I know a little something about hurricanes. I live in Florida and last year my city got 3 swipes (non-direct hit) by hurricanes. I spent two weeks out of work because there was no electricity at my office. Fortunately, the electricity at my house was probably only out for 12 hours, but there were many people who experienced longer stints. My mom and sister live in the Keys, and I housed them during one of their many evacuations. So, I know hurricanes. On June 1st of almost every year, my hurricane kit is stocked. When I can afford it. This year, we couldn't. My mom is so good at tracking them that she doesn't listen to the news except to get the location of the storm. She makes her own predictions, and they are eerily correct. But she always evacuates when she is told to.
In 1999, many locations in my area were evacuated for hurricane Floyd, which I think was a category 3 or 4. My sister and I could not afford to leave. Neither of us had a car that could sit in traffic for 6 hours and get us someplace safe. And we didn't have money. In order to buy canned goods and water, I bounced a check. Luckily we were just swiped by the hurricane, and the city was spared with minor flooding and power outages. If we received a direct hit, there is a possibility that my bottom floor apartment would have been underwater, so god only knows what we would have done.
In addition to knowing a little something about hurricanes, I know a little something about aid response time. And let me tell you, the response time for Katrina has been horrific. Unacceptable. There are many factors at work here. 1) The city of New Orleans did not have a good plan in place to evacuate poor, indigent, and disabled residents to shelter outside of the city. This means that people who could not leave for economic or other reasons tried to weather the storm in their homes. 2) The shelters that were set up in the city were not properly equipped to deal with the situation. They did not have adequate food, water, and sanitation supplies. There is no excuse for this. The government of any city that could be effected by a hurricane should have adequate evacuation and shelter plans in order to serve all the citizens of their city. 3) The levies that held back the waters surrounding New Orleans were only built to withstand a category 3 hurricane. The Army Corp of Engineers stated they made this decision based on a cost-benefit analysis. Uh, bad call, my friends. Ask the people of New Orleans what they think about your cost-benefit analysis. But, the government knew this and it appears there was no plan in place to strengthen the levies in the case of a category 4 or 5 before it actually hit. That may have helped to prevent the flooding. 4)The response was disorganized. And delayed. Many former employees of FEMA are stating that this is a result of the reorganization of FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security. Thanks George W!
But...There is another issue here. And I believe this issue is the foundation of all these other problems. Race. Class. The people stranded in New Orleans right now are poor, black people. I think this fact has tempered the planning and response to this great tragedy. I am not black. But I have been poor and I will always relate better to poor people than rich people because I know firsthand the class differences that shape America.
And I live in the south. And I have heard comments from colleagues that I would never hear if all the struggling people on the TV were white.
"Well, maybe it is best for all those people that died, they were just sucking the system dry anyway."
"Why do those people think they are entitled to water? Sitting there saying 'Where's the water? Where's the food?' Why is it our obligation to take care of them?"
"Those People" is a popular white euphemism for "Black People." Yes. I work with some racist motherfuckers. And yes, people I know actually said these things. I told the first person that he was going straight to hell when he died and I ignored the second person because I was so overwhelmed by her ignorance. I used to love the south. It has a rich and diverse culture and there are times that I think about how far we've come. But honestly, we haven't come far enough, and I don't know what I can do about it.
Out of this tragedy, there will be many stories of resilience and heroism. But I don't think they will ever make up for the fact that this happened in the first place. That our government did not make provisions for it's citizens and protect them from harm. I will never forget that.
