Friday, September 02, 2005
New Orleans
First let me say that the situation in New Orleans is very saddening. My hearts go out to everyone in that city for their losses.
I've been watching CNN, network news, local news, etc. I think the coverage has been deplorable. Something of this magnatude does not need to be sensationalized. The crime and misteps in government response while real have been blown very far out of proportion. As a friend of mine put it, the news says 3 things which make no sense to me, 1. How could the government let this happen? 2. This is worse than the Tsunami because it goes on and on, while that happened once and was over. 3. The US gave to the Tsunami victims, where is the rest of the world when we are in trouble? --- I just wish that people would quit turning their grief, loss, and frustration against those who are helping.
The weirdest thing I've seen was on CSPAN where they had a senate hearing on NOAA and improving weather forcasting, it was from June 29th. On it they talked about how we were in an increased Hurricane time for the next few years and that when a hurricane struck that New Orleans would have the highest loss of life. They had a map showing expected causilty rates for different parts of the city if a category 5 hurricane hit due to storm surge. They specifically mentioned that New Orleans is an average of 6 feet under sea level. They mentioned how there were 150,000 people without transportation that would have to be bussed out in an evacuation. They talked about how some people wouldn't evacuate until it was too late and they would have to go to high rise buildings. They talked about lack of electricity and water and how famalies needed to stock essential items like canned goods and water for the interum until rescue workers could bring supplies. It was by far the most rational assesment I've seen of what just happened, and it was from June 29th, well before it happened. My jaw literally dropped. I recorded some of it so Sarah could see it and have her jaw drop as well.
Unfortunatly CSPAN has archived the video, so you can't get it unless they replay it or you give them $90. Here is a link anyway. Accuracy of National Weather Service
I've been watching CNN, network news, local news, etc. I think the coverage has been deplorable. Something of this magnatude does not need to be sensationalized. The crime and misteps in government response while real have been blown very far out of proportion. As a friend of mine put it, the news says 3 things which make no sense to me, 1. How could the government let this happen? 2. This is worse than the Tsunami because it goes on and on, while that happened once and was over. 3. The US gave to the Tsunami victims, where is the rest of the world when we are in trouble? --- I just wish that people would quit turning their grief, loss, and frustration against those who are helping.
The weirdest thing I've seen was on CSPAN where they had a senate hearing on NOAA and improving weather forcasting, it was from June 29th. On it they talked about how we were in an increased Hurricane time for the next few years and that when a hurricane struck that New Orleans would have the highest loss of life. They had a map showing expected causilty rates for different parts of the city if a category 5 hurricane hit due to storm surge. They specifically mentioned that New Orleans is an average of 6 feet under sea level. They mentioned how there were 150,000 people without transportation that would have to be bussed out in an evacuation. They talked about how some people wouldn't evacuate until it was too late and they would have to go to high rise buildings. They talked about lack of electricity and water and how famalies needed to stock essential items like canned goods and water for the interum until rescue workers could bring supplies. It was by far the most rational assesment I've seen of what just happened, and it was from June 29th, well before it happened. My jaw literally dropped. I recorded some of it so Sarah could see it and have her jaw drop as well.
Unfortunatly CSPAN has archived the video, so you can't get it unless they replay it or you give them $90. Here is a link anyway. Accuracy of National Weather Service
