why in HELL can't the people leave?

[ima_sinnic]

this is beyond my comprehension: to make people REMAIN in a disaster area with no food, no water, no sanitary facilities, no medicine, many with no shade, no beds. I heard that some people had gone through the ordeal of wading/swimming through that toxic water (for how many miles, how many hours?) and arriving at the highway to be told they couldn't leave.

WHAT IS THAT ABOUT, GEORGE BUSH AND ALL OF YOU GHOULS WHO DID THIS TO MY COUNTRY??????? :cry: :cry: :cry:

[tjdee]

1. Well, where are they going to leave to?

Are they going to walk for miles, starving, dehydrated, etc.? Then they're going to have to pick up stragglers, etc.

Of course, it is not right to lock people into a place like that, and it should be unacceptable. But I understand their reasons, I guess.

[ima_sinnic]

4. what are you talking about?

if a person can get that far, to the bridge, why shouldn't he or she be allowed to continue on their journey to civilization? isn't there a highway ANYWHERE near there, like within 10 miles, where they can flag down a ride?

you understand their reasons?
well I fer sure don't! could you enlighten me?

on edit: oh, and I forgot to say: people MIGHT have friends and relatives in other places, probably people who have been worried sick about them. do you suppose someone able to walk out might be able to beg a cell phone call, or 50 cents for a pay phone to someone to come pick them up? sheesh! how hard is that??

[tjdee]

7. I think they should be allowed to.

I'm not disagreeing with the original post at all. They shouldn't be caged in there like animals.

But what I was saying is this--from their perspective, I guess, it's like this: These people are dehydrated, weak, and all the rest. If they go out wandering the streets they may be shot at or die. It is easier to feed people who are all in one location instead of dealing with an influx of random people on the street. Whenever they figure out where these people can go, they can take 5000 people instead of 2000 and rounding up the rest somehow. Keeping them there controls them and the situation.

That's from their perspective. I didn't say I agreed with it.

[WI Independent]

18. The logistics of the situation are dictating this...

They would have to walk hundreds of miles to get to an area that is not already overloaded with too many people to feed and shelter. There were over a million people in the NO area, most of them are already in schools, warehouses, even tents in the surrounding area. They are running buses in and out, letting them scatter would make that task even more unmanageable than it already is.

I've been listening to the LA State Police scanner on a stream feed... there are a lot of people working hard to get them on buses to somewhere safe (which at this point means another state). The enormity of the disaster is overwhelming them and it will take time. They did seem to be much more organized last night than they were Thursday night... Hopefully they will get the remaining people out of there more quickly.

[sickinohio]

10. Exactly - they probably weren't dehydrated

at the time that they were trying to get out of the city, probably on the day after Katrina hit the area. The, they got more and more dehydrated as the days passed by WITH NO FOOD AND WATER!!!

[KharmaTrain]

12. Put Them On A Bus To Nowhere?

We're looking at a some of the poorest of our poor. People who had little to start off with and less now. Many are elderly or invalid. They not only suffer from the physical and economic problems, but the mental stigma that goes with it.

Last night I was chatting with a handicapped person...he's blind and wheelchair bound. He lives in his boyhood home. I asked him if the storm and flood had hit him what could he have done. He was straight forward and said..."I'll be left here to die". He would have nowhere to go.

So do we just take all these people and put them on busses and drop them off at corners? I'm already starting to hear "NIMBY" (Not in my back yard) grumblings from Houstonians who don't like the thought of 30,000 or more inner city outsiders now in their city...especially blacks.

It's another elephant in the room. Most of the homeless are blacks or the poor. While the media glare is on, it looks good for mayors and governors to offer them shelter...as long as it's short-term. Once the cameras go off, all bets are off.

These people not only need to be evacuated, they're going to need a place to go to. Army bases would be ideal for this...and supposedly several are supposed to open to handle many of these people. Why this hasn't started already is another issue.

I want these people out of that cesspool that was once New Orleans as fast as anyone, but I don't want to prolong the agony. We have to find a place for these people to settle first. Imagine the frustration of taking that 10 hour ride to Houston...finding out you were too late...again...and now have to take another 8 hour ride to San Antonio. This tragedy is truely overwhelming.

[SaveAmerica]

23. You're right, and you have those who know where their loved

ones are inside NO, but are stuck just outside the perimeter and not allowed in to drive them out. I read of a guy who walked out a way that wasn't guarded, got to a relatives house which didn't get much damage (must have gone out toward the west of the city), drove one of their cars on a back road to Baton Rouge. He then called back to the other people who had been stranded with him and told them the way to go and they made it out too. There are ways out, the people of WDSU evac'd Tuesday I believe and they must have used this same back route because one of them was on the phone telling those watching what they were seeing on the way to Baton Rouge.

[Deja Q]

2. They all don't own boats. Maybe they're not American enough?

:shrug:

Bush ain't the only one either.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

3. To answer another post of where are they going to go to?

Well, I will tell you where they COULD GO TO!

1. abandoned factories (bring them to Ohio we have PLENTY)
2. military bases (they are empty because the GI's are in IRAQ
3. abandoned stores (we have plenty of those in Ohio, too)
4. ever heard of bringing in tents or mobile homes as what happened in Homestead???
5. even if they have NO SHELTER they would be better off OUT OF THERE

[Kazak]

8. I'm sure there are plenty of spare beds available too...

I've got one!

Edit: typo.

[rocktivity]

11. And the saddest part is, nobody thought of it beforehand

New Orleans KNEW its levees couldn't handle a Category 4 storm. The city, state and federal government should have sat down and worked out a comphrensive evacuation and relocation plan YEARS ago!!!

GET THOSE PEOPLE OUT OF THERE!!!

:mad:
rocknation

[Spazito]

15. I read and have heard the various governments, local, state and

federal did just that last year, somebody didn't pull their weight when it went beyond an 'exercise' and became reality. My bet is still on Homeland Security and, by extension, FEMA being the missing spoke.

[Silverhair]

20. Are they going to WALK to Ohio?

If you are going to provide transportation for them, then you need a common pickup terminal. So you need to gather the people together.

[Jade Fox]

5. It may be Martial Law mentality......

Maybe it has to do with not wanting the looters/criminals get away.

But what I really think is that it has to do with the mentality of Martial
Law, that those in charge need to "control" the area, regardless if that
control is helpful or harmful. This results in a situation where individuals
are no longer granted the right to make their own decisions about their
fate.

[Lone_Wolf]

6. No mayor or governer is going to want them.

These people are mostly black and the very poor. Politicians are more concerned about getting reelected than doing the right thing.

[sickinohio]

13. Who gives a damn anymore what and who the

government wants. I sure as hell don't, I hate these compassionate conservatives!!!! (Not yelling at you, just the situation, by the way.)

[Kazak]

9. Is there no other way out?

In this case...screw the authorities!!!!

[Dem Agog]

14. you can't have an effective holocaust...

if you just let people leave.

[sickinohio]

16. BINGO!!

[SouthernDem2004]

17. No way out. I-10 is heavily damaged in areas. Some bridges are out. Hwy

HWY 90 is just plain gone in areas.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

19. IF 'THEY' CAN GET IN THEN WHY IN THE HELL CAN'T

we get out?? The buses transporting the rich people from the Hyatt were able to get out