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Post by The Union of Tinis on Sept 3, 2005 20:16:41 GMT -5
Usually I'm one to read my news off the net but the past few days while I've been moving I've been getting most of my news from TV. Thus I hadn't really seen what was going on until I was really just about to leave for my trip and then everynight at the hotels. Its just horrible what's happened. I may have lived through the floods of 93' in Iowa, but at least we knew the waters were coming and they cam over the course of a few days, giving people time to get out of the way. This, is beyond words really. I hate using clichés like that to describe something like that but I really can't come up with anything better. The chaos, the destruction, everything, its really mind boggolling what's happend/is happening. I almost wanted to yell at the news crews at times to stop yakking and to drive some of those people out of there or use their helicopters. I'm going to stop this potential rant now 'cause it could go on for a while and could just begin with the media and shift elsewhere quite easily. I'll save my anger for when everyone's safe.
I'm glad your family made it through Opalance. I had forgotten you were from that area until I got back on tonight. There's little I can say really except I wish you and them the best of luck in getting things back togeather. As soon as I finalize my budget for the next month I'll see if I can get some of the funds that would of gone to fun, videogames, or saving and instead direct it towards the red cross.
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 3, 2005 21:10:16 GMT -5
i was going to go find our local blood bank friday, but i realized that since i'm not feeling to well, they probably wou;dn't accept it. so i'm waiting untill i feel not sick and i'm going to go make a donation of blood.
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Post by Ciata on Sept 4, 2005 0:13:09 GMT -5
Yeah, even when all is said and done and even if we loose our job and house at least I still have my family and our belongings unlike so many that live so close to where I do. I dont watch TV normaly and haven't even hooked up my TV at college yet after 3 semesters, but have been seing so much of it since I got up to my grandparent's house where most of my family is for my labor day weekend. We are just trying to figure out how to get everything back at our house to where they can be okay living off a generator's power for a couple months at least. Being in the swamps of Louisiana doesn't help much when it comes to heat and humidity, it's upper 90's and increadible humidity every day down there and there is still the matter of the smashed sewage line, and no phones (and therefore no internet and outside communication) even if we get the little air conditioner for one room that still leaves the rest of our house. Things look pretty screwed, and we're lucky. My sister was going to the seminary in New Orleans, but now it's flooded with trees on it and got looted.
It's just that it happened here, in the US, plus so close to me, but what makes it hard to grasp is that it happened in the US, and it's taken weeks to get people out and thousands are still out there in the flooded areas unreached yet, on the verge of dying.
The reason that disasters are more painfull than wars is that there is no one to lash back against, no one to hate to cover up the pain, no where to place the blame, though in a disaster it generaly leads to fewer deaths in the future from something like it and war only leads to another war or level of hatred or bloodshed.
I keep telling people that if they want to blame someone, to blame the French-Canadian rejects that built a city by the sea, under sea-level.
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 4, 2005 6:50:40 GMT -5
well, back in 2001, the president was givin a list of disasters that would likely befall the US. The top 3 were a terorist atack, the levies in New Orleans failing, and an earthquake in California. what i heard is that he tok funding away from the maintinacne of the levies to fund his war...
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Post by Baradun on Sept 8, 2005 14:37:18 GMT -5
GBWT is right. Also if you want to blame someone blame the one who took FEMA, gutted it and threw it in with Homeland Security and then placed a complete n00b in charge who couldn't even be bothered to watch the news. The response has been abysmal, even after the knowledge that the lack of funding to the levies and the environmental destruction around the city had added so much to the level of the catastrophy it's unbelievable.
There are so many levels of responsibility, from the people who live there and founded the city to the people who drained the swamps, pumped out the groundwater and caused major subsidence in the city and those who's pathetic wars cut funding to the levies and make rescue efforts that much harder.
