New Orleans: Many more bodies expected

[Judi Lynn]

New Orleans: Many more bodies expected
22/09/2005 - 08:25:32

Searchers smashed through doors in New Orleans, bringing their hunt for the dead to homes that had been locked and to blocks hardest hit by Katrina’s flooding.

Behind those doors, officials said they expected a sharply escalating body count even as the overall death toll passed 1,000.

“There still could be quite a few, especially in the deepest flooded areas,” said US Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey Pettitt, who is overseeing the retrieval of bodies. “Some of the houses, they haven’t been in yet.” Officials said searchers were beginning to find more children.

The death toll in Louisiana stood at 799 yesterday, an increase of 153 bodies since the weekend and nearly 80 percent of the 1,036 deaths attributed to Hurricane Katrina across the Gulf Coast region. Pettitt and other officials would not speculate on what the final tally could be. They said the effort could last another four to six weeks.
(snip/...)

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=67029806&p=67x3xyx8

[Zinfandel]

1. The media cannot be trusted;

They are already being tucked back into bushie's pocket. The spin is that the little fuck (Bush) offered aid to N.O. 2 days before Katrina hit. This came from one of my pugs, and, I am just an evil piece of slime (like all liberals) who hates America and their little fuck. They got one right, I do hate their little fuck! Of course, they hate all blacks and want them to vanish from earth but, I have better taste than they ever dreamed of possessing!!!!!

In my refutation, I charged them with brain washing since their prick didn't know about Katrina because he was too busy reading Dick, Jane & Spot. ("My Pet Monkee").

[Tomee450]

2. I don't believe for one moment the

number of deaths being reported. It's probably substantially higher.

[zann725]

18. I'm still guessing .approx. 50,000...10% of pop in N.O. .at least.

All those days without water and food, plus lack of proper medical care for elderly, young, etc. Dehydration in that Heat alone...for a week or more...

[Megahurtz]

23. For sure! You know they're lying about the count. n/t

[ElectroPrincess]

29. I agree ... *substantially higher*

I can't even turn on TV News anymore without cringing at the outright lies and propaganda. I have the "bare bones" cable. I would get rid of it completely if it were not for The "Bonanza" + "Gunsmoke" on TV Land and "MASH" on the Hallmark Channel. Well, The Weather Channel and Animal Planet also have some redeeming qualities. :blush:

[ladylibertee]

4. Could their really be more than whats being reported? I mean, if

that were the case, then why report any numbers at all?:yoiks:

[SeanQ]

17. I know it is not the full total

The Sheriff of Jefferson Parish reported last week that, at that time, they had 154 bodies in the morgue but only 20-something reported as Katrina deaths in accordance with FEMA guidelines. The others died of 'other' reasons (presumably dehydration, being old while without help/meds for days, etc.).

I think it would be safe to assume the real death toll to be double what reported and more likely 6-8 times what has been reported. If, that is, you think those that died from ancillary causes such as dehydration or diseases caught from the water, which could have been prevented, should count.

[ladylibertee]

24. Sorry so late. I see your point.Thank you for clarification

[symbolman]

5. Simple answer

If they offered aid two days before then WHERE WAS IT?

I love mushy right wing heads, nice full creamy centers one and all..

[booksenkatz]

7. Lucky you, I've never been able to find a mushy one

The ones I've tried are all hard as rocks, totally closed up, no access allowed! LOL

[Coexist]

12. once a State of Emergency is declared

it is up the FEMA and (now) Homeland Security to ready the calvary and get them down there and organized. Bill Maher said it best when he told Tucker Carlson that Bill Clinton would have been all over this like white on rice and wouldn't have slept until everything was in place to help these people.

[fasttense]

3. Yea only a thousand, then why did they order 50,000 body bags

after already having 25,000 on hand? Seems like an awful waste to pay for body bags you are not going to use.

[booksenkatz]

6. Too bad they couldn't/wouldn't break windows the first time they

passed through these neighborhoods, maybe they would have found more people alive who were asleep or passed out or hard of hearing. All of this backtracking and going to houses two and three times before breaking windows just sounds like keystone cops to me, total disorganization. Perhaps a knowledgeable DUer can explain their method to me, because to an outsider, it makes no sense at all. Are they working off a grid, or not? I had read that they were not going to break windows, and now suddenly they are? I'm so confused.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. why break down doors when they can

clearly find them draped over fences.

or can only photographers find those?

[buzzsaw_23]

9. 10 % of New Orleans

is Honduran. Many of them refugees (sic) from Hurricane Mitch. Many of them "illegals" (double sic). Many of them stayed in NOLA for fear of being "discovered as "illegals". Many of them died. I doubt they will be counted.

No one who saw the televised footage of the Convention center and the Superdome had any misgivings about what they were seeing. America's long-lost companion, racial-hatred, had stuck its ugly head up into the camera lens and was pouring out onto living rooms across the land. 

[MissMarple]

10. Some of the houses, they haven’t been in yet.”

"Previously, they had not entered unless they saw a body or heard someone inside. Now, even a high water mark on the side of a home was enough to allow them to go in."

They had not entered because FEMA told them not to, unless they saw signs of life. I wonder how many died because of that order?

[jsamuel]

11. geez...

I kinda suspected as much...

[noonwitch]

13. Whether it's 1000 or 10,000, it's still a terrible tragedy

I hope the number stays closer to the current count.

