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cannedmoose · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:21 pm Post subject: Hurricane Katrina

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4194698.stm

Good luck to the people of the southern US... looks like a nasty one...

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Over 50 dead and 20 billion in damages so far. :shock:

cannedmoose · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:23 pm Post subject:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4201480.stm

Just shows how even the most powerful country on earth can be humbled by the power of mother nature... will this make them rethink their attitudes towards the environment? No, I doubt it either.

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Then they can spend 20 billion dollars plus every year fixing there cities etc. up again. :shock:

cannedmoose · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject:

brother wrote: Then they can spend 20 billion dollars plus every year fixing there cities etc. up again. :shock:

So long as they're willing to spend $200bn more helping the inhabitants of places like the Seychelles, Nauru and Bangladesh find new places to live... all well and good.

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:23 am Post subject:

Looks like the situation is worse than first feared. Many people who didn't evacuate seem to have died in this. New Orleans is being evacuated completely... big disaster now. Teaches us all a lesson, compared to the power of nature, we're nothing and we cross its path at our peril.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4201480.stm

brother · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 8920 Location: London/Cyprus

Quote: Teaches us all a lesson, compared to the power of nature, we're nothing and we cross its path at our peril.

That is the truth and the US learnt that harsh lesson well.

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4205074.stm

I think America has to be one of the only countries where you get mass looting in the midst of a major natural disaster... so much for land of the free, home of the brave... quite why they haven't installed martial law in these areas is beyond me...

city · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 3373 Location: Larnaca area

cannedmoose wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4205074.stm

I think America has to be one of the only countries where you get mass looting in the midst of a major natural disaster...

Yes, you are right, but since the authorities are unable to provide sufficient help and provide food and water, the people just go and get what they need. And don't forget, the one sthat stayed where the poorest, the ones they didn't have a car or money to stay in a hotel in another city.
I'm not approoving this, just trying to see it from the other side as well.

cannedmoose wrote: so much for land of the free, home of the brave... quite why they haven't installed martial law in these areas is beyond me...

If I translate martial law right, then yes, they did do that today. It was in the news.

I find it indeed unbelievable that they still have the aid not set up properly. Its four days and there are still people on their houses roofs, waiting to be avacuated or at least provided with whats needed to survive.
I was asking myself why they can't use boats instead of helicopters for evacuation. Wouldn't that make more sense?

Apart from that its no wonder that there is not everything organised and taken care of in a proper way.
The money for civil protection has been severly cut and since 9/11 most of the funds are being used for "home security" how they call it.

If they don't get the people out of there very quickly tehy will have to face even bigger problems, like peole to die with thirst and plagues spreading. :(

I hope for everyone affected that they get things going!

Crash Test Dummy · Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 4911 Location: London(ish)

a big fuck up on the US government's part. They should of had the army in there from day 1 shooting the looters

thebrix · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:54 pm Post subject:

Giorgio wrote: a big fuck up on the US government's part. They should of had the army in there from day 1 shooting the looters

There seems to be a combination of errors and bad luck, from funds for maintaining flood defences being cut over the past few years (and diverted to "homeland security" ... !) to a lot of the locally-based military being in Iraq.

The best coverage, by a mile, is local - the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Alastair

Crash Test Dummy · Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 4911 Location: London(ish)

alastair how do you make a link but write something in it? like when you wrote New Orleans Times-Picayune but its a link to their site.

Xenos 2Fan · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:17 am Post subject:

It's been getting worse by the hour. People are beginning to fight each other. What I can not understand is why these people didn't get to higher ground when they were told to?

Death estimates are climbing because fools were trying to ride out the storm when they were advised that this storm was more intense than Andrew.

The reason the National Guard couldn't get there is because the areas affected were inaccessible. There are medium sized sea vessels that are actually washed up on major coastal highways. The levies failed because funding to maintain them was cut. The areas hit resemble Bande Aceh. It's a real shame.

cannedmoose · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:22 am Post subject:

city wrote: Yes, you are right, but since the authorities are unable to provide sufficient help and provide food and water, the people just go and get what they need. And don't forget, the one sthat stayed where the poorest, the ones they didn't have a car or money to stay in a hotel in another city.
I'm not approoving this, just trying to see it from the other side as well.

I agree City mou, much of the 'looting' is simply desperate people searching for food or water that isn't being provided to them.

As for those left behind, as you said, they mostly appear to be poor, and black. Something tells me that if this disaster had happened in Beverley Hills or some plush Floridian retirement area, resources would have poored in from day one. I've seen on tv tonight a conference hall in downtown New Orleans which is now housing 2,000 mostly poor and mostly black people, yet which has not seen a single national guardsman nor had any supplies of fresh food or water delivered.

It's a disgrace, particularly since the US has some major army bases in the region which could be ferrying supplies by helicopter to these folks. George Bush has really 'dropped a bollock' on this one to use an English phrase, and is only now scrambling to pick it back up.

As for the rest of us, apparently the US has booked 20 supertankers to ferry processed petrol across the Atlantic due to 9 of their major oil refineries being out of business. That means petrol prices going up... for us in the UK, the £1 litre will not be too far off :cry:

Hopefully this might force the US to realise that you don't mess with nature and that they need to start doing something about the appalling amount of natural resources that they waste on a daily basis. Although something tells me they won't be giving up their 6ltr, 10mpg SUVs anytime soon.

gabs · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 98

just watched the latest news report on bbc tv.

cant believe what i saw. hundreds dying coz of lack of water, food, medicines...................

bloody hell they can put man on the moon, and fly to venus but they cant send relief into New Orleans ............................ unbelievable