FEMA suspending boat rescue ops due to danger to rescuers

[Kurt Wayne]

Per CNN.

 

[Amos Magliocco]

At this point, they ought to gather their forces and secure the two spots where we know 40,000 survivors are clinging to life---the Superdome and the Convention Center. If they can secure those structures and secure the evacuation procedue and bus route, they can begin to slowly expand their area of operations from there. But if they can't even control those two buildings---which are large but isolated and easily defensible--how can we expect them to secure areas all around the metro area?

Absolutely astounding.

11:23 A.M. - (AP) Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, survivors are growing more frustrated with the lack of help after Hurricane Katrina.

One man says, \"No one has thought enough of us to even bring us a cup of water.\"

Daniel Edwards says many people have gone days without food or water. He says tens of thousands of people are standing on the streets with no sign of emergency workers.

Several bodies lie scattered around. Edwards pointed to an elderly lady dead in a wheelchair and said, \"I don't treat my dog like that.\" He says he buried his dog.

 

[Brian Brubaker]

I can completely understand people's frustration with lack of food and water. But when they start making coments that clearly indicate that in their minds they feel they're being mistreated, perhaps intentionally, I begin to lose compassion.

Do they not realize that there are others besides them?

Last night I saw an interview with a woman who was complaining that FEMA hadn't yet brought her a trailer to live in. She was getting tired of sleeping on her brother's porch (on dry land, I might add).

I truly feel for the people who have had to endure this trajedy. But some have made comments that really make me shake my head in disbelief.

Maybe I'm just cold-hearted?

 

[Tim Vasquez]

These people may not have any idea of the magnitude of the damage outside their own local area... there's no CNN or newspapers there. Or they may just have a simplistic world view and are unable to understand the logistics of the rescue effort. With that combined with them being in survival mode, their frustration is understandable. Wish we could take care of them more quickly.

Tim

 

[Rob_Davis]

That's a good point, Tim. Urban dwellers typically a very limited point of reference, even with a working media. Many have never been more than five or ten miles from their own home in their entire lives. Now, without sources of news, I can certainly believe that some may simply not fathom that they are no worse off than over a million other people stretched for over a hundred miles.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

How about this -- printer a newspaper-like packet telling people of the situation. Articles on other damage around the area, articles telling people what to do, articles telling people what's being done, etc. Print 25,000 copies of this, and drop it from helicopters is necessary. Part of the problem that I'm seeing is that nobody has any information. They don't know what the Hurricane did in other areas; they don't know what's being done by gov't and volunteer services to make things better.

 

[Edward Ballou]

I had thought about this earlier. I see my RSS feed going across the top of my screen: "Bush tells victims: 'A lot of help coming'". Well, a lot of good that does them if they don't have news, radio, or anything. They can only see what is around them.

Our government calls them PsyOps. We drop leaflets to convince the enemy they will fail, die, etc.

We need to do this to inform our people. They need to know what's going on - not just 'a lot of help is on its way'.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

Originally posted by Tim Vasquez
These people may not have any idea of the magnitude of the damage outside their own local area... there's no CNN or newspapers there. Or they may just have a simplistic world view and are unable to understand the logistics of the rescue effort. With that combined with them being in survival mode, their frustration is understandable. Wish we could take care of them more quickly.

Tim

They probably think they were hit directly when they werent