Either way, the american people watched as the people in New Orleans-the poor who couldn't get out in time, waited for help from the federal government for 5 days. They waited on bridges, roofs and in the convention center and Superdome and no one came. The right can blame the governor of LA and the mayor of NO, but it still took the federal government of the greatest nation in the world 5 days to bring food and water to the people who needed it.

I truly hope that when Rita hits, everyone is out of the way.

[6000eliot]

26. The blood of these people is on our hands

and the Bush administration's hands; and it doesn't matter how many there wind up being.

[donheld]

27. It's a double tragedy if our officials lie about it

We need to demand the truth from our government. Any less disrepects us and those who we lost. It ignores their deaths.

[YOY]

14. I think an underlying goal may be to...

report less deaths than that of 9-11. It would be a blatantly easy comparison to further destroy "great leader's successes."

[ElectroPrincess]

30. IMO, there's no more lipstick to put on this pig! :P

Albeit they're hopelessly dumbed down by Corporate Media propaganda, the American Sheeple KNOW that "something is amiss." The right wing's efforts to paint everything Democratic and Liberal as "evil" just will not wash with any human blessed with an 90+ IQ.

Nope, if I were not so worried, it's almost comedic to view the lengths that our whorish national media will go to to cover the Executive Branch's political ass.

I despise the arrogant USA national media outlets. Evey damn one of them. :puke:

God Bless the American People who are beginning to Wake UP and hold these criminals accountable!

[noonwitch]

31. I think you're right about that comparison

Less than 3000, not so much of a tragedy, in Bush's mind.

On the other hand, on 9-11, the people who did get out before the towers collapsed still had homes to go to, families waiting for their return, and their property intact. Those who lost loved ones, as awful as that is, still had their homes, their photos of their loved ones, the loving embrace of their friends and extended families, etc.

The people trapped in New Orleans didn't even have food or water, had no idea where their families werem(some still don't know), and were left that way for 5 days before the feds showed up to help fully (not counting the Coast Guard, who were rescuing as many as they could in the days after the storm hit).

[kath]

15. The (non)effort "could last another four to six weeks" - WTF?

boy, they sure are tryin' hard, aren't they?

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. Two weeks ago DMort told morticians to expect up to 40,000 bodies

Morticians were told by DMort (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security) a couple of weeks back to prepare for up to 40,000 bodies. The DU thread about it appears to have been "disappeared" (:shrug:) so here's one site of the original article:

http://www.t-g.com/story/1116806.html

Funeral director deploys to hurricane region

Tuesday, September 6, 2005
By Clint Confehr



A co-owner of Shelbyville-based Gowen-Smith Chapel has been deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to help with recovery since Hurricane Katrina, and his business partner here has described the grim task there.

"DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies," Dan Buckner said, quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security.

His partner, Dan Hicks, of Paducah, Ky., was deployed Monday. Buckner, of Dickson, is on standby. Their funeral home is one of several collection sites for donations to be taken to the Red Cross in Fayetteville on Wednesday for transfer to places in need.

The 40,000 estimate does "not include the number of disinterred remains that have been displaced from ... mausoleums," Buckner told the Times-Gazette Monday.

(snip)

Here's a link for the original 25,000 body bags being on hand in Louisiana,
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/katrina/stories/wfaa050907_mo_holdouts.36225273.html
but not the later addition. We need to be documenting the timeline on this.

Here's a link for the 50,000 ADDITIONAL body bags beyond the 25,000 sent to Louisiana - they're for both Iraq and Katrina:

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/11196514p-11948351c.html

Modesto company to deliver more body bags to New Orleans

The government's order for another 50,000 will be filled by about eight firms
By PATRICK GIBLIN, BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: September 10, 2005, 04:17:54 AM PDT

The federal government is trying to purchase an additional 50,000 body bags for use in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup and in Iraq, according to an official for a Modesto manufacturer.

Previously, the Federal Emergency Management Administration purchased 25,000 body bags and shipped them to New Orleans.

"We recently delivered every bag we had in stock, which is about 400," said John Hassapakis, manager of Central Valley Professional Services in Modesto. "Those were sent directly to New Orleans."

This week the government put out a bid for 50,000 more bags, he said.

(snip)

If other people have good links on numbers like this, please add them. We need to document all of this, because I think events have shown that the numbers will be under-reported by the federal authorities.

[daleo]

19. If the door is locked from the inside

Then you know you will find bodies.

[Tiggeroshii]

20. deleted

[Tiggeroshii]

21. deleted again

I'm having a little troble trying to respond to the thread =|

Once more....

[Tiggeroshii]

22. It seems as though this thousand are the bodies that constitute as

"hurricane related deaths." Then my question is how do they determine a "hurricane related death?" Do they have some special method we aren't allowed to know?

[EFerrari]

25. Even if they do, it's bull.

They need to minimize the deaths of these poor people as much as possible.

Don't let them do it.

[anitar1]

28. On the first day the [D Mort] morgue was opened

in St Gabriel, I was watching CNN, The reporter was talking about it, and they had a camera there showing 5 semi's driving into the morgue area. He said they carried the first bodies recovered from NO. Now, did those huge trucks carry 5 or 10 bodies each? I don't think so. Many days later I read that unidentified bodies would not be counted as they could not issue a death certificate with the proper info on it. I would say they have found thousands already and have slowed down with retrieval so they won't have to "count" the bodies. The bodies will be so decomposed they cannot even tell what gender they are in some cases, without an autopsy.

[fshrink]

32. Should contract official counting to Diebold.

They do that so well.