One of my very good friends from work is volunteering with the Red Cross to go and help in New Orleans. She goes to training tomorrow, and will be flown out first thing Monday, for two weeks. I wish I could go with her. I wish I could do more than just donate ad space on my blog. I want to actively do something.
My friend is originally from Algeria (that's in Africa, for those of you who are geographically challenged), and she was telling me that every day, New Orleans reminds her more and more of Africa -- the lack of care for people, the lack of government assistance, the anarchy, the devastation and chaos. She says its worse in New Orleans now than in most third world countries, and she is outraged at the US government for their ineptitude.
I share her rage.
The US is one of the most powerful countries in the world. We send aid to other countries when they suffer natural disasters. We meddle, and fight wars on foreign soil. We take in refugees from other countries. But we can't save our own citizens when disaster strikes on our own soil!! We leave them to suffer in completely uninhabitable conditions for days on end, with no food, or water, or medicine, whining the whole while that we don't have the resources to do more.
FUCK THAT!
This is the most resourceful and innovative country in the world, and we can't figure out how to evacuate a couple hundred thousand people?? We have military bases sitting empty and unused, and we can't house thousands of refugees?? We pay farmers to throw away crops, and we can't feed thousands of people??
Am I the only one who is so completely and totally appalled at this? I mean, look -- I'm a 26 yr old accountant with no college degree, and even I can figure out how to fix this mess!!
1. Open up every abandoned military installation with plumbing and electrical capacity.
2. Staff the installations with Dr's and Nurses.
3. Stock them with food, water, and medicines.
4. Allow the Red Cross, and other humanitarian aid organizations access to the installations.
5. Commandeer every working Greyhound or charter bus in the area, and bus refugees to the nearest functional airport.
6. Commandeer every working commercial airplane in the area, and fly refugees to those military installations.
7. Send all available military troops to New Orleans, and other devastated areas, to rescue remaining victims and evacuate them, to restore order, and start cleaning up the mess.
8. Use the Superdome (or whatever the hell they call it) as a make-shift morgue instead of a shelter (its not fit for the living, use it for the dead) until bodies can be flown in cargo planes to a more suitable location, identified, and cremated.
Now... How hard was that? Its completely do-able. And its better than anything anyone else is doing at the moment. And a nobody in a crappy government job thought of it. If I can think of it, why can't our oh-so-knowledgeable government figure it out?
Man... This country makes me sick. It really does.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Outraged!
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Oh, Tess. I wish that there was more that I personally can do, too. And I feel your frustration with the lack of organization going on in the relief effort. Any project manager will tell you that this could have been much better managed from the get-go. It breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think if you weren't outraged it wouldn't be very tess-like. And therefore, a little less human.
First off, I agree that more can and should be done. However, looking at this from a capitalist point of view, and considering our government's recent attitudes and agendas, I can see why they're doing things this way, although I do not agree with it.
ReplyDeleteEverything you listed that should be done requires somebody to spend money they don't want to. One of the harsh truths I've learned over the past few years on my current contract is that many people will gladly sacrifice quality if it saves them a buck. Unfortunately, this is often extended to human life as well.
The people in power really have nothing to lose by failing to do a good job. We have, at the present time, a parliamentary system in place in D.C. One party is in control. They've been spending money hand over fist in other areas and neglected to plan for domestic contingencies. Now they've been bitten in the ass. Yet they don't give more than a minor fraction of their past spending to deal with this situation. Again, nothing to lose.
Dragging the situation out also allows the U.S. to continue to play the victim. "Oh, poor us. We got hit my terrorists. Oh, poor us. We got hit by a big natural disaster." Never mind the fact that the rest of the world has been dealing with these exact same issues for thousands of years and they're still here.
Anyway, rant mode off.
i don't have anything intelligent to say - this whole situation has made me sit and weep.
ReplyDeletei've given what i can to the relief campaign - still doesn't feel like its anywhere near enough though
cat xx