Crews Pass Dead to Reach Storm Survivors (AP)

[VolcanoJen]

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1082875

The stuff of nightmares. Very long article, but excellent read.

I'm troubled that we don't know the estimated death/casualty toll yet. I'm even more troubled that nobody seems to be asking.

Excerpt:

By BRETT MARTEL Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Rescuers along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead to reach the living Tuesday in a race against time and rising waters, while New Orleans sank deeper into crisis and Louisiana's governor ordered storm refugees out of this drowning city.

Two levees broke and sent water coursing into the streets of the Big Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped. "The situation is untenable," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. "It's just heartbreaking."

One Mississippi county alone said its death toll was at least 100, and officials are "very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher," said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport. In neighboring Jackson County, officials said at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm.

[Kenroy]

1. We won't know a death toll for a few weeks

We just have no way to know yet. It will take weeks to sift through the rubble, and perhaps MONTHS to drain New Orleans to find the bodies.

As harsh as it may seem, the focus needs to be on the living. The rescuers are right to avoid corpses. An enormous catastrophe like this is no time to worry about cultural niceties.

[VolcanoJen]

5. I'm not speaking of cultural niceties...

... I'm pretty destroyed by this catastrophe, myself.

I want to help. I want to do something. I also want to know how many, so far, are missing, in need of help, killed, or injured.

I agree that the focus should be on the living right now, but protecting the American people from the facts they need to focus on what must be done is no small matter.

[Kenroy]

8. I understand

I think we're all pretty fucking raw at this point. The news is heartbreaking, and there's no end in sight.

But... there's no coverup. We just don't know the death toll, because most of the bodies are still in the rubble, floating in the water, or stuck in attics. I fear the final number may be in the thousands.

[VolcanoJen]

12. I can live with that, and I thank you for your clarity.

It's just troubling. The longer we wait to hear the numbers, the larger they'll grow, I fear.

[Desertrose]

10. I don't see how they could even guestimate at this point

with evacuations, displacement, no communications, areas cut off.....I can't begin to imagine how they could even start counting dead or missing....
hopefully within the coming days.

Its almost like going back to the stone age in a way...hopefully not for long....but I agree there is a whole lot more to deal with at this point to help the living....

[NVMojo]

2. for some reason that link won't open for me ...

[VolcanoJen]

4. That happens with Reuters/Wired links sometimes

You could try highlighting the headline, and paste it into Google News Search for a readable version.

Hope it works, because it's a fascinating piece, with tidbits that haven't been picked up by the major outlets yet.

[Tace]

3. Bushco Don't Do Death Counts

Much too stark.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. And, don't forget...

...the Bushes' "beautiful minds!"

[Doremus]

6. You have to wonder whether the chimp has even thought about the dead

...and the active role he played in their deaths by eviscerating FEMA and denying Corps of Engineers the money needed to shore up the levees for so many years.

I know, there I go again giving credit where none is due.

If I said what I was really thinking my keyboard would melt so emoticons will have to suffice.

:mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :nuke: :nuke:

[wli]

9. This is genocide and the GOP is directly responsible. n/t

[NYC]

11. I think the death count will be like 9/11, very slow to happen.

Where is the person? Dead? Missing? Evacuated to a place of safety?

You can think a person is dead because no one hears from him, but that is not verification. I don't think it is likely all bodies will be found. Won't some float away permanently? Will any be eaten by scavenging animals? This will likely take time. (It took around 42 days for me to find out that a friend of mine was alive after 9/11.)

[Behind the Aegis]

13. I hope you are wrong!

But, I am sure you are right! I can't imagine having to wait over a month to find out whether a loved one was alive or not! I am glad your story ended well, and I hope that many others will be able to relay similar stories...they had to wait, but, thankfully, their loved one survived!

[NYC]

14. Instead of counting the dead, you have to count the living.

In the case of New Orleans, I expect that to be a lot harder. What about the people who took their cars, some suitcases, and went a far distance. Perhaps they will now try to find jobs where they are. Maybe they will just decide to stay there.

If no one is looking for them specifically, will they ever be counted as survivors?

In the beginning (after 9/11), I was waiting for a "list of the dead". It took a while to realize that it would not work that way.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. It is all so bleak...

It was like the numbers of the tsunami. One day, I just burst into tears because every hour the number jumped by 1000's! I was so upset, I just couldn't even look anymore, until things settled.

