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World wide Embarassment !

JOHNYJ

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The United States looks like Haiti on a bad day ! America has been humilliated world wide by the incompetent handling of ths tragedy !
How safe is the rest of the country ? what if this had been a terrorist incident is this how Homeland security would handled it ?
 
Guess we can't blame Bush for this problem, after all he did start our new "Homeland Security" program.
Blame Homeland Security for spending the $680 MILLION Bush gave them on "COLOR CHARTS!" Although rumors are out that Bush owns the company that manufactured the "color charts".

But seriously now, I did hear a statement that someone from Homeland Security made. It was on TV, I don't remember what channel.
After an hour of talking they said the bottom line was that the people should NOT depend on our Gov for any help if we took nuclear hits. Help should come from the states, local cities and towns and that they would provide some money to the states, citys and towns to make their own disaster plans.

So I guess what Homeland Security is saying is that "you are on your own."
 
JOHNYJ said:
The United States looks like Haiti on a bad day ! America has been humilliated world wide by the incompetent handling of ths tragedy !
How safe is the rest of the country ? what if this had been a terrorist incident is this how Homeland security would handled it ?

Well, let's not exaggerate here - Haiti will never have the ability to look like the US on their best day ever - come on, that goes without saying...

At any rate, the response to Katrina has been totally incompetant. I encourage resisting the leftie urge to exploit this for another Bush-bashing tirade - that is very petty behavior.

There definitely should be a day of reckoning in the future where the incompetant are brought to task. Those that are calling for heads and other variations of the Spanish Inquisition are interfering with the most important tasks of the day, saving lives and recovery. I ask that we all can be mature enough to wait for the proper time and place to start the task of blaming and calling for heads and other witch hunts - the time is not now, and those who are trying to make the time now are bad people, more interested in politics than saving lives.

Anyway, it seems to me that there are currently hundreds of agencies on the federal, state, local, and nonprof levels involved in trying to help. That's awesome, but it seems to be totally uncoordinated, with each agency doing their own thing. FEMA sounds like the natural for taking charge of coordinating everyone's efforts, but they took an apparent 3 day vacation before jumping into the disaster zones. That's crap, that's what led to the breakdown of law and order in NOLA recently.

We need a federal agency to take charge of everything, all relief efforts, and start coordinating recovery right now. This has started to happen a little bit with the introduction of a massive National Guard presence, but their presence is basically just a band aid until a coordinated plan is put in effect. Between Homeland Security, FEMA, or the National Guard, one of those groups needs to assume overall control of all relief efforts in the ravaged areas of the 3 states. FEMA would seem to be the obvious choice, as they have the most experience in this area, but I would suggest relieving their director before that happens due to his ****-poor initial response. Regardless, one agency needs to take control and start directing the entire effort - it's obvious this "every relief agency do their own thing" tactic has yielded crappy results.

I do not think we have yet reached the low point of this crisis, things will still get worse before they get better. We need a competant person, or panel of people, to be in charge, directing the overall recovery efforts, right now. The mayor of New Orleans was completely right - the efforts we've seen so far (except for maybe the past 24 hours) are complete BS.
 
gregg729 said:
At any rate, the response to Katrina has been totally incompetant. I encourage resisting the leftie urge to exploit this for another Bush-bashing tirade - that is very petty behavior.
I'll leave it at this, the primary and secondary response failed because of a lack of true leadership, this made the tertiary responders task much harder, New Orleans should have been the primary and Louisiana should have been the secondary, we failed, now national has to fix the whole thing, but that needs to be resolved after the crisis, not now as you have very succinctly mentioned.

There definitely should be a day of reckoning in the future where the incompetant are brought to task. Those that are calling for heads and other variations of the Spanish Inquisition are interfering with the most important tasks of the day, saving lives and recovery. I ask that we all can be mature enough to wait for the proper time and place to start the task of blaming and calling for heads and other witch hunts - the time is not now, and those who are trying to make the time now are bad people, more interested in politics than saving lives.
I don't know how old you are but you are brilliant beyond your years.

