“The Future Is Made Of The Same Stuff As The Present”
Readers collected enough money to send blogger Scout Prime to New Orleans, to report on what the traditional media seem to have have forgotten, notwithstanding their brief flurry of interest during the much-diminished Mardi Gras last week.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Destruction’s Bottom Line
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Though I’d welcome a discussion of race and poverty, guess what? It’s the wrong discussion if you’re talking Katrina. There ought to be a discussion though and it does include You…. IF…..
You are white….
or
You are black….
or
You are poor….
or
You are working class….
or
You are middle class….
or
You are upper middle class…
or
You are educated….
or
You are illiterate….
or
You are Catholic or Protestant or Muslim…
Because those are the people who have taken the bottom line hit of Katrina’s destruction here. It’s Everyone here.
And if it can happen to them and it is still very much happening……..
It. Can. Happen To. You.Destruction in the poor black 9th Ward is horrible. But go to white working class St. Bernard’s Parish. It’s devastated. Go to the white upper middle class area of Lakeview. Those folks are wiped out too. They have more means to come back??? Think about how you would pay the mortgage on your $450,000 home that is nothing more than a pile of debris and also pay rent on an apartment that you now must rent…if you can find one and with no job. (BTW $350 apartments are now going for $1500 where I’m staying here). That’s just your own personal hell…. there’s more outside your door.
The infrastructure is devastated. And it hits Everyone. It’s great to see stop lights…they are few and far between in many areas. Wonder when someone will pick up that pile of garbage outside your home much of which was the inside of your home? No one can tell you. Want a phone? Sorry for many it will be months like 6. Trying to get electricity turned on? Perhaps soon and then perhaps not. You may get mail service…. sometimes. You need to get groceries? Be prepared to drive far and wait in long lines. You have children? It’s best to find an out of state relative for them to live with for this school year at least. And whatever you do don’t get hurt or sick. A small injury could be a Major problem. Ambulance drivers tell of sitting outside the few “hospitals” caring for people in their rigs cause it’s better than what’s available inside.
But you say I don’t live below sea level in the path of Hurricanes?
2 things……Terrorist attack (maybe Osama has a notion about Des Moines)
Avian Flu (maybe it Will jump from birds to humans one of these flu seasons
The UN has just released their prediction for the coming 2006 Hurricane season, due to begin in 3 months.
In 2005, an unprecedented 27 tropical storms, 15 of which became full-blown hurricanes, battered Central America and the US Gulf coast, killing more than 3,000 people and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.
“We have reason to fear that 2006 could be as bad as 2005,” Jan Egeland, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs who coordinates UN emergency relief, told Reuters on Wednesday.
“We have had a dramatic increase in climate related natural disasters and at the same time we have more vulnerable people, so it’s a double effect,” he said in Guatemala, where he is meeting Central American leaders to plan for future disasters.
It’s not looking good for New Orleans – if this year is like last, there may be no city left to report on at all. ‘ That would suit Congress, Bush and his incompetent administration just fine. ‘No man, no problem’.
Tags: USA New Orleans Katrina Blogging