I would also like to say that the fact that countries such as Canada, Mexico and even Bangladesh are sending relief and engineering supplies is rather sad. For the "richest country in the world" to have to accept aid for it's own disaster is pathetic...but it would have been even worse on us if we had not offered and did not send; I will not hold it against a country if their own governent lets them down this disastrously, the people should not have to suffer for their leaders' incompetence.
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 8, 2005 14:45:06 GMT -5
well, i heard a small news bit where the president refused a fwe countries aid, though i'm not certian on this or what conuntries her reportedly refused...
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Post by Ciata on Sept 9, 2005 20:13:37 GMT -5
Things are currently going very well at my home camp. Though we haven't gotten any help from anyone in the state yet, a group from another camp in Texas came in and is helping rebuild as well as a group from Washington state (loving the irony that I go there and then they come here) is coming to base out of the camp. Also the camp got around $10,000 in some form or another from the camp in Texas while they helped get power back by rebuilding breakers and redoing wiring themselves so the camp got power back after only a couple weeks instead of a couple months. They are now working on the sewage lines trying to rebuild all of that mess. My family is heading home tommorrow to help take care of the valunteer groups, my dad has been there by himself for over a week watching over the camp.
In New Orleans however, things are only looking worse as time goes on, and the long term future of the area is still up in the air.
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Post by Ciata on Sept 10, 2005 0:17:51 GMT -5
I think it ironic that on here I am set with the task of rebuilding the Clans of Ciata, and in real life, I am in the middle to the rebuilding of New Orleans. In both places the largest city was destroyed in one massive blow and in both people are retreating to other cities and spiritual sanctuaries while help from other places comes in to do most of the labor.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Sept 17, 2005 23:23:34 GMT -5
Any news of late?
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 17, 2005 23:29:19 GMT -5
well i found this blog from the inside of the city about 2 days after it all happend... guess i forgot that i didnt put it up here. heh, sorry! www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/go back to the begining, and read it. it's quite interesting... |
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Post by Ciata on Sept 21, 2005 23:36:54 GMT -5
I just spent the last 7 hours helping set up a red cross shelter for people who were coming from another shelter further south, runing from yet another Lv.5 hurricane, Rita. It was basicaly just setting up cots, putting together bedding, fixing and putting out food and general preperation work. I went down to church for a Bible study and they are like "hey, the red cross shelter in the convention center a block down needs help!" so we all went down to help them set up. All but me and 3 older men stayed for about 2 hours and then left, I was there untill 11:30, on 4 hours of sleep and one meal today. I was tired but there were so few workers, like aside from the red cross people, we were like the only other volunteres and there was like 600 people. So we worked and waited and worked and waited and finally we all came back because we all had either work of school early morning (curse you 8am class). I'm glad I could do something real, hands on with this though. Thee was one family there who lost their home in the south and they are up here voluntering, the mother working in registration, the father was hired to do maintanance and the daughter working in the information desk. Even though they lost more than some of the people they were helping they still did it.
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 22, 2005 21:13:12 GMT -5
i'm planning on going to the red cross to give blood this weekend. as i dont have a job, and i'm not able to get down there to help, this is what i can do to help. Though it's nothing in comparison to your contributation, i hope it helps.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Sept 22, 2005 21:17:52 GMT -5
I donated some money to the red cross. I'd give blood but I had some problems the last time I tried to do that. I'll second the sentimate that I wish that I could do more. My college has let a bunch of students from the New Orleans area and other areas hit by Katrina. They're being really cool about keeping fees and tuition equal to what they would of paid at their home institution, or if dartmouth's is less, dartmouths rates. Ti'd be nice if they made it free, but the school can't go bankrupt. *shrugs*
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gbwt
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Post by gbwt on Sept 22, 2005 21:31:28 GMT -5
well, reading the live journal, the guys there have heard rumors of one of the levys springing a leak, and some flooding starting up again...
"Morning shall tell the truest tale."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Sept 22, 2005 21:46:40 GMT -5
"rumors of one of the levys springing a leak, and some flooding starting up again..."
Ugh.
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