Anyway, it seems to me that there are currently hundreds of agencies on the federal, state, local, and nonprof levels involved in trying to help. That's awesome, but it seems to be totally uncoordinated, with each agency doing their own thing. FEMA sounds like the natural for taking charge of coordinating everyone's efforts, but they took an apparent 3 day vacation before jumping into the disaster zones. That's crap, that's what led to the breakdown of law and order in NOLA recently.
it's coming together slowly, but it is getting better.

We need a federal agency to take charge of everything, all relief efforts, and start coordinating recovery right now. This has started to happen a little bit with the introduction of a massive National Guard presence, but their presence is basically just a band aid until a coordinated plan is put in effect. Between Homeland Security, FEMA, or the National Guard, one of those groups needs to assume overall control of all relief efforts in the ravaged areas of the 3 states. FEMA would seem to be the obvious choice, as they have the most experience in this area, but I would suggest relieving their director before that happens due to his ****-poor initial response. Regardless, one agency needs to take control and start directing the entire effort - it's obvious this "every relief agency do their own thing" tactic has yielded crappy results.
For the most part you are correct, it has always gone local/state/federal, but maybe in the future a competant singular body should have absolute authority in the case of impending or direct disaster.

I do not think we have yet reached the low point of this crisis, things will still get worse before they get better. We need a competant person, or panel of people, to be in charge, directing the overall recovery efforts, right now. The mayor of New Orleans was completely right - the efforts we've seen so far (except for maybe the past 24 hours) are complete BS.
As a Louisianian, I have some good news, the crime problem is being reighned in, the levee seems to be fixed, and the chaos is being handled, so the immediate crisis seems to be getting better, but I have a horrible feeling that there will be alot of bad news on the human side after recovery gets in the worst areas.
 
LaMidRighter said:
I'll leave it at this, the primary and secondary response failed because of a lack of true leadership, this made the tertiary responders task much harder, New Orleans should have been the primary and Louisiana should have been the secondary, we failed, now national has to fix the whole thing, but that needs to be resolved after the crisis, not now as you have very succinctly mentioned.

I don't know how old you are but you are brilliant beyond your years.

it's coming together slowly, but it is getting better.

For the most part you are correct, it has always gone local/state/federal, but maybe in the future a competant singular body should have absolute authority in the case of impending or direct disaster.

As a Louisianian, I have some good news, the crime problem is being reighned in, the levee seems to be fixed, and the chaos is being handled, so the immediate crisis seems to be getting better, but I have a horrible feeling that there will be alot of bad news on the human side after recovery gets in the worst areas.

I'm not brilliant by any means, I'm just level-headed - and we all know how rare a commodity that is in this age of instant gratification. ;)

I agree with what you've said completely, but you also need to recognize - that in terms of immediate response to a natural disaster - the traditional roles are reversed for a short period. Local responders are primary responders - tertiary responders are the feds. The academic question is, at what point in time after the disaster are the feds obligated to assume primary responsibility? The reason why it's particularly moronic to play this little blame game in this instance is that the significant aid response came in so late after-the-fact, that all levels of government had time to do their share of screwing it up.... When I see dozens of abandoned, flooded out school buses on TV that coulda been used to evacuate those left behind, I just shake my head in dismay about the stupidity of partisan politics that are going on with those that are pointing their fingers only at the White House....

One thing, if anything, the President surely has right, right now. Let's save the lives we can. Let's get the recovery/rebuilding process underway - then we can all bitch about who's a jerk.... Until that point, everyone should smarten up!

And LA - I wish the best for ya bud. and all those in the affected areas - I personally feel scummy about blaming or defending politicians when so many thousands down there just want some water, or at best, are wading through their homes looking for any personal momentos that can be saved.

On a side note, I left my job for personal reasons a week before Katrina hit, and now a have a unique opportunity. I'm doing Red Cross training on Wednesday, and I'd feel so lucky to be able to go down and help.... If anyone has a few weeks free, they should do the same. (P.S. Call your local Red Cross, not the number you see on all the networks - you'll get better results.)
 
