Saturday, September 03, 2005
Qatar Offers $100 Million in Aid
First comment "in the comments" is the text on the current state of the city from the inside. People are still dying. Do not read if you do not want to read more tragic news.
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2 comments:
From http://mgno.com/
Help Rescue Officials Locate Survivors
Here's a pretty serious email I received this evening.
URGENT ASSISTANCE NEEDED.
First of all, many thanks to the kind and courageous folks currently
staffing Outpost Crystal. Their compassion and honesty are
unparalleled.
I am writing this to describe a horrific situation in NOLA that few are
aware of, and those who are aware are doing little or nothing. As many
of you have likely observed, the national media outlets are suggesting
that hurricane relief is finally leading to vast improvements with each
hour that passes. Food and water are being delivered, power restored,
levees repaired, water drainage plans developed, and those still living
successfully evacuated. Many are reporting that the final areas are
being checked for survivors, as well as those who have passed at the
hands of Katrina (and more often, neglect). Unfortunately, this is not
the case. As demonstrated on nola.com's blog section, many individuals
know the exact locations and WORKING telephone numbers of family
members, most of whom are elderly, sickly, starving, and in serious
need of medical attention. When able to get through on emergency
telephone numbers, a feat not to be taken lightly, they are dismissed
or told that dispatch would be sent immediately, yet no one has come,
even though calls have been placed for days. Many do not require full
evacuation, but basic medical attention and/or supplies. Many are
completely immobile, and unable to access the limited relief sites or
food drops. I spoke to one such individual, Ms. Lee Livermore, who was
still trapped in her home earlier this evening (around 6:00pm EST).
Her nephew, living in Michigan, explained to me that she is diabetic,
has difficulty moving, and he has been in contact with the coast guard,
emergency services, and even the governor's office, yet nothing is
being done. Stranded on a 3rd floor apartment, with little food, no
sweets, and low blood sugar, her outlook is not promising. This is
just one case out of hundreds, probably thousands. Incredibly, much of
this information is available through nola.com, a resource many of the
media are utilizing, yet remains unreported. The television broadcasts
refer to none of this, simply stressing the importance of financial
contributions, encouraging National Guard membership for potential
volunteers, and emphasizing the positive direction the situation is
headed.
For more information on these people who are stranded and requiring
immediate assistance, please visit
http://www.nola.com/weblogs/nola/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_nolaview/archives
/2005_09.html
Note: specific contact information and locations ARE provided
Some of these people, primarily those in high profile areas, such as
universities and hospitals, have since been rescued. Others, however,
are being ignored, even though their situation and status is easily
discernable and their telephone contacts are reliable and consistent.
Addresses are always provided, as is contact information for family and
friends. After speaking with stranded individuals and their family
members, the severity of the situation is obvious, yet rescue workers
are overwhelmed or dismissive, often a combination of the two, with
each call placed. We are being bombarded with images of the care and
rescue of healthy, able-bodied people, yet so many of those who need
our attention most are completely helpless.
After having little success using the emergency numbers provided by a
variety of organizations and websites, I called CNN to explain the
distress that these individuals are in. I was told that they have a
department compiling information of those who need assistance, and that
the office would be open on TUESDAY, after the Labor Day holiday, so
the best course of action is to leave a voicemail. Understandably
outraged, I called MSNBC, where the woman I spoke with was also
shocked. She told me they have a voicemail box that was checked every
15 minutes, and my information could be left there. It was, not
surprisingly, full, and I was disconnected, as has occurred on every
subsequent call.
I encourage anyone in a position to help to do everything they can to
assure that those whose locations are known, especially those requiring
medical attention, be assisted IMMEDIATELY, with other search and
rescue operations taking a lesser priority. Just because these people
are less visible and indoors, some perhaps in dry areas, should not
exempt them from the care and attention being relegated to others.
I also ask that those who are able complain about the policies of the
major media networks, both in collecting information on those in need,
as well as the reporting of improvements, when many are STILL ALIVE,
but will starve and die of their conditions in the very near future.
I understand that the extremely limited resources need to be conserved
and delivered where most needed. As it is easy to ascertain the
condition and whereabouts of many of these people, through a mere phone
call, something that rescue agencies and certainly the media have
access to, it seems beyond remiss that their perilous situations be
ignored.
If anyone has additional questions, information, or advice, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Brittany Turner
631-258-4604
brittaful@aol.com
Saugerties, NY
Emergency numbers are available to any who need them by visiting
http://www.wwltv.com/
Best of luck to all of you still in the area, doing your best to report
accurate and timely information.
Team SOTI is going to auction off some stuff on Ebay when we're done here and send the proceeds to charity and relief efforts. We will start with Donny's famous striped shirt (visible on cam now).
From the blog Another Man's Meat:
For those political zealots who are so callous that they would use human tragedy to advance a political agenda I have this reminder from history. The category four hurricane that devastated Galveston, killing eight thousand of the city’s inhabitants, in 1900 was no more Teddy Roosevelt or William Mckinley’s fault than Katrina is George Bush’s. The category five hurricane that swept through the Florida Keys in 1935 wasn’t Franklin Roosevelt’s fault, nor was the death of four hundred and eight the storm’s wake. The category three hurricane that killed six hundred New Englanders in 1938 was not the result of flaws in the environmental policy of FDR’s New Deal. The loss of three hundred and ninety souls during the category three hurricane that slammed into the northeastern United States in 1944 didn’t happen because President Roosevelt was paying too much attention to the war going on in Europe and the South Pacific.
I understand the anger and the frustration that comes at tragic times like these. I felt the same frustration and helplessness four years ago that feel now. But I believe the appropriate way to express that anger and frustration now is to pray and to give. The time for criticism will come later. The time to cleanse ourselves of personal or political sins will come later. When that day dawns we can convene commissions and we can hold prayer meetings. We can find out what we should have done logistically or spiritually. We can fix bridges and buildings, we can build homes and businesses, we can mend lives, and we can, if necessary, repent. But this is not the time for the looters of our national fabric to gain a foothold. There is far too much work to do now and we who occupy the center must hold. We’ve given and we’ve prayed, but more will be required of us. We must not allow the extremists to carry the day!
I have one last word for the extremists. If you’re a religious zealot and feel compelled to express your outrage, do it in your prayer closet, in private. If you feel the need to express your political rage, then express it out of the glare of the media spotlight. Express it by giving to charitable organizations that are at ground zero right now trying to rescue the lost. If you still feel outraged when you’ve done that, then go back into your prayer closet again or open your wallet once more. I doubt that you will, but I can say with all the conviction I can muster that this is the appropriate way for an American to act right now!
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