Survived katrina

[steve635]

Well I guess I'm no longer an Indian Rider since my bike is 12 feet under water, but I made it through. It's ugly here, the NOFD and NOPD have zero boats, but our guys came in with their own personal boats and we organized a relief effort that saved literally thousands of people. We put the people on high ground and then called for every state and federal agency we could find to come pick them up or at least drop in food and water. After three days they are still there and still hungry and now they are rioting and shooting at anything that comes close. People are dying there and there is not a thing we can do about it.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Steve, why isn't the government dropping in food and water?  I can't understand why so many days have gone by, and they aren't at least dropping in MRE's and bottled water.

 

I'm not the expert on such things, but I've seen various movies where they drop in boxes of stuff with parachutes attached to them, and they float down fine. That seems like a fast and easy solution to alleviate the hunger and thirst problem where large groups of people are congregated until more relief workers and security can be located in those areas.

 

Maybe another solution is to prohibit the politicians from eating, drinking, bathing, taking medication, or accessing air conditioning until some food and water are taken to those doing without in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

 

I saw the Salvation Army General on tv tonight, they have set up over 100 kitchens in Mississippi and are serving 500,000 meals a day right now. He arrived in Mississippi two days ago and set up the first kitchen.

 

Maybe he needs to be running the government relief effort?

[steve635]

Our Mayor, public safety director, and those of the neighboring parishes have been pleading for food and lots of other federal aid, it's just now starting to get here.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Steve, I just got off of 13 hours work, and had CNN on the tv the entire time, and have been watching it every day to see what's going on, and have seen the local leaders begging for food, water, medical care, evacuation, etc.

 

Maybe I don't understand the big picture, but I also don't understand why faster emergency supplies can't be brought in to your area.....why haven't they been able to airdrop in food and supplies? Do they have to have people on the ground to hand out the MRE's one by one? Are they afraid a hungry person might get two or three MRE's?  Why can the Salvation Army set up 100 kitchens in 2 days, and the government still isn't providing food and water in Southern Mississippi?

 

Frankly, I'm not surprised. When the first hurricane came through here last year, we had about 45 minutes notice that it was coming this way, after it made a sharp right turn upon entering the state in SW Florida and came here instead of Tampa. No one had done any preparation or purchased any supplies.

 

About 3 days after the hurricane, one or two trucks a day started coming in from Jacksonville carrying bottled water, ice,  and MRE's for 65,000 people. When the truck was empty...well that was too bad....come back tomorrow.

 

I think that daily truck was sent for the media to notice.

 

I'm sorry for what you all are going through, it just makes my blood boil to see children and elderly people suffering like that, and we have thousands of politicians who can't figure out how to get any food into the area after all this time.

[KC Cheef]

Well--welcome to real life!

Not a movie--we grew up watching Hollywood versions of disaster. Real life ain't Hollywood.

Might seem slow and like no one is doing anything--but I guarantee the U.S. is responding faster and more efficiently than any other Country in the world would be capable of.

Damn--I don't think there's a politician in the United States that would set by and approve of holding back relief if they could get it there faster.

This is cataclysmic--no bull shit--no retakes. The real deal.

[DaytonaSpirit]

KC Cheef, DOES the US government have the ability to air drop food and water into the area? Especially where they know large groups of people are congregated?

 

And are they faster and efficient then the Salvation Army?

 

I think the US government is incaple of doing anything outside the "established procedure manual"

[KC Cheef]

Faster and more efficient than the SALVATION ARMY--you picked a poor choice for comparison.

Probably one of the most over rated charities out there.

Can the US Government drop in food and supplies?

Yes and they should probably be doing it right now.

[skielty1]

I guarantee the U.S. is responding faster and more efficiently than any other Country in the world would be capable of.

 

Damn--I don't think there's a politician in the United States that would set by and approve of holding back relief if they could get it there faster.

My take is that the vast percentage of Americans do not share your opinion, and believe that the relief effort by the Federal government has been FUBAR.

 

I also don't think that anyone believes the Federal response has been intentionally hampered, just incompetent.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Ed, I've seen the news reporters, who have been in New Orleans for days, asking officials over and over and over today why they aren't dropping in food, and no one has provided an answer.

 

As far as the Salvation Army, I don't know if they are over-rated or not, but they are getting the job done.