EDIT: And after rereading your post, we seem to be on the same page in terms of defining "primary" and "tertiary" responses - so my bad trying to correct you earlier...
 
taxpayer said:
Guess we can't blame Bush for this problem, after all he did start our new "Homeland Security" program.
Blame Homeland Security for spending the $680 MILLION Bush gave them on "COLOR CHARTS!" Although rumors are out that Bush owns the company that manufactured the "color charts".

But seriously now, I did hear a statement that someone from Homeland Security made. It was on TV, I don't remember what channel.
After an hour of talking they said the bottom line was that the people should NOT depend on our Gov for any help if we took nuclear hits. Help should come from the states, local cities and towns and that they would provide some money to the states, citys and towns to make their own disaster plans.

So I guess what Homeland Security is saying is that "you are on your own."

That was Nagin and the local officals saying that 13 months ago.
 
gregg729 said:
We need a federal agency to take charge of everything, all relief efforts, and start coordinating recovery right now. This has started to happen a little bit with the introduction of a massive National Guard presence, but their presence is basically just a band aid until a coordinated plan is put in effect. Between Homeland Security, FEMA, or the National Guard, one of those groups needs to assume overall control of all relief efforts in the ravaged areas of the 3 states. FEMA would seem to be the obvious choice, as they have the most experience in this area, but I would suggest relieving their director before that happens due to his ****-poor initial response. Regardless, one agency needs to take control and start directing the entire effort - it's obvious this "every relief agency do their own thing" tactic has yielded crappy results.

No sir. EMS is a local function. The bureaucrats in Washington are in no position to do what you say. They do not know the local police captain, they do not know the local fire chiefs, they do not know the local EMS responders. The Govenors and Mayors are the first responders, they are the ones the responders report to. FEMA and the Fed's come afterwards with assitence to these people. The National Guard reports to the GOVENOR. The law prohibits the Federal Government from taking over unless the Governor allows it and she has refused. She has even disallowed troops from outside the state engaging in police actions.

This is a failure of the local and state governments. FEMA was there. Bush has declared the area a National Disaster area which cleared they way for the local and state governments to start requesting the federal aid. But THEY have the responsibilty to do so. They had a plan of action and they did not use it and ONLY reacted after the Federal Government, including a direct call from Bush, begged them to get moving and evacuate. Nagin and Blanco are the ones who have to answer for this.
 
gregg729 said:
Well, let's not exaggerate here - Haiti will never have the ability to look like the US on their best day ever - come on, that goes without saying...

At any rate, the response to Katrina has been totally incompetant. I encourage resisting the leftie urge to exploit this for another Bush-bashing tirade - that is very petty behavior.
Why would we just Bush-bash? Bashing for all leaders in this case because they all screwed up! Every level of leadership did something wrong from the President cutting funding and not stopping his vacation to the mayor not organizing better. But what can be said for the people on the lower levels such as the mayor is that when something like this strikes, plans can go awry so easily on any level, especially the local one.
There definitely should be a day of reckoning in the future where the incompetant are brought to task. Those that are calling for heads and other variations of the Spanish Inquisition are interfering with the most important tasks of the day, saving lives and recovery. I ask that we all can be mature enough to wait for the proper time and place to start the task of blaming and calling for heads and other witch hunts - the time is not now, and those who are trying to make the time now are bad people, more interested in politics than saving lives.
No offense, the Repubs are going to say that you are wise beyond your years or whatever, but literally, we can do both-it's that simple. We aren't going to divert any manpower or attention away from the rescue effort in what is going on in the investigation.
Anyway, it seems to me that there are currently hundreds of agencies on the federal, state, local, and nonprof levels involved in trying to help. That's awesome, but it seems to be totally uncoordinated, with each agency doing their own thing. FEMA sounds like the natural for taking charge of coordinating everyone's efforts, but they took an apparent 3 day vacation before jumping into the disaster zones. That's crap, that's what led to the breakdown of law and order in NOLA recently.
And who leads FEMA?! Thank you...who appointed the head of FEMA...the questions that I could all ask lead exactly to same point-the president has some fault or at least people in his administration do. Homeland Security should step up and take control frankly because they are better at this than anyone theoretically.
We need a federal agency to take charge of everything, all relief efforts, and start coordinating recovery right now. This has started to happen a little bit with the introduction of a massive National Guard presence, but their presence is basically just a band aid until a coordinated plan is put in effect. Between Homeland Security, FEMA, or the National Guard, one of those groups needs to assume overall control of all relief efforts in the ravaged areas of the 3 states. FEMA would seem to be the obvious choice, as they have the most experience in this area, but I would suggest relieving their director before that happens due to his ****-poor initial response. Regardless, one agency needs to take control and start directing the entire effort - it's obvious this "every relief agency do their own thing" tactic has yielded crappy results.
Yeah, that would be Homeland security. I don't need to say any more.
I do not think we have yet reached the low point of this crisis, things will still get worse before they get better. We need a competant person, or panel of people, to be in charge, directing the overall recovery efforts, right now. The mayor of New Orleans was completely right - the efforts we've seen so far (except for maybe the past 24 hours) are complete BS.
Yet, that person has received so much of the blame for everything that has gone wrong. No offense to people who don't know much about crisis management, but when the ***** hits the fan, people don't know what the hell to do, and the plan doesn't matter anymore. Seriously. You can plan all you want and drill all you want, but this is what happens-mass chaos-when people even do that.

