pat loughery

One response to “★ Livejournal from New Orleans”

1. 

   gg

   September 1, 2005

   Hurricane Relief: too little too late

   Our government at work after 4 years of Homeland Security preparedness http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9162009/site/newsweek/

   Its time for our National Leadership to speak out regarding the lack of timely response on behalf of our Federal Govt in the South. Many thousands of American lives will be lost in the next few days alone if the situation in the south is not brought under control immediately. Our Nation has had four years to prepare for such an event as Hurricane Katrina, and yet the response to the situation is woefully tardy, and woefully indequate. I call on all Americans to speak with one voice and demand the Federal Government triple more troops (30,000 is nowhere near enough) and resources to the area immediately. Minuites are precious, and our American brothers and sisters are dying needlessly of starvation and dehydration. Food and water should be being airdropped into unreachable areas, but they're not. Babies are dying in their mother's arms while our government lumbers into action like a bedraggled herd of snails.

   "NEW ORLEANS – Thousands of desperate, stranded residents begged for help Thursday as conditions deteriorated here, with heavy rain compounding a tense situation that led to fights, fires and fears for the safety of emergency responders.

   Officials said thousands more National Guardsmen were being sent to the city, and Congress planned a special session Thursday night to approve emergency aid. But across the city, residents complained that aid was not arriving and a local official blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

   “This is a national disgrace,” said Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans’ emergency operations. “FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control,” Ebbert said. “We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans."advertisement
   "We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking but we’re not getting supplies.”

   He said the evacuation was almost entirely a Louisiana operation. “This is not a FEMA operation. I haven’t seen a single FEMA guy.”

   “This is a desperate SOS,” Mayor Ray Nagin said in a statement made available to CNN. “Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don’t anticipate enough buses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people.”

   As of thursday there were four helicopters conducting search and rescue in the entire city of New Orleans, and those are being shot at. This is truly a National Disgrace of tragic porportions, and the situation needs to be adressed NOW, before thousands more die needlessly.

   The American people need to call Senators, Representatives, Governors, the White House, the Media, Celebrities, and demand that someone speak out, and take action. We have spent billions in Homeland Security preparedness, have tremendous resources, and yet are government is dispersing aid with an eye dropper, while people die. Many thousands more will die in the next few days if action is not taken.

   Time to speak up America.

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