WP: 'I Don't Think I've Ever Had A More Surreal Experience'

[Pirate Smile]

'I Don't Think I've Ever Had A More Surreal Experience'
Veteran Rescue Workers Surprised by Challenges in Louisiana

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A08

NEW ORLEANS -- This wrecked city's nickname now mocks emergency workers as they comb its flooded streets. Nothing here is easy, not even for some of the nation's most experienced first responders.

Collectively, they have seen it all: car wrecks, chemical spills and the truly devastating -- California wildfires, hurricanes Andrew and Camille, and, of course, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when many pulled comrades from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Yet Hurricane Katrina has presented even the most seasoned search and rescue workers with logistical, medical and safety challenges that far surpass those of any U.S. disaster the veterans here can recall. The sheer geographic extent of the calamity, covering 90,000 square miles of Gulf Coast, with floodwaters containing gasoline, chemicals and human and animal waste, and a complete meltdown of the region's communications networks are only the most obvious difficulties in a search and rescue effort now nearing two weeks.

"I don't think I've ever had a more surreal experience in my life," said Michael Enright, first deputy mayor of Baltimore, who led a contingent of 150 responders to the devastated St. Bernard Parish, east of New Orleans. "It's just post-apocalyptic."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/11/AR2005091101400.html

[jobycom]

1. That word "surreal" is getting used a lot

[alittlelark]

2. This quote was interesting....

<snip>
Collectively, they have seen it all: car wrecks, chemical spills and the truly devastating -- California wildfires, hurricanes Andrew and Camille, and, of course, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when many pulled comrades from the rubble of the World Trade Center.
<snip>


How many of these ppl pulled comrades from the WTC???? Honestly, few were pulled out alive - most were cremated at the scene. The rescuers that 'pulled their comrades out of the wreckage' are now likely suffering from respiratory/ pulmonary disease and are not up to swimming in the toxic H2O of NO. There may be a few, but most of the S&R at WTC are now quite sick.

[Pirate Smile]

3. I didn't know four of the rescue dogs had died.

[aquart]

5. I think it's quite a bit more than 4.

[aquart]

8. OMG! You're right!

I thought you meant the S&R dogs from 9/11 for some reason. I didn't know that 4 S&R dogs had died searching New Orleans! Those valiant animals!

[Coventina]

17. It strikes me as sad that these dogs willingly sacrifice themselves for us

just to please us. Not for money, not for glory...just for a treat and a caress from those they love.

And yet, thousands of their brethren await rescue by the humans that refuse to count their lives as being worthy.

Is this any way to treat our faithful companions of 14,000 years?

:cry:

[Javaman]

19. "You can tell how humane a society is by how the treat their animals"

Gandhi

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. Canadians came to Bernard Parish DAYS before any US authorities showed

up. The people still had no food or water and were stranded. The Canadians rescued many, but even then one lady died because of her advanced dehydration. This is UNFORGIVABLE. The blood is on the Bush Administration's hands, not that they give a damn.

Here is a mission diary from the Canadian rescue team describing their experiences and the DU thread where it was discussed.
http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/usar/index.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1763297

By the way, when the US authorities FINALLY showed up, they told the Canadians to leave, despite the close relationship the Canadians had with the grateful residents by that time. Why? And what right does the murderously negligent Bush Administration have to turn away life savers?

[fortyfeetunder]

10. Hey Activists! DU a good deed!

After you read their blog, send an e-mail to Vancouver USAR staff and thank them for their help to rescue the residents in Louisiana.

http://www.can-tf1.org/contacts.html

[Lochloosa]

21. Done

and thanks...you need to start a thread on this one...

[fortyfeetunder]

24. Good idea, I'll post it in the Activist Forum n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Ah yes, those destroyed communication networks. FEMA people were CAUGHT

cutting the emergency phone lines in Jefferson Parish - an incident that has been confirmed. Here's one report of it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4632852

They were caught that time. The locals repaired the cut phone lines and posted armed guards to prevent FEMA from cutting them again.

How many OTHER phone lines and other communication infrastructure did FEMA destroy WITHOUT being caught?

[Pirate Smile]

14. I still don't understand why in the world they would do that. That

needs a full explanation.

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. There can be no GOOD reason. Who gave the order? And what other

disruptions did they engineer? Authorities have repeatedly cited the unexpected collapse of communication as a major factor in the ineffective response immediately after the hurricane. How much of it was deliberate sabotage?

Oh, and if you hear a fed claiming that it was a mistake, that they thought they were protecting people by cutting electrical lines, that would be a LIE. Phone lines and electricial lines look entirely different and no such error could be made. (I have not heard ANYONE even ASK the feds this question; it came up in a DU discussion about the incident.)

We must have answers to these questions, yet even when this was discussed on TV, NO ONE HAS ASKED ANY OF THEM.

[donsu]

16. kick

nt

[Pharlo]

20. I read somewhere...

And I can't remember exactly where...

But - FEMA had not made a mistake. It was an intentional action to usurp the antenna that St. Bernard Parrish had been using for their emergency communications. A FEMA team had gone to the roof of the building housing the emergency communications antenna, disconnected the local emergency communications hookup and plugged in their own.

Sorry I can't remember where I read this, so I have no link.

But, this does explain a lot. As reprehensible as it is, it does give a rational behind the action. Had there been an actual organized FEMA command structure on the ground coordinating with the local emergency services it may even have been the proper action. However, under the circumstances, to hijack the emergency communications system without notifying the local authorities and securing a communications structure which encompassed the local authorities, this FEMA action was entirely reprehensible.

If you think about it for a moment, there is probably a 'FEMA field manual/procedure' written somewhere which not only sanctions this, but sets it out as a step in their 'response' procedure. And, had they taken the step to notify and incorporate the local emergency personnel, it may even have been effective.

I could really see a situation like that happening. And afterwards, when everyone realized what a clusterfuck this was, FEMA denies the action taken......


I could see something like this happening a lot more easily than I could a member of FEMA just going in and cutting communication lines because they were bored. It would also explain how they knew it was FEMA - by the equipment left behind. With just cut wires, they would have no way of knowing FEMA was the culprit, and that it wasn't just vandals....


And, maybe, both incidences happened your version and this one....???

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. Very interesting. Whatever happened, the truth needs to come out.

If it was "poor planning," a prescribed emergency step that was, to say the lease, counterproductive, that needs to be exposed and corrected.

If it was worse than that and/or more widespread, possibly contributing to the collapse of communication that so many blame as one reason why search/rescue and coordination efforts were so compromised, then that needs to come out.

And if was some kind of deliberate sabotaging of local authorities' operations, that needs to come out most of all.

[dweller]

7. "post-apocalyptic" ... in their dreams

and my worst nightmares.

:(

dp

[bobbieinok]

9. wasn't Ceci a MAJOR Gore basher in 2000?....an historical note

[susu369]

12. Indeed

[cally]

13. Yep..she's one of the core group

who bashed Gore because 'it's fun.' :puke:

[area51]

11. "It's just post-apocalyptic."

Maybe it's because it's so obvious that we've fallen from a 1st-world country to a 3rd-world country.

[Demeter]

15. Just Watching BushCo for 5 Years Was Surreal Enough For Me

Where has this guy been all this time? Do you have to rub people's noses in it to make them recognize the shit?

[olddad56]

22. I wonder what cleaning up Baghdad would be like.