I was listening to CNN this morning, and there was a debate about the Katrina response going on. A comment during that discussion prompted me to do a little research. Here's what I found:
Tsunami - Dec 26, with little warning, a tsunami hit Asia, destroying and displacing millions of people and destroying homes and property. Relief and aid began to trickle in by December 28, 2 days later; by December 29, the flow of aid, food and water began to increase as efforts ramped up. By Jan 1, relief began to reach the worst-hit areas, primarily due to the arrival a US aircraft carrier that provided airlift support for supplies and equipment.
Here's the timeline of events according to the BBC.
Katrina - On August 27, the National Hurricane Center in Miami announced a hurricane watch for Louisiana; President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. At 5 PM, the mayor of New Orleans called for a voluntary evacuation of the city.
On August 28, Katrina was classified as a catagory 4 storm, and mandatory evacuation of New Orleans was announced. The city of Chicago offered assistance to the Federal Government (see link below and follow the link for the 28'th), which was apparently refused.
And as we have all witnessed, relief didn't begin to trickle into New Orleans until 5 days after Katrina hit.
Here's the Timeline as per Indybay.
So, on the one hand, we have an unanticipated distant event that was also geographically broad in it's impact, and every bit as severe as Katrina. (If not more so.) Even without warning - despite the logistics involved with an area thousands of miles away - aid began to arrive in 2 days, and became substantial in 3 days. Even the worst-hit remote areas began to see significant relief in 5 days.
On the other hand, we have Katrina; an anticipated event with almost 48 hours of notice, affecting a geographically broad area (and one major US city), but one physically within the continential United States.
Yet the first organized trickle of relief and aid didn't show up - as we have all witnessed in the news - until 5 days after the event.
I'm skeptical that our government acted appropriately, especially since it's clear that we can (and did) react in a shorter timeframe to a distant disaster. From my perspective, we should have logically been able to respond even faster to something within our own borders; especially since the President declared a state of disaster in Louisiana two days before the storm struck.
I would like to hear opinions both pro and con on this.
Tsunami - Dec 26, with little warning, a tsunami hit Asia, destroying and displacing millions of people and destroying homes and property. Relief and aid began to trickle in by December 28, 2 days later; by December 29, the flow of aid, food and water began to increase as efforts ramped up. By Jan 1, relief began to reach the worst-hit areas, primarily due to the arrival a US aircraft carrier that provided airlift support for supplies and equipment.
Here's the timeline of events according to the BBC.
Katrina - On August 27, the National Hurricane Center in Miami announced a hurricane watch for Louisiana; President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. At 5 PM, the mayor of New Orleans called for a voluntary evacuation of the city.
On August 28, Katrina was classified as a catagory 4 storm, and mandatory evacuation of New Orleans was announced. The city of Chicago offered assistance to the Federal Government (see link below and follow the link for the 28'th), which was apparently refused.
And as we have all witnessed, relief didn't begin to trickle into New Orleans until 5 days after Katrina hit.
Here's the Timeline as per Indybay.
So, on the one hand, we have an unanticipated distant event that was also geographically broad in it's impact, and every bit as severe as Katrina. (If not more so.) Even without warning - despite the logistics involved with an area thousands of miles away - aid began to arrive in 2 days, and became substantial in 3 days. Even the worst-hit remote areas began to see significant relief in 5 days.
On the other hand, we have Katrina; an anticipated event with almost 48 hours of notice, affecting a geographically broad area (and one major US city), but one physically within the continential United States.
Yet the first organized trickle of relief and aid didn't show up - as we have all witnessed in the news - until 5 days after the event.
I'm skeptical that our government acted appropriately, especially since it's clear that we can (and did) react in a shorter timeframe to a distant disaster. From my perspective, we should have logically been able to respond even faster to something within our own borders; especially since the President declared a state of disaster in Louisiana two days before the storm struck.
I would like to hear opinions both pro and con on this.
