Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Katrina... Wow!

My thoughts are with all those in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. What an unbelievable storm hitting one of the most vulnerable areas in the US for a Hurricane.

The images are frightening!

Video Arial Tour - msnbc.com

Gallery: Katrina's Wrath - cnn.com

Photos: Katrina's Destruction
- abcnews.com

Photo Essays - foxnews.com

Images of Destruction - news.bbc.co.uk

So will any other countries come to the aid of the US? Or are we just expected to help the world and ourselves?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

In 1989 the writer John McPhee wrote a book called, "The Control of Nature." The point of the book is that you CAN'T control nature. Nearly half the book talks about the levees built up around New Orleans to the point where any sort of breach would cause a great disaster. The whole city is several feet below the normal water level that surrounds it.

Well, I guess we can now say New Orleans is no longer "a disaster waiting to happen."

A great pity for all the people involved, who weren't any part of the faulty engineering. But this disaster deserves to be ranked with the Johnstown Flood, as being caused (or at least aggravated) by bad government.

AnnaAnastasia said...

Now, now - let's not get all cynical. Other nations ARE coming to help us:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050902/ts_nm/weather_katrina_nato_dc

Of course, we'd have more ability to help ourselves if all of our National Guard troops, helicopters, and money were HERE instead of...let's see, where are they again? Oh yeah.

And let's not forget that our Prez cut aid to the Army Corps of Engineers to reinforce the levy, as requested, in 2003. (Google it. It's true.)

Let's also not forget that it's our greenhouse gases that have contributed to the Gulf temperature rising, causing more hurricanes (for other countries, too).

Let's ALSO not forget that we've put all our oil refineries in a hurricane-heavy zone, and we've depended on oil companies and car companies to be good citizens and make sure we have enough gas to run our vehicles. Great plan.

And most importantly, let's remember back to 2004, when Hurricane Ivan hit. Everyone said that the poorer residents of NOLA (and there are hundreds of thousands who can't afford a decent car or hotel) wouldn't be able to leave if a bad hurricane hit. But - and I'll be blunt here - those residents are poor, and black, and no one made it a priority to plan to get them out in case of emergency. I hope we're happy with that (in)decision now.

Anonymous said...

Anna (whoever she is) for President!

AnnaAnastasia said...

Thanks! ;)