Picking up the pieces

It's been over a week and a half since the city of New Orleans was almost blown off the map by Hurricane Katrina and things are beginning to happen. The hole in the levee has been plugged and the water is slowly being pumped out of the streets (revealing the grim sights underneath). The devastation caused by this disaster is hard to judge from afar, but the shockwaves that this has sent throughout the country are easy to feel. There is immense sympathy for the people of New Orleans but the majority of this emotion - disbelief, grief and above all anger, has been directed at the Federal Government for their incredibly bad handling of the situation. With the war in Iraq occuring on distant shores and largely beginning to leave the collective public consciousness, the fact that the aftermath of Katrina is occuring on US shores has been very much like a slap in the face to some people here. Suddenly, the idea of spending an absolute fortune on the armed forces for purposes abroad seemed very wrong.

Consider the following: A day after Katrina had left Louisiana, the government sent two Naval ships to the area to help, but they'd take several days to get there. Yet Katrina was known to be heading that way for a couple of days before - indeed, was going to go right OVER New Orleans (it veered away late and dealt the city more of a glancing blow). The levee mentioned above was built to withstand a force 3 gale. Katrina was force 5, yet the officials insisted that it would hold. Many people who had remained in the city (they were unable to leave because they were so poor) were told to go to the convention center but not told to take any supplies, despite there not being any at the convention center itself. These are just a couple of the examples of general poor organisation of the response from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), an independent part of the United States government that provides a single point of accountability for all federal emergency preparedness and response activities. Apparently, katrina was the THIRD worst scenario that they had response plans for. Plans? What plans?! And despite all that was happening, there was still time for some good old-fashioned back slapping by the men in DC (The response was said to be 'exemplary' and 'fantastic').

It's not uncommon for FEMA to catch blame in the messy aftermath of disaster - a similar thing in 1989 when Hugo hit South Carolina and in 1992 when Andrew struck Florida. Chief scapegoat at the moment is Michael Brown - the current FEMA chief. The former head of the International Arabian Horse Association, he had no background in disaster relief when old friend and then-FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh hired him in 2001. Brown has been the subject of many many criticisms of late by Senators and Congressman alike - who curiously had no problem with him when they had Senate hearings to confirm his appointment as deputy chief. However, amid this ongoing game of 'Passing the Buck', it seems that some people are forgetting the true victims of this natural disaster - New Orleans and her people. The Big Easy will never be the same again.