Unfortunately most folks simply do not comprehend the scale of the disaster nor
what it takes to mobilize relief on that scale and the logistics
involved.

They have little patience for anything these days and if it can't be
magically
accomplished 'yesterday' then there must be something seriously wrong.

I pity them, for they are truly the clueless.

dxAce
Michigan

You are right. It's huge, and things take time. But that's not the
real problem, at least for the future of NO and for other areas subject
to catastrophes (like California and Seattle for example). It's not
about relief after the fact - it's about being ready for the
inevitable, especially when fair warning is given.

There has been an almost unconscionable lack of good planning in the NO
area for decades. The place has been a sitting duck, and people from
the rank and file citizen to the federal government have been sitting
on their hands hoping that what just happened never would. Oh sure,
they (the Army Corps and related agencies) built levees and dikes and
canals to move the water around the city, but in the final analysis, a
city built below sea level needs not only the best possible system to
keep the water out, it needs a coordinated contingency plan, with the
feds/state/local governments all involved, as well as an educated and
ready citizenry, to be prepared and ready to move when a major
emergency happens (as it inevitably will). *Neither of these was in
place.*

This is hardly Bush's fault only (I am no Bush fan, but I recognize
that he saw an emergency coming before the storm made landfall, and
that in the long term he inherited this heritage from many
administrations and congresses before him), but knowing that this socko
blast was about to hit the single most vulnerable spot in the country,
and having a few days warning, some effort could and should have been
mobilized ASAP - and it wasn't. Not by Bush, not by Louisiana, and
certainly not by NO, one of the poorest major communities in the nation
and probably the most incapable as a result.

Bush, unfortunately to his discredit, also said that nobody could have
foreseen the breaching of the levees - but that is really beside the
point. In reality, everyone who was familiar with them virtually
*knew* it was coming. This worst case scenario has been predicted for
ages. Enough people knew so that a plan could have been in place long
before Bush was ever in office.

Levee inadequacy being known, if a coordinated evacuation plan could
have started in earnest early enough to get incapable people out, a
significant amount of the current sturm und drang could have been
avoided. Of course, some people would have been overlooked and some
would have purposely stayed behind - that's human nature - but the
worst could have been avoided. Even an extra 12 hours would have been
quite beneficial, with time to get, for example, a fleet of buses into
the poorer sections and out again.

No, we cannot magically accomplish evacuation assistance and a cleanup,
*not now,* with any immediacy. There are too many obstacles in the
way. If a coordinated plan was in place before the obstacles were
created, however, things would look better right now, at least from a
human survival perspective. Either way, though, the city will take a
generation to get back on its feet - if another hurricane does not come
along first.

Bruce Jensen