 

 

Gary Stilwell (L) and Ian Stouflet eat their dinner given to them by the Salvation Army in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 1, 2005.

[DaytonaSpirit]

 

A Salvation Army worker rests her head while taking a break from handing out hot meals in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 1, 2005

 

 

 

I think the Salvation Army, the Coast Guard, and the Army Corps of Engineers are doing phenomenal jobs......I just don't understand why the most technologically advanced country in the world can't get pre-packaged food to a people in a city within it's borders after all this time.

[steve635]

KC Cheef,

          This may not be Hollywood, but we have a real life John Wayne named Gen Honore'. Apparently he has assumed command from the incompetents at FEMA and now things are starting to move.

[skielty1]

Steve635,

 

God bless you man, and all of the people on the ground that are doing their jobs under incredibly adverse conditions.

 

I want to say more great things about you all, but words fail me.

[KC Cheef]

I guarantee the U.S. is responding faster and more efficiently than any other Country in the world would be capable of.

 

Damn--I don't think there's a politician in the United States that would set by and approve of holding back relief if they could get it there faster.

My take is that the vast percentage of Americans do not share your opinion, and believe that the relief effort by the Federal government has been FUBAR.

 

I also don't think that anyone believes the Federal response has been intentionally hampered, just incompetent.

Well lets see-- looting--killing police officers--comandeering ambulances and trying to break into hospital ICU's to steal drugs from critically ill people.

Rescue bus drivers afraid to go in because of the reaction of the people when the buses become filled to capacity.

Shooting at rescue aircraft--rape.

Damn--do you all realize exactly what the hell is going on here--how do you plan for total chaos on a scale never seen in modern history?

FUBAR?--Not quite that bad--How many people have been evacuated--rescued and provided for?

You know what--someone brought up a point - I feel really bad for the poor--sick and people who couldn't get out and wanted to.

But--seems like more and more we're hearing that there were quite a few staying behind to do exactly what they are doing--a lot of those folks have lived through more than one of these deals and stayed behind to loot and pillage.

Well SURPRISE this is something we've never seen before.

[DaytonaSpirit]

 with Skielty's comments.

 

and also the medical personnel at the New Orleans hospitals who are continuing to care for their patients under the worst conditions imaginable...actually I think the conditions are unimaginable.

[FiremanDave]

Hang tough brother, helps comming.  Glad to hear you have survived the storm, be carfull in the aftermath.

[DaytonaSpirit]

Damn--do you all realize exactly what the hell is going on here--how do you plan for total chaos on a scale never seen in modern history?

by doing what needs doing first....first.

 

like the Coast Guard rescuing the people on roof tops.  

 

and dropping food and water to the people who need it.

 

I don't think all those children and babies and elderly sitting in the hot sun without food or water stayed behind intentionally.

[skielty1]

BTW,

 

Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States have all offered aid.

 

The official US response?  Thanks, but no thanks.

 

About five o'clock this afternoon, someone pulled their head out of their ass, and Sec. of State Rice announced we would accept help.

[Guest_ikonboard]

World reaction ranges from scolding to sympathy

By James Cox,

USA TODAY

 

A top German official said the United States had itself to blame for Hurricane Katrina. Canada's prime minister waited days to issue condolences.

On the positive side, Iran offered its sympathies. Cuba's Fidel Castro led a moment of silence for victims of the storm.

 

Foreign reaction to tragic events along the Gulf Coast produced surprises from:

 

•Germany. Environment Minister Jurgen Trittin said President Bush had "closed his eyes" to the dangers of pollution and climate change, blamed by some scientists for adding to the intensity of hurricanes and other severe weather.

 

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder offered aid and assistance to the United States, but his government didn't back away from Trittin's remarks. Carsten Voigt, coordinator for U.S. relations at the German Foreign Ministry, said he agreed with Trittin but took issue with his timing, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

 

•Venezuela. Fiery leader Hugo Chavez, who has fought a war of words with the Bush administration, said his country's state-owned CITGO Petroleum would donate $1 million in hurricane aid. At the same time, Chavez lashed out at Bush, calling him the "king of vacations."

 

The United States "had no evacuation plan. It is incredible — the first power in the world that is so involved in Iraq ... left its own population adrift," Chavez said.

 

•Canada. Critics blasted Prime Minister Paul Martin for staying silent until late Wednesday, then offering a routine sympathy message.

 

Martin, whose relationship with Bush has been strained by differences on trade and missile defense, showed "a shocking lack of personal support for the United States," said Stockwell Day, a Conservative member of Parliament.

 

Thursday, Martin phoned Bush. Canada put its military on standby, offering to send troops to deliver relief and purify drinking water. Ontario also offered emergency medical teams. The Canadian Red Cross was compiling lists of volunteers willing to go to Louisiana and Mississippi.

 

Even so, Martin took a pounding. "When a close friend and ally is suffering through something this traumatic, moral support matters as much as offers of aid — especially when, in this case, Canada stands to benefit from America's misery" through high energy prices, columnist John Ibbitson wrote Thursday in The Globe and Mail, the Toronto daily.

 

•Muslims. Islamic extremists celebrated on a Web site. They said Katrina was part of their global jihad and prayed that the storm would send oil prices soaring to $100 a barrel.

 

Other Muslims, however, offered help. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, asked mosques and Islamic centers to collect donations after prayers today and to send contributions to the American Red Cross and relief groups. Islamic Relief USA, based in Burbank, Calif., also appealed for donations.

 

Iraq's National Assembly Speaker Hajim Al-Hasani sent condolences.

 

•Poor countries. College students in Jamaica set up a disaster relief fund. A Bosnian TV station announced it would collect donations.

 

In Indonesia's Aceh province, where more than 178,000 were killed by the Dec. 26 tsunami, residents are praying for Katrina's victims, said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, provincial reconstruction chief.

 

Iran, which has not had diplomatic ties with the United States since Islamist students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran 26 years ago, extended its sympathies.

 

Elsewhere, France said it would send relief teams from the French Antilles in the Caribbean, and President Jacques Chirac sent a message of solidarity to Bush.

 

Italy readied two military transport planes to carry supplies to New Orleans. It said it would send pumps, generators, tents and disaster experts. Pope Benedict XVI offered prayers for those killed and displaced by the ferocious storm and flooding.

 

In Havana, Castro and Cuban parliamentarians stood for a minute of silence. "The whole world should feel that this tragedy is its own," Speaker Ricardo Alarcon said.

 

Queen Elizabeth II sent a note to Bush saying she was "deeply shocked and saddened." Chinese President Hu Jintao said "the American people will overcome the natural disaster and rebuild their beautiful homeland."

[Guest_ikonboard]

NZ ready to send experts to Gulf Coast

2/09/2005

 

The Prime Minister has told the US President that New Zealand is ready to send its experts to the Gulf Coast.

 

Helen Clark has offered George W. Bush condolences for the devastation from Hurricane Katrina and the death toll which is likely to climb into the thousands.

 

She has also put military and emergency specialists on standby in case they are needed.

 

Miss Clark says the US is extremely wealthy and does not need financial assistance but may require logistics help.

 

She says our defence force has immense experience with floods in particular.

 

The Prime Minister is waiting to hear from American authorities about what would be of most help to them.

[Guest_ikonboard]

Thu, Sep. 01, 2005

Corporate giving grows as hurricane relief picks up steam

ASHLEY M. HEHER

Associated Press

 

Corporate America continued giving millions in supplies and money Thursday to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, with donations ranging from diapers to 10,000 oven-fresh pizzas.

 

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that Americans have given more than $93 million in aid to Katrina victims, including more than $27 million from corporations.

 

The American Red Cross had received more than $72 million from corporations and individuals through Wednesday, and officials said donations were still pouring in.

 

"It has been a steady stream today, both at headquarters, at the help-now number (1 800 HELP-NOW) and our chapter sites around the country," Red Cross spokesman Ryland Dodge said Thursday.

 

Chronicle editor Stacy Palmer predicted the giving would continue.

 

"I think it got off to a somewhat slower start because it wasn't clear what the scope of the disaster was," she said. "Now that people are seeing what's going on, they're trying to mobilize as fast as they can."

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said initial corporate donations would likely surpass $100 million.

 

In Houston, volunteers used 30 jumbo ovens to cook 10,000 personal-sized Papa John's pizzas for arriving Louisiana refugees.

 

"Everybody deserves a hot meal," Keith Sullins, president of Houston Pizza Venture, the city's largest Papa John's franchise, said in a statement.

 

Mortgage company Freddie Mac and its foundation announced they were donating $10 million to aid organizations. Coca-Cola Co. is donating $5 million.

 

Kimberly-Clark Corp. of Dallas donated $250,000 and nearly $350,000 in products, including diapers, baby wipes and bathroom tissue.

 

United Health Foundation of Minneapolis dedicated $10 million to disaster relief efforts. The not-for-profit foundation is funded by UnitedHealth Group.

 

UnitedHealth spokesman Mark Lindsay said his company hoped the announcement would encourage other businesses to donate resources.

 

"We just want to make sure that it was well-funded and there's a pool of money there," he said.

 

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart has contributed $17 million to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army and said its stores were collecting more. The world's largest retailer also created online message boards where customers could post notes to family members from in-store kiosks.

 

The service, launched Thursday morning, had 600 messages and 50,000 viewers by mid-afternoon.

 

"We're trying to link people to find their loved ones and know they're OK," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien.

 

Many of the contributions so far have been from the pharmaceutical industry. Billy Tauzin, a former Louisiana congressman who now heads the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said member companies had committed nearly $25 million in medicines, medical supplies and cash to the relief effort.

 

Thursday afternoon, a team of officials at Eli Lilly & Co. loaded a private jet with antibiotics, tetanus shots and insulin and took off for the devastated Gulf Coast.

 

"These are acute, lifesaving products," said Dr. Greg Larkin, director of corporate health services for the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company.

 

Some donors have operations in the affected states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

 

The Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino in Opelousas, La., said it would donate all of its revenues from a Sept. 4 racing program to the Acadiana Chapter of the Red Cross Relief Fund.

 

Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which has nearly 8,000 employees in New Orleans and Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., said it was establishing an employee recovery fund with $1 million from the Harrah's Foundation.

 

Oil and gasoline companies, many of which have operations along or near the Gulf of Mexico, also pledged to help the communities hardest hit by the storm.

 

Marathon Oil Corp. donated $1.5 million, joining Chevron and ExxonMobil Corp., which have contributed $5 million and $7 million respectively.

 

Torrance, Calif.-based Toyota announced its companies were contributing $5 million. Patrick Rooney, research director at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, said corporate giving likely would account for between one-quarter and one-third of the money received in the relief effort.

 

"Following the attack on America and the tsunamis, I think corporations have stepped up to the plate a little more for disaster relief," he said.

[maninbox]

That is one awesome compilation of facts and statistics from Last Resort.

 

I am fortunate to work for a company that will match any donation to the Red Cross by employees. I have given what I can but it is just money. My company, Northrop Grumman, has ship building operations in Avondale (N.O.), Pascagoula, Ocean Springs and other gulf coast locations. All have felt the impact of Katrina. Wish I could do more.

[KC Cheef]

Ed, I've seen the news reporters, who have been in New Orleans for days, asking officials over and over and over today why they aren't dropping in food, and no one has provided an answer.

 

As far as the Salvation Army, I don't know if they are over-rated or not, but they are getting the job done.

 

 

Gary Stilwell (L) and Ian Stouflet eat their dinner given to them by the Salvation Army in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 1, 2005.

Lisa;

Only thing I can say in the defense of the Govt?

Let's see --25,000+ in the Super Dome.

Protected from the storm--Fed--Housed--and now transported to Texas.

I could post pics of 25,000 too--but the IIRA band width wouldn't support pics of them all.

I'd say that was a tick in someones favor.

Know what realy pisses me off?

One lady interviewed on FOX?

Complaining that "Well yes--they were feeding us--but only cold meals--my children can't eat cold meals. Water -water water--they kept giving us water"

Hell she's bitching because they aren't taking good enough care of her?

People dying of hunger and thirst and she's whining about cold food.

DAMN--I'm sorry but WTF??

[steve635]

KC,

      Actually they've only moved about 3500 the rest are still there. I know, I'm across the street in the Command Center with no running water and generator power since Monday.

[KC Cheef]

DAMN

[steve635]

Let me be clear I know the government and the people of the USA will respond in a big way, but our Governor and FEMA dropped the ball.