I hope everyone finds who they are looking for and I hope it is a good find!

[NYC]

19. I think it is getting bleaker.

By around 9 a.m. Eastern time, all of New Orleans, with the exception of Algiers, should have water 3 feet above sea level.

St. Charles is 6 feet below sea level, so will have 9 feet of water. If a place is 11 feet below sea level, it will be under 14 feet of water.

I'm trying to find some sort of updates, but am having no luck.

[aquart]

16. There's also the problem of identification.

You have a list of missing and you have a lot of bodies...how do you match list to body? Slowly and carefully.

[TaleWgnDg]

17. With all due respect, VolcanoJen, America has developed

a habit of instant information -- on demand -- without waver. However, when reality hits the fan such as in a catastrophic disaster, instant data, i.e., the death and injured numbers, names, and addresses can wait and will wait. First things first: aid to survivors, period.
.

[VolcanoJen]

18. Please read my post, #12.

Kenroy already provided me with a lesson in clarity, and I received it, with grace and humility.

Let's not forget the breaking news story... there are dead people floating past rescuers.

The stuff of nightmares.

[TaleWgnDg]

20. I didn't see your post #12 prior . . . got it now! thanks.

[loudsue]

21. I'm still amazed that there have not been more boats dispatched

to NO, Biloxi, Gulfport... to help with evacuations, rescues, and rounding up bodies.

I can't even imagine the horror I would feel if I had a family member there who I hadn't heard from since the storm. Or, how I would feel if someone was passing the body of my loved one (husband, mother, father, sibling, child), floating there, silently.

Yes, the living are the ones we need to tend to first, since we DON'T have enough boats, rafts, canoes, whathaveyou. But every dead body floating there, probably has someone, somewhere, who still loves that body, and wonders where they are.

This is SOOOO another bush fuckup. Where is the "situation room", with brilliant minds and the power to move mountains...giving clear direction, brainstorming and implementing solutions, and bringing every type of help to bear on the problem at hand?

What disasterous incompetence we have at the highest levels of government.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Dogmudgeon]

22. They can't send what they don't have

A lot of that rescue equipment has already been redistributed as a result of the rounds of FEMA budget cuts. The National Guard is running at about 70% strength because of Iraq. Trucks loaded with food and survival supplies can't get into many of the areas. The areas that are still accessable are problematic because most of the levees are now unstable, and several are close to breaking.

A whole lot of cheating went into a whole lot of building codes, which is why, for instance, that the roof of the Superdome was rated to 200 mph but began to come apart at 150 mph. And as soon as the Powers That Be realize that the consequences are being borne by the poor, the minorities, the elderly and the destitute, the first thing they do will be to ban video and photographic equipment.

Last week, my sister-in-law's uncle was in a jet aircraft crash in Peru. About half the passengers died. Her uncle was among the missing, and is still missing. She's been going nuts -- and the Peruvian authorities have been sitting on the information, obviously trying to cover somebody's ass.

Nope, our Department of State isn't lifing a finger. Do you think that the Department of Homeland inSecurity will do much more for the Gulf Coast area destroyed by Katrina?

I'm no longer angry about all this. I'm numb.

--p!

[Massachusetts]

23. I'm no longer angry about all this. I'm numb.

there is a point where We The People (MAJORITY), LOSE FAITH in OUR government, and it is RAPIDLY approaching!.

[all.of.me]

24. numb. good word. disbelief comes to mind as well as surreal.

[Sgent]

25. The death toll may never be known

but think 1000's if not 10,000's.

80% evacuation, in a flooded area of 900k (NOLA, Metarie, Kenner).

Lake Pontchatrian has direct access to the Gulf of Mexico and the MS River.

Many bodies will be washed out to sea, many will be in the marshes, many will be eaten -- sharks have already been seen in NOLA itself.

The police are correct to take care of the living, and let mother nature take care of the dead.

Also, I don't know how other hospitals are doing, but Charity had 6 physicians total who were present at the beginning -- to take care of surgery, inpatients, and emergencies including OB/GYN, Radiology, etc.

There are some heroic measures to take care of the living, the dead will have to fend for itself.

The only comparable disaster is maybe the 1905 SF earthquake.

[tedzbear]

26. This reminds me of the tsunami...

It was a week before we knew the vast extent of it.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

27. precisely - and the living are much more important than #s or counts

we have work to do - save those still alive. to hell with corpses for the moment.