No BODY left behind

[Mephisto]

A woman interviewed on CNN news today revealed that her neighbors were found dead in their home in New Orleans and rescuers had apparently marked the building as having been searched, with no bodies found. She entered the home after having "suspicions" that something (likely foul smells) was amiss in the "abandoned" home. She and another neighbor entered the home and found the severely decayed corpses of the two elderly residents inside. I guess the rescue/searchers were just a little too busy that day, huh?

Now, I'll give everyone one guess what ethnic group the forgotten dead were members of, and in what section of the city their home was located?

 

[chulbert]

I guess black because 67% of New Orleans residents were black.

 

[Mephisto]

I guess black because 67% of New Orleans residents were black.

WRONG! She was from Uruguay and lived in the rich section of town . . .


Actually, you're right, but I'd be willing to bet that they won't be finding any forgotten corpses in rich homes marked with a zero.

 

[rikzilla]

Due to the magnitude of the disaster...the sheer size and inaccessibility of the area...I'd say we're going to see more instances like this. The troops who checked that area said they only stuck their heads inside to have a quick peek and a sniff. If the bodies were still submerged at all there would have been no smell.

Sad situation...but I don't think this has anything to do with race.

-z

 

[Mephisto]

Due to the magnitude of the disaster...the sheer size and inaccessibility of the area...I'd say we're going to see more instances like this. The troops who checked that area said they only stuck their heads inside to have a quick peek and a sniff. If the bodies were still submerged at all there would have been no smell.

Sad situation...but I don't think this has anything to do with race.

-z

You're probably right, Rik, but I'd like to add that (to me anyway) it would have been much more interesting to search the homes of the blatantly rich. I wonder how many of the MIAs in New Orleans will eventually be found in their homes?

Having smelled decayed, half-submerged bodies before, I can't understand how they're still not discovered. Who nose?

 

[Mason]

A woman interviewed on CNN news today revealed that her neighbors were found dead in their home in New Orleans and rescuers had apparently marked the building as having been searched, with no bodies found. She entered the home after having "suspicions" that something (likely foul smells) was amiss in the "abandoned" home. She and another neighbor entered the home and found the severely decayed corpses of the two elderly residents inside.

The Army/Guard only had so much authority during the searches. Kicking in a door when nobody is shouting "Help!" is called "breaking and entering". So, many of the houses were only searched by looking in the windows for bodies. Some of the more desparate areas were searched more thoroughly, of course, but many of the areas couldn't be accessed because the water was too high; these were given exterior searches as well. These houses were marked with "ext" on the front to show that the interior had not been searched. Later, when the water went down, many of these areas were searched again.

It was already understood that more bodies would be found when we let the residents back into the curfew districts and they went to check on their elderly relatives.

I guess the rescue/searchers were just a little too busy that day, huh?

We're talking about a city the size of... Surprise! A CITY! with only a few thousand troops to search it. It's difficult to imagine the circumstances and the scope of the project, but try imagining an area the size of, well, roughly a "city", and imagine that it was washed off the map and you and your buddies were looking for something the size of, say, a "person" on the bottom of all the rubble.

The smell isn't a clue, because the whole city smelled like someone had taken a **** on a dead cat before dousing it in rotten eggs, so no real help there until you get right on top of it. The windows are covered inside and outside with a layer of septic scum from the receding waters, so you can't just peek into the livingroom while strolling by. Everything inside, from the walls to the beds to the couches, is covered in a layer of filth, mold, and mildew, so the color contrasts are no help; a white corpse and a black corpse both look just like the couch. The mold inside combined with the film on the glass makes visibility low to begin with.

Having smelled decayed, half-submerged bodies before, I can't understand how they're still not discovered. Who nose?

The whole city smells. Remember, all those places where your body waste goes were flooded out. Think of it like like trying to sniff out one particular turd in a whole row of port-a-johns.

 

[Mephisto]

The whole city smells. Remember, all those places where your body waste goes were flooded out. Think of it like like trying to sniff out one particular turd in a whole row of port-a-johns.

You're right, Mason - I spoke too quickly and too passionately. What bothers me most is the fact that it shouldn't be breaking and entering for rescuers searching for people to actually enter a home - the possibility of injuries (and time) combined could make calling for help difficult, especially for the elderly or disabled.

It was a difficult job for anyone concerned and it was wrong of me to suggest that it was intentional. I just hope someone competant is taking notes to ensure things like (the entire fiasco) this don't happen again.

 

[jj]

I don't think anyone who has ever done any search and rescue will find any racist or intent here.

It's a brutal, hard job, and one prone to mistakes, since you ARE standing in the middle of a disaster area, facilities are all out, there is no fallback, and you're probably working on 2 hours of sleep in the last 48.

 

[Mason]

No harm, Meph. It's a complex situation, and the media pretty much missed when trying to show the big picture... Sometimes I get cranky when the media hits the wrong angle and makes it look like yet another thing went wrong... And so on, and so on.

And now back to our regularly scheduled commentary.

 

[LeFevre]

You're right, Mason - I spoke too quickly and too passionately. What bothers me most is the fact that it shouldn't be breaking and entering for rescuers searching for people to actually enter a home - the possibility of injuries (and time) combined could make calling for help difficult, especially for the elderly or disabled.

It was a difficult job for anyone concerned and it was wrong of me to suggest that it was intentional. I just hope someone competant is taking notes to ensure things like (the entire fiasco) this don't happen again.

Cheers Mephisto on this post. It's rare, esspecially it seems on these boards and this section, for someone to post that maybe they were a bit emotional and that clouded their view on the subject of discussion. The entire thing is smegged.

I hope you last thought, about taking notes so something like this doesn't happen again, aren't wishful thinking.

 

[Skeptic]

So, you save thousands of people, overlook two, and you are a "racist" because they were black.

Perhaps the Guard should start every disaster evacuation by secretly determining to deliberately let a few white people die on purpose, just in case they later mistakenly forget to evacuate a few black ones.

Sure it's murder, but it's all for the good cause of smooth race relations.

 

[jj]

So, you save thousands of people, overlook two, and you are a "racist" because they were black.

Perhaps the Guard should start every disaster evacuation by secretly determining to deliberately let a few white people die on purpose, just in case they later mistakenly forget to evacuate a few black ones.

Sure it's murder, but it's all for the good cause of smooth race relations.

So, after meph has already apologized, you're throwing down the gauntlet and insisting on an argument.

Oh, splendid. Reprisal, anyone?