On another note, I just heard from my friend who was trapped down there, and I can't say how relieved I am.
 
Stinger said:
That was Nagin and the local officals saying that 13 months ago.

No it was not! But nice try.
 
I have to admit I was wrong . I blamed the Federal govt. alone.This is obviously wrong,the city and state were realy bad.The Mayor didn't try to do very much for his people,at all.The Governor was just over whelmed.They definitly share the blame with the Federal govt. .
 
If there were a terrorist attack or natural disaster in a major city tomorrow we'd be pretty much helpless. Even with warning it took Homeland defense 3 days to react, so you can safely assume in the event of a surprise terrorist attack it would take them much longer. That's what we get for appointing a Arabian horse org. director to run FEMA I guess.
 
World press: Katrina 'testing US'

In newspapers across the world, commentators believe Hurricane Katrina marks a profound change in the way the US is perceived at home and abroad.

Some speak of the American "myth" being shattered by the poverty and racial divisions which they say the disaster has revealed.
Others hope the floods will douse US "arrogance" over its refusal to ratify the Kyoto accord on climate change. An Italian paper, however, jumps to President George Bush's defence.

Michael Streck in Germany's Die Welt
Hurricane Katrina will bury itself into the American consciousness in the same way 9/11 or the fall of Saigon did. The storm did not just destroy America's image of itself, but also has the power to bring an end to the Republican era sooner than expected. America is ashamed.

Stephan Hebel in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine
Bush's people will say that the moment of need and willingness to help should not be poisoned by political manoeuvres. Maybe this will serve them well enough in a media world where images of victims and heroes are valued more highly than complex background. But then the lie would have won - against the desire to understand things so as to avoid them.

Jean-Pierre Aussant in France's Figaro
This tragic incident reminds us that the United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto accords. Let's hope the US can from now on stop ignoring the rest of the world. If you want to run things, you must first lead by example. Arrogance is never a good adviser!

Philippe Grangereau in France's Liberation
Bush is completely out of his depth in this disaster. Katrina has revealed America's weaknesses: its racial divisions, the poverty of those left behind by its society, and especially its president's lack of leadership.

Robi Ronza in Italy's Il Giornale
Everything can be used in Europe to badmouth Bush, so it may be worth clarifying a few key points: New Orleans was below sea level even before drilling for oil began. Second, there is no certain proof that the increase in the mean global temperature is a consequence of the emission of so-called greenhouse gases. Finally, the federal government has no specific responsibility for the post-hurricane chaos.

Yildirim Turker in Turkey's Radikal
The biggest power of the world is rising over poor black corpses. We are witnessing the collapse of the American myth. In terms of the USA's relationship with itself and the world, Hurricane Katrina seems to leave its mark on our century as an extraordinary turning point.

Editorial in Iran's Siyasat-e Ruz
Hurricane Katrina has proved that America cannot solve its internal problems and is incapable of facing these kinds of natural disasters, so it cannot bring peace and democracy to other parts of the world. Americans now understand that their rulers are only seeking to fulfil their own hegemonistic goals.

Editorial in Iran's Jomhuri-ye Eslami
The devastating waves of Katrina have unmasked the real face of America's profoundly corrupt society, and proved that under the beautiful surface of modern American life, there are decadent thoughts that always try to exploit the situation to fulfil inhuman goals. Although Bush and his team proved their inefficiency in dealing with the disaster, its aftermath proved that America's corrupt system is the main culprit.

Shen Dingli in China's Dongfang Zaobao
Katrina is testing the US. Katrina is also creating an opportunity for world unity. Cuba and North Korea's offer of sympathy and aid to the US could also result in some profound thinking in the US, and the author hopes that it will not miss this opportunity.

Editorial in Malaysia's Berita Harian
What's more saddening is that there have been riots and looting in New Orleans. It turns out that in a developed country with the most powerful economy in the world, some of its citizens are not much different from the poor in Third World countries.

Xiong Shu Li in Malaysia's Sin Chew Jit Poh
Co-operation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can no longer be delayed, but there are still countries - including the US - which still do not take the issue seriously. However, faced with global disasters, all countries are in the same boat. The US hurricane disaster is a "modern revelation", and all countries of the world including the US should be aware of this.

SOURCE/CONTINUE
 
scottyz said:
If there were a terrorist attack or natural disaster in a major city tomorrow we'd be pretty much helpless. Even with warning it took Homeland defense 3 days to react, so you can safely assume in the event of a surprise terrorist attack it would take them much longer. That's what we get for appointing a Arabian horse org. director to run FEMA I guess.


Why do I bother? Her job for the last 3 years was deputy director a FEMA
 
JOHNYJ said:
The United States looks like Haiti on a bad day ! America has been humilliated world wide by the incompetent handling of ths tragedy !
How safe is the rest of the country ? what if this had been a terrorist incident is this how Homeland security would handled it ?
Lets hypothosize for a minute, or analyze your comment.

The United States looks like Haiti on a bad day !
You've been to Haiti? Have any pics?

America has been humilliated world wide by the incompetent handling of ths tragedy !
Yep, you can't mess with free will of people staying during the hurricane! But it is not a partisan issue, of why they stayed!

How safe is the rest of the country ?
The rest of the country wasn't built on a sinking foundation, in between two bodies of water! What were you expecting?

what if this had been a terrorist incident is this how Homeland security would handled it?
Yea, those :soap terrorists and thier "Hurricane making machines." Its FEMA not "Home Land Security" that deals with hurricane damage! Try a little less :spin: , and be open to others ideas! If I wanted to be nagged at I would go find a girl with PMS!
 
Navy Pride said:
Why do I bother? Her job for the last 3 years was deputy director a FEMA
I'm not sure why you bother if you wont even get your information correct. The director of FEMA is a man. His last job was Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and he got fired from it. Nothing in his background qualifies him for his position at FEMA.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011203-6.html
 
stsburns said:
Yea, those :soap terrorists and thier "Hurricane making machines." Its FEMA not "Home Land Security" that deals with hurricane damage! Try a little less :spin: , and be open to others ideas! If I wanted to be nagged at I would go find a girl with PMS!
The Dept. of Homeland security controls FEMA.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=13
 
scottyz said:
The Dept. of Homeland security controls FEMA.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=13
MY BAD! But can they can't control everything about FEMA. Its just simply coincidence and your banking on it! But if your going to complain about their response to hurricane Katrina as a fault of "National Security":
Rescues Continue, People Moving to Shelters
September 7, 2005 – The federal effort to save lives, sustain life, and support recovery and law enforcement operations in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina continues around the clock. There have been 47,000 rescues and 235,400 people housed in 750 shelters. 11.9 million meals have been served and tens of thousands of responders are on the ground.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/
Not to mention the people who choose to stay in New Orleans. If what FEMA did was not enough help, what would you consider as enough help? "scottyz" Try going through about 15 hurricanes! It will take a long time for people to get their FEMA checks! Because we know that's what the real issue is, isn't it!
 
Last edited:
stsburns said:
MY BAD! But can they can't control everything about FEMA. Its just simply coincidence and your banking on it!
Coincidence? What are you talking about? It's not a coincidence FEMA is controlled by DHS, that's the way the Gov. purposefully set it up. FEMA doesn't operate independently of DHS.
 
scottyz said:
Coincidence? What are you talking about? It's not a coincidence FEMA is controlled by DHS, that's the way the Gov. purposefully set it up. FEMA doesn't operate independently of DHS.
It's nice how you dismissed things from your own source!
scottyz said:
The Dept. of Homeland security controls FEMA.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=13
Rescues Continue, People Moving to Shelters
September 7, 2005 – The federal effort to save lives, sustain life, and support recovery and law enforcement operations in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina continues around the clock. There have been 47,000 rescues and 235,400 people housed in 750 shelters. 11.9 million meals have been served and tens of thousands of responders are on the ground.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/
 
Want the bottom line? Good luck.

For all of you that watch and are happy with your partisan outlets like CNN, CBS, FNC, MSNBC, the NYT's or WA Post, you get what you want. For anyone to think that those 200 school buses that are underwater instead of being used for the evacuation of citizens as the disaster plan of Louisiana called for is the fault of FEMA or the President, well then, you must be very narrow in your thinking.

Listen to your media. One hour. 55 minutes bashing President Bush and his agencies. 3 minutes letting the Mayor of New Orleans look important even though he didn't do his job. 2 minues telling you how much the media is helping. I won't bash the media beyond this because that 2 minutes help is worth each minute.

Remember, James Witt, President Clinton's FEMA Director was on duty when Floyd hit North Carolina and didn't get a handle on the flooding for nearly a month. Yet, the pretty face on MSNBC as I write this is saying "the slow response to Katrina". Floyd was in 1999 and Witt said he and FEMA were overwhelmed. Of course no one thinks that of the agencies that have to deal with Katrina; no, how could they be overwhelmed? The talk in the media hasn't concentrated on the levees because then they might have to talk about OTHER administrations that came before and ignored before. Let's just concentrate on President Bush. Maybe it will help defeat his Supreme Court nominees; hey, what a great partisan idea.

You want to blame someone other than Katrina? Start with those who wrote the disaster plans for themselves and then didn't follow them. Start with the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of the State of Louisiana. They didn't do their jobs in the first place. Any takers?
:duel :cool:
 
taxpayer said:
No it was not! But nice try.

I was Nagin quoted in the Times-Picyune.
 
As I have posted probably a dozen times already:

On the Sunday before the Hurricane, the governor of Louisiana made a request for outside National Guard troops. That request wasn’t approved by the Whitehouse until Thursday night.

On the Sunday before the Hurricane, the governor of Louisiana faxed a letter to President Bush and listed nearly 100 types of assistance they would need from the Federal Government. They didn’t receive any of them until the Friday after the Hurricane. Moreover, in the letter, she specifically said that this disaster would be well beyond the capabilities of state and local governments.

President Bush declared a Federal Disaster before the hurricane, at that point, the Federal Government assumed the primary responsibility of dealing with the disaster.

The Head of FEMAs job before being the head of FEMA was the president of the International Arabian House Organization.

The following is a timeline on the events before and after the Hurricane:

KATRINA TIMELINE

Before landfall

* August 23 - The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues a statement saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the southeastern Bahamas.
* August 24 morning - The storm system is upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina.
* August 25 - The storm is upgraded to become the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season.

[edit]

First landfall

* August 25 6:30PM - Katrina makes its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. At least 11 deaths in Florida are attributed to the storm.
* August 26 - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco declares state of emergency.
* August 27 - Katrina is upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane.
* August 27 - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for a voluntary evacuation of the city.
* August 27 - President Bush declares a state of emergency in Louisiana
* August 28 - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Sends expedited letter to President Bush through FEMA Region VI Director requesting immediate assistance as the state is not equipped to handle such an anticipated emergency.
* August 28 12:40AM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 4 hurricane.
* August 28 10AM CDT - National Weather Service issues a bulletin predicting "devastating" damage.[1]
* August 28 10AM CDT - Mandatory evacuation is ordered for New Orleans City.
* August 28 1PM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 5 hurricane with a highest sustained wind speed of 175 mph and gusts up to 215 mph.

[edit]

Second landfall

* August 29 6:10AM CDT - Katrina makes second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph
* August 29 - Katrina makes third landfall near Louisiana/Mississippi border.
* August 29 - AP: "FEMA director] Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments." [2]

[edit]

Immediate aftermath

* August 30 1:30AM CDT - CNN reports that a levee on the 17th Street Canal, which connects into Lake Pontchartrain, suffered a two city-block wide breach. It is later reported that a total of three levees are breached.
* August 30 10PM CDT - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street levee breach has failed.
* August 30 - 80 percent of New Orleans is underwater.
* August 30 - Many instances of looting reported in the city of New Orleans.
* August 30 - FEMA refuses to allow volunteer firefighters into New Orleans. [
* August 31 - The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
* August 31 - President Bush heads back to Washington from vacationing in Crawford, TX. Though he does not stop in Louisiana, Air Force One flies over the Gulf Coast so that he can view the devastation. [3]
* August 31 - The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
* August 31 - President Bush declares Gulf Coast a Public Health Emergency. [4]
* August 31 - Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana orders that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated.
* August 31 - New Orleans's 1,500 member police force is ordered to abandon search and rescue missions and turn their attention toward controlling the widespread looting and a curfew is placed in effect. Mayor Ray Nagin calls for increased federal assistance
* August 31 11PM EDT - U.S. government weather officials announce that the center of the remnant low of what was Katrina has been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary in southeastern Canada, with no discernible circulation.
* September 1 - President Bush tells ABC's Diane Sawyer: "I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday" (ABC)
* September 1 - Governor Blanco says that the death toll may be "in the thousands".
* September 1 - The shelter in Houston's Astrodome is ruled full and could not accept any more people.
* September 1 - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announces that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police will be deployed to New Orleans over the next three days. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco requests the mobilization of 40,000 National Guard troops.
* September 1 - California swift water rescue crew units each rescue hundreds in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. [5]
* September 1 - FEMA halts California swift water rescue crews from conducting further rescues. [6]
* September 3 - Ted Koppel on ABC News Nightline interviews FEMA Director Brown who declares that FEMA only became aware of crisis at the superdome on this date. Koppel questions how FEMA could not have known that 1,000s were without food, water, or toilets for days.
* September 4 - The Superdome is completely evacuated.

[edit]

Second week aftermath

* September 5 - The 17th Street Canal levee breach is plugged with 3,000 pound sandbags and truckloads of rock.
* September 6 - Forced evacuation of New Orleans ordered by mayor.
* September 6 - "Hundreds of firefighters who volunteered to help rescue victims have instead been playing cards, taking classes on the history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and lounging at an Atlanta airport hotel for days while they await orders." Some had been waiting for four days. [7] [8]
* September 6 - Some firefighters handed their first assignment: "to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas." [9]
* September 6 - Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) calls for Michael D. Brown's resignation. Senator Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid begin to voice criticism of the disaster's handling, and of the Bush administration's management, delegation of control, leadership, and human consideration. [10]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina
 
JOHNYJ said:
The United States looks like Haiti on a bad day ! America has been humilliated world wide by the incompetent handling of ths tragedy !
How safe is the rest of the country ? what if this had been a terrorist incident is this how Homeland security would handled it ?




Horseshyte, ..it is the liberal loving media, & the democratic party that is HOPING for this perception!

It took a few days before the ball got rolling, ..but the fed & THE PRIVATE SECTOR OF VOLUNTEERS is helping in the aftermath of the hurricane!

Perhaps the local mayor who HAD 2,000 school buses, & other public transportation facilities should be asked, "Why didn't HE evacuate the poor as he had DAYS of warning in advance"?

THe local government IS the first responder, then the state...& then lastly the federal government upon the Governor's request!

So uh, ..where in the hell was the mayor of New Orleans besides sitting on his a.ss "waiting" for somebody else to rescue his citizens from a hurricane that he should have removed them from BEFORE the hurricane hit, & stupid governor who WAITED 24 hours BEFORE requesting federal aid?

IT does take some time to organize massive relief on that level, & logistics AFTER the fact...but the mayor, & governor deserve MOST of the blame for their own damn ineptitude, as THEY COULD HAVE SAVED LIVES BEFORE THE HURRICANE hit!

BTW, ..if you really believe the federal governments response is that bumbling, & innefective, I believe the American government should END all foreign aid, & all relief help for other countries ravaged by natural disasters.

You wouldn't want those governments getting swamped by their own brilliant efforts of efficiency with America getting in their way now,.. would you?
 
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Stu Ghatze said:
Horseshyte, ..it is the liberal loving media, & the democratic party that is HOPING for this perception!

It took a few days before the ball got rolling, ..but the fed & THE PRIVATE SECTOR OF VOLUNTEERS is helping in the aftermath of the hurricane!

Perhaps the local mayor who HAD 2,000 school buses, & other public transportation facilities should be asked, "Why didn't HE evacuate the poor as he had DAYS of warning in advance"?

THe local government IS the first responder, then the state...& then lastly the federal government upon the Governor's request!

So uh, ..where in the hell was the mayor of New Orleans besides sitting on his a.ss "waiting" for somebody else to rescue his citizens from a hurricane that he should have removed them from BEFORE the hurricane hit, & stupid governor who WAITED 24 hours BEFORE requesting federal aid?

IT does take some time to organize massive relief on that level, & logistics AFTER the fact...but the mayor, & governor deserve MOST of the blame for their own damn ineptitude, as THEY COULD HAVE SAVED LIVES BEFORE THE HURRICANE hit!

BTW, ..if you really believe the federal governments response is that bumbling, & innefective, I believe the American government should END all foreign aid, & all relief help for other countries ravaged by natural disasters.

You wouldn't want those governments getting swamped by their own brilliant efforts of efficiency with America getting in their way now,.. would you?

You guys keep blaming this on the local authorities, this was a national disaster, not just some tornado that ran through a Louisiana trailer park. Leaving it up to the local authorities to handle a disaster of this magnitude is like me trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose. Only the federal government has the resources to deal with a disaster like this. When you have people dieing of cholera in New Orleans 5 days after the Hurricane, it’s a failure of the Federal Government. With all the lies and misinformation coming out of the radical right to try to cover for their man’s incompetence, I feel like I am just continually repeating myself here in my efforts to relay the facts.

The City of New Orleans made mistakes, but they still managed to evacuate some 80% of the people from a major city. No small feat in of and of itself. They did this while our President was riding his bike, clearing brush, attending photo opps in front of friendly crowds, and making a few calls to his “Homeland Security Man” and his “FEMA Man”.

In times of impeding crisis, you would think that the leader of the free world would get his as into the office yet President Bush did not even bother cutting his vacation short until after the hurricane. On Monday, the day of the Hurricane, Bush had two rallies in front of friendly crowds designed to boost his abysmal poll ratings, in one, he was playing a guitar in San Diego, then another one in Colorado.

On Tuesday, one day after the hurricane struck, Bush delivered a speech on the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, determined to stick to his agenda. Nothing would interrupt his schedule. Not even a catastrophe.

“New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard

On the BBC it was reported: “Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders.”

The Louisiana government wrote a letter to the president on Sunday. The letter is found here:

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster ... Request.pdf

The following text is contained in the letter:

“I have determined that this incident will be of such a severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance will be necessary.”

They got that Federal Assistance, THE FOLLOWING FRIDAY. Of course, what do you expect, when the president’s “FEMA Man’s” former job was the president of the International Arabian Horse Organization. I mean if a job like that doesn’t qualify you to head the United States Emergency Management Agency, I don’t know what does. Then again, that FEMA Man didn’t even know until Thursday night that there were problems at the convention center.

It is now speculated that as many as 10,000 may be dead in New Orleans, most of them having died in the days after the hurricane while waiting for federal assistance. You can try to spin all you want, but you cant polish a turd.
 
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