The Disasters You Didn't Hear About
09/09/05 - 1.53am - Added comments at end of article -CW.
Are you aware that we have well over 30,000 refugees in our own country right now? Let that number sink in for a second. 30,000 people - without jobs or a place to call home, many of them carrying their important earthly possessions in a trash bag. Not in Israel, not in Iraq or Bosnia, here in the United States of America, over 30,000 people who have left their homes behind and fled to safety.
The amount of those who perished could certainly be over that of the 9/11 tragedies, which will not be known for some time.
What is known is there are 25,000 body bags at the ready, a makeshift morgue that can hold 5,000, and another morgue at the intersection of I-10 and I-610.
I mentioned before that our president, George W. Bush, cut his vacation short due to Hurricane Katrina. However, I forgot to mention what he was doing:
Hanging out with country singer Mark Wills - August 30th
New Orleans, Louisiana, 80% of the city underwater, many await rescue - August 31st
The buck does not appear to stop here.
Remember that guy on NBC's Meet the Press from my last post? Yesterday, 30 other dead bodies were pulled from a nursing home in the same parish, maybe you heard about it on the news.
Here is a story you didn't see on the news. There is a group at the Houston Astrodome who has been working to set up an emergency radio station that would air information on lost persons, government/job/supply assistance, etc. for those inside the dome. They have been granted licenses by the FCC to do this very thing, but FEMA officials at the dome have blocked them several times. First, they were told by FEMA they would need 10,000 radios to warrant their broadcasting in the dome. The radios were promptly donated and they were again blocked by FEMA, this time saying that they could not use the Astrodome's electricity to power the station. The station promptly offered to run it all on their own generators and fuel. They were again denied, and not given a reason. Bureaucracy, censorship, one hand not knowing what the other is doing - draw your own opinions and conclusions.
The police officers in New Orleans who had been under siege from looters following the Hurricane? 500 officers are unaccounted for, 200 have quit, many are being treated for trauma, and two have committed suicide. Even these men, for whom putting their life on the line is part of their job description, are cracking under the pressure.
There are more stories out there like these, sadly. In the meantime, everyone is looking for someone to blame - the president and FEMA seem to be taking most of the heat, though neither are totally culpable or totally blameless. (Keith Olbermann's scathing commentary is by far my personal favorite, I highly suggest taking 5 minutes to watch it).
What is the point of me blabbering on about all this shit I doubt many of you will really grasp or care about for more than a short while? I can boil it down to something Virginia Woolf once wrote:
While this quote wasn't meant to be supportive, I interpret it as such. It is important for the public to know as much about tragedies as it can, the pain, the causes, and what is being done to correct it, so that we may me able to prevent similar agony in the future. If we stop pointing, and acknowledging tragedy, over time we may stop caring.
And if we stop caring - God help us all.
Edit: Some comments from friends the day I posted this.
A friend in Texas -
i just read your blogs about katrina
and im surrounded by these ppl, i live oh i dont two minutes from reliant stadium
and i still cant even comprehend it
even though i see all these ppl in my city wandering around aimlessly
with nothing
In Cambridge -
i love your blogs.... not the story well b.c it is sad but the way you write it is so good. i dont get the news so i love that i can read your blog and it pretty much keeps me up to date on shit! thanks... and i do care about what is going on so if you come up with more stuff write about it so that i can read it! thanks corey!
In New Concord -
i just read the blogs that you've written in regards to Hurricane Katrina.... very well said... it's horrible to think that our country has fallen apart in an emergency situation, partly because we're too wrapped up in what's going on overseas to take care of our own country.... i respect your opinion and always enjoy reading your blogs
A few others have had similiar things to say. I hope that more Americans in general get talking about the important things happening in their backyard.
If you have other comments of your own you would like to leave, there is a button to do it below.
Are you aware that we have well over 30,000 refugees in our own country right now? Let that number sink in for a second. 30,000 people - without jobs or a place to call home, many of them carrying their important earthly possessions in a trash bag. Not in Israel, not in Iraq or Bosnia, here in the United States of America, over 30,000 people who have left their homes behind and fled to safety.
The amount of those who perished could certainly be over that of the 9/11 tragedies, which will not be known for some time.
What is known is there are 25,000 body bags at the ready, a makeshift morgue that can hold 5,000, and another morgue at the intersection of I-10 and I-610.
I mentioned before that our president, George W. Bush, cut his vacation short due to Hurricane Katrina. However, I forgot to mention what he was doing:
Hanging out with country singer Mark Wills - August 30th
New Orleans, Louisiana, 80% of the city underwater, many await rescue - August 31stThe buck does not appear to stop here.
Remember that guy on NBC's Meet the Press from my last post? Yesterday, 30 other dead bodies were pulled from a nursing home in the same parish, maybe you heard about it on the news.
Here is a story you didn't see on the news. There is a group at the Houston Astrodome who has been working to set up an emergency radio station that would air information on lost persons, government/job/supply assistance, etc. for those inside the dome. They have been granted licenses by the FCC to do this very thing, but FEMA officials at the dome have blocked them several times. First, they were told by FEMA they would need 10,000 radios to warrant their broadcasting in the dome. The radios were promptly donated and they were again blocked by FEMA, this time saying that they could not use the Astrodome's electricity to power the station. The station promptly offered to run it all on their own generators and fuel. They were again denied, and not given a reason. Bureaucracy, censorship, one hand not knowing what the other is doing - draw your own opinions and conclusions.
The police officers in New Orleans who had been under siege from looters following the Hurricane? 500 officers are unaccounted for, 200 have quit, many are being treated for trauma, and two have committed suicide. Even these men, for whom putting their life on the line is part of their job description, are cracking under the pressure.
There are more stories out there like these, sadly. In the meantime, everyone is looking for someone to blame - the president and FEMA seem to be taking most of the heat, though neither are totally culpable or totally blameless. (Keith Olbermann's scathing commentary is by far my personal favorite, I highly suggest taking 5 minutes to watch it).
What is the point of me blabbering on about all this shit I doubt many of you will really grasp or care about for more than a short while? I can boil it down to something Virginia Woolf once wrote:
On the outskirts of every agony is some observant fellow who points.
While this quote wasn't meant to be supportive, I interpret it as such. It is important for the public to know as much about tragedies as it can, the pain, the causes, and what is being done to correct it, so that we may me able to prevent similar agony in the future. If we stop pointing, and acknowledging tragedy, over time we may stop caring.
And if we stop caring - God help us all.
Edit: Some comments from friends the day I posted this.
A friend in Texas -
i just read your blogs about katrina
and im surrounded by these ppl, i live oh i dont two minutes from reliant stadium
and i still cant even comprehend it
even though i see all these ppl in my city wandering around aimlessly
with nothing
In Cambridge -
i love your blogs.... not the story well b.c it is sad but the way you write it is so good. i dont get the news so i love that i can read your blog and it pretty much keeps me up to date on shit! thanks... and i do care about what is going on so if you come up with more stuff write about it so that i can read it! thanks corey!
In New Concord -
i just read the blogs that you've written in regards to Hurricane Katrina.... very well said... it's horrible to think that our country has fallen apart in an emergency situation, partly because we're too wrapped up in what's going on overseas to take care of our own country.... i respect your opinion and always enjoy reading your blogs
A few others have had similiar things to say. I hope that more Americans in general get talking about the important things happening in their backyard.
If you have other comments of your own you would like to leave, there is a button to do it below.
