long web pages, here and here. He has given notice that those urls are not permanent so if you want to read some of the most informative and prophetic blog journalism I've ever seen go there now.
Today the New York Times is reporting that the Bush administration is the target of most criticism by embarrassed and outraged Americans. At least he has admitted that the federal response was unacceptably slow. The new Department of Homeland Security sure looked incompetent.
However the official with the prime responsibility and authority for the evacuation was the mayor. By some accounts he's an honest and sincere reformer, trying to turn around a corrupt city. Regardless, he and his colleagues at all levels of government knowingly left the most vulnerable to fend for themselves as the flood waters rose.
Posted: Sat - September 3, 2005 at 12:55 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM