The real sad part of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath is the finger-pointing going on about who’s to blame for what. Everyone wants to know who dropped the ball and who’s responsible for the slow response of emergency teams.
I’ll tell you who’s responsible, and who to point the finger at: yourself. The one person responsible for your well-being and the family’s safety is in the mirror. This is where the buck stops.
Sitting around waiting for things to be handed to you, done for you, and done to you is no way to lead your life. Life is leading you. This is not a good recipe for safety, security, and prosperity for you and your loved ones, especially in a disaster. If you don’t even care about yourself, who else will care about you?
I hear time and time again how “poor folks” can’t afford to escape or prepare adequately to shelter in place, and I don’t believe a word of it! You “poor folks” had TV sets that broadcasted weather reports on network news, and got reports at least three days in advance—just like the rest of us did. This was plenty of time to pack and secure a ride out of there, or use the transport that came from the factory—your own two feet. If the intention was to stay and ride it out, then three days was plenty of time to secure rations and supplies to do so. Several of you did neither one, and suffered for it. Plenty of first responder rescuers also suffered for it with their lives trying to save you.
Outside help of any kind takes forethought, planning, and logistics, and the larger the scale, the more the red tape involved. When many agencies who normally don’t interact with one another get together for a single mission, there are bound to be problems, delays, and miscommunications. Rumor is the worst substance to encounter in an emergency situation—accurate and timely information is everyone’s friend and ally. Unfortunately, many agencies operate close to the vest, and free information dispersal isn’t among their many strong suits.
The only people with any excuse at all for being trapped in the rising water are the ones who could not leave under their own power. Even at that, there should’ve been some sort of mechanism in place for notifying officials that evacuation assistance is needed because of wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, walking difficulties, or other medical devices or conditions that would impede leaving under their own power.
If you are going to shelter in place, take some notes NOW while the disaster is fresh in your mind: how long did the event last, what would you have needed for survival, and how much of it would you need. Even “poor folks” can stock up on things during the rest of the year by acquiring things one at a time—by purchasing, bartering, trading, or even dumpster diving if it came to it. If you are going to use your own home as primary shelter, make sure you have enough food, water, first aid, prescription medicines, light sources, information sources, and personal hygiene items for your family and pets for at least a week or two, if not a month. When things go on sale at the store, buy a few extra as emergency rations. Even if you just pick up one item for the emergency rations each time you go to the store, you’ll have amassed quite a stockpile by the time hurricane season comes around again. Keep this up, and you’ll have a month’s worth of supplies to ride out an extended emergency, such as the one Katrina brought to our shores. Nobody will ask or care where they came from—they will just be glad you have them at all.
Don’t wait until the last minute (or past it) for someone else to do your work for you, and then blame them when it doesn’t get done to your specifications. Also, don’t bring side issues into the event, like racism, because hurricanes don’t care what color you are, and elected officials need everybody’s vote regardless of color. Nobody else is responsible for your tragedies except you—learn how to avoid them.
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3 comments:
Thank you! Particularly for the racism aspect - I was really upset that it was even brought up, and really, it sounded like another excuse to blame someone.
You're welcome--I've been getting more and more steamed about everybody blaming the federal and state powers that be, when it's the evacuees themselves to blame. The Superdome was a shelter OF LAST RESORT, and so many chose to make it their shelter of FIRST resort.
Federal agencies don't just have trucks and buses sitting around ready to go at a moment's notice--they have to order them from somewhere, and it takes time to get from Point A to the hurricane zone. The same goes for all relief supplies--they aren't just sitting around in some warehouse conveniently located near the disaster zone, wherever that happens to be. Federal agencies also cannot simply go marching in without first being asked to do so by state authorities, and that's something to be looked at more closely...when did state officials finally pull their heads out and decide they couldn't handle this disaster?
Part 2 of my rant:
Liberal Democrat ideology also played a GIANT role in the events leading up to this disaster--by handing out government monies to these people for yuears and years, we've effectively knocked the legs out from under their ever gaining the desire to learn to fish for themselves, despite a glut of fising teachers.
Welfare benefits in any form are a Great White Guilt substitute for reparations, and they served to take potentially productive people out of the economic loop and sideline them--we paid them to sit around, to reproduce, and to eat. The current time limitations on welfare don't stop many from gaming the system, just like they did before the limits.
Business has its loopholes, and the so-called "poor" have theirs.
This tragedy has served the media well in garnering heart-string-plucked ratings. Trouble is, New Orleans may not be the same after rebilding--new homes will be built, RE flippers will descend upon the area, and price the former denizens out of their own backyard. Mortgage interest rates are dropping, and this will feed a whole new bubble region.
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