Help with Hurricane Gustav
Kate Harding has a post with resources on how to help those affected by Hurricane Gustav, which is aiming straight for New Orleans and is expected to make landfall tomorrow.
This is a powerful storm and as Kate points out, the city is essentially saying "to each her own" when it comes to shelter.
My thoughts go out to everyone affected.
Indeed. I'm in Boston right now and I've been watching the evacuation unfold on MSNBC - the footage of traffic jams heading out of NO and of people afraid to leave in spite of the imminent danger all seems like a horrible case of deja vu. On the upside, they've been saying that the hurricane itself is 'only' around 20 miles wide, and that even a slight change in direction could well spare the city and its patched-up levees a direct hit. I sincerely hope that for once Mother Nature cuts these people a break.
"if you think fat people have no self-discipline, consider the fact that they haven’t killed you yet." - Miss Conduct, Boston Globe
My thoughts and prayers are with these poor people. Hopefully, the government won't screw this up like it did 3 years ago...
I'm sorry - didn't you catch the MULTIPLE warnings to these people to either get out or expect to fend for themselves? I'm not feeling sorry for anyone that didn't take the MULTIPLE exit routes available to them. I am sorry that they were stupid enough to stay after having been told that they were risking their lives, but we all have a free will choice to make, and none of us should expect other people to risk their lives trying to get us out of our own stupidity. Buses, planes, trains, ambulances -- what else would you have the authorities do? Having been a first responder, I completely understand that after you give people every possible opportunity not to endanger themselves - if they do, it's on them.
Before I get blasted for this opinion -- let me say, I have family directly in the path of this storm, and they made the free will choice to stay in their mobile home to ride the storm out. I pray for their safety, but I certainly would never hold the government responsible if something should happen to them - it was their own decision to stay.
I heard some of these people have no money to get out. No transportation.
I always worry about the peoples' pets too. I adopted a dog from Hurricane Katrina and I know a lot of people won't leave because they'd have to abandon their pets. I know it would worry me also. moxie3
If you've watched any of the coverage, then you know that transportation was provided to anyone who needed it, and not just in New Orleans. And, pets were evacuated as well.
Choosing to stay in a potential disaster zone is just that, a choice, when every possible form of assistance is offered by the federal/state/local officials, as it was in this case. Even to the point of a "nanny" situation in New Orleans proper. No government can be held responsible for the poor decisions made by its citizenry when they are provided all possible options.