Fri, 02 Sep 2005

New Orlean's Mayor about the relief efforts

It's not only a bunch of students with hippy ideals thinking that the Feds could have done a bit more before and after Katrina's hit. It seems the Mayor is a bit fed up of promises coming from DC. The lack of any kind of rescue operation for the people that are starving and dehidrating all around the city of New Orleans and the violent scenes taking place resulted in a quite powerful interview on a local radio. And yes, this comes from CNN.

A small quote from the transcript:

Ray Nagin: I have no idea what they're doing.

18:42 | [] | # | (comments: 5)

It's not just local government officials.  President Bush himself has said his administration's efforts have been unacceptable.

Posted by Mikey Cooper at Fri Sep 2 19:56:57 2005

I heard this part of the interview at lunch today: "Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country."

I can't imagine how frustrated he must be. This is pathetic.

Posted by mschaef at Fri Sep 2 20:20:01 2005

Lots of blame to go around.  In theory, local authorities are supposed to manage things until the feds arrive.  And everyone is supposed to work together to develop emergency plans long in advance.

In retrospect, the simplest way to have avoided the present chaos might have been to bus the poor out of New Orleans when the evacuation order came.  But, as http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050901/480/flpc21109012015 shows, though buses were available, the city seems not to have ordered them to roll.

Posted by Marc Grégoire at Fri Sep 2 20:28:53 2005

I think the quote from the transcript is supposed to read: "They have no idea what they're doing," but I could be wrong...either way, I agree with you.  My government is such a mess.

Posted by Forest at Sat Sep 3 01:17:26 2005

the problem is not so much to bus out several tenth of thousands of people (which is already huge) but where to put them? this is no way in the means of a city to organize. and nobody would have it acceptable to put them in a stadium before it was clear the storm would be that devastating.

Posted by emmanuel at Sat Sep 3 09:43:26 2005