Hurricane Katrina Damage photos

[Cybrludite]

Thanks guys! I'm very happy to see that Cyberludite came through okay. We fared much better up here in Baton Rouge, by comparison. Though the doubling of our population will have unthought of effects down the road...

If nothing else, this diaspora will improve the food all over the country. Here's a link to the pics I've taken. Unfortunately, my digital camera is lousy at taking pics from moving vehicles.

[JALU3]

Thanks for the update!

[Dax]

It's horrible. I can't understand why armies and emergency came in late to help people. What I find ironic is that it was only the other day that George Bush said America didn't need any help and had enough money and resources to handle the situation. Does he think about poor people ?

[C5]

Beware, Dax... no political opinions on this part of the forum (browse back the archives a few years from now to understand why).

[First of Two]

It's horrible. I can't understand why armies and emergency came in late to help people.

Ever try to cross a bridge that isn't there anymore?

[Calcoran]

Maybe they forgot to bring a map ... or to ask for recon planes to tell them which road/bridges to use ...

[Cybrludite]

Actually, in addition to having to find safe routes in (Just because the roadway is still there doesn't mean the bridge can safely handle heavy trucks... In that sort of situation, would be rescuers can become rescuees pretty quick.), there's the seperation of powers between the states & the feds. Unless a state is in rebellion or being invaded, the President can't just order troops in. It takes a specific type of request from the Governor of the state in question to get the troops rolling.

[Calcoran]

So there are positive aspects to living in a centralized country like France or the UK (not sure about the UK, but the problems seem to be the same over there ). I thought it was all about everything having to be in the capital city (jobs, administrations, traffic jams, insanely high living costs, etc.) .

[JALU3]

It's horrible. I can't understand why armies and emergency came in late to help people. What I find ironic is that it was only the other day that George Bush said America didn't need any help and had enough money and resources to handle the situation. Does he think about poor people ?

I have to agree with C5. If this continues, I shall petition that this message be striken from the record. For it would be unfair for one side to voice their opinion, while the other side is bound by the rules. But in the case, the individual in question did not know the rules, therefore now she has been warned.

[Tobian]

Calm down, there's politics and irony, and the fudgy line in between. She's been told and she hasn't strayed so lets not browbeat her to death guys!

I think it is fair to say that it is going to be a tremendous organisational nightmare for whomever it falls to, and the governmental structure within America caused a brief hiccup before things could get started. I am not privy to the no doubt streaming media that people in America have, but after every disaster there is always a moment of doubt; the very fact that devastation was SO bas meant the scale of the disaster was not really known at first. I think it's fair to say that no government could be prepared for disaster on this scale, it is a freak anomaly, and nothing like it can be held in check till we build a weather modification satelite network, which also stops earthquakes, deflects meteors and removes volcanoes.. so a while then!

America in this instance is probably much better suited to this kind of natural disaster, than many other countries because they are common in that region. Britain or France have to my knowledge not had a category 5 whirlwind of death go through a city, and nor are they likelly too, so they would have no contingiency plan for that at all!

[Calcoran]

Jalu3: Which message? That from Dax, or mine? I did not consider mine political, in the sense that it is just a statement about how things are (admittedly with a feeble attempt at humour), rather than a rant about how things ought to be. That said, if this falls under the moratorium, I'll just keep those statements to myself .

Cybrludite: I just read something on overclockers.com about technology being able to help with a lot of things but not with

laws that make it a felony for the military to help out unless the President essentially declares the place to be in a state of rebellion.

. I had no idea there was such a thing in the US. I guess this only applies to troops that do not originate from the disaster stricken state. However, this does a lot to explain delays that most of those who are not US citizens had trouble to understand.

[Calcoran]

Tobian: Yep, we don't have strong winds in our part of the world ... gosh this sounds horribly wrong when I read it aloud . Anyhow, around december 2000 we had some kind of big storm with winds up to 200kph (AFAIR) which went across France (then Germany if I recall) ... caused a lot of devastation (mostly cars and trees and old buildings), and we were indeed a little ill prepared for this. Maybe our government learned from this storm ... not sure. But we often have floods, and we have contingency plans for those ... not that I wish to test those to see who fares better under this kind of circumstances .

[JALU3]

Jalu3: Which message? That from Dax, or mine? I did not consider mine political, in the sense that it is just a statement about how things are (admittedly with a feeble attempt at humour), rather than a rant about how things ought to be. That said, if this falls under the moratorium, I'll just keep those statements to myself .

Dax's. For if there were any political message in yours, I think it was more of a show of nationality preference. Which I don't think you can fault anyone for having, especially since we live in a period where the most promenent government institutions are Nation-States.

[Calcoran]

Dax's. For if there were any political message in yours, I think it was more of a show of nationality preference. Which I don't think you can fault anyone for having, especially since we live in a period where the most promenent government institutions are Nation-States.

Especially since I was more kind of tongue-in-cheek-bashing my own state rather than criticizing someone else's.

[Cybrludite]

Cybrludite: I just read something on overclockers.com about technology being able to help with a lot of things but not with . I had no idea there was such a thing in the US. I guess this only applies to troops that do not originate from the disaster stricken state. However, this does a lot to explain delays that most of those who are not US citizens had trouble to understand.

Yeah, it was (oddly enough) one of the wins for states rights that came from the War Of Yankee Aggression & its aftermath. During the post-war "reconstruction" era, Federal troops were heavily involved in the politics of the former Confederate states while undertaking what were basically law-enforcement missions. Given the history of what all led to the Revolutionary War, (and since reenforced by the results of various 3rd World juntas) we put Federal troops completely out of the civilian law enforcement business. Except for the Coast Guard, who are a mix of Law Enforcement, Search & Rescue, and an auxillary Naval paramilitary force, all branches of the US armed forces cannot be just sent into an area to suppliment the local cops. The Army National Guard operating at the behest of their state's governor are exempt from this. The three brigades of MPs that were sent in were technically on loan to Louisiana on the order of their home state's governors (At the request of the President). Had the other governors said "No", Bush could have federalized those units & sent them, but they would have been subject to the same restrictions as Regular Army troops and therefore unavailable for use as police. They could still be used to guard things & to do rescue work. Some of the soldiers guarding the hosptial I work at are from the 18th Airborne Corps Combat Support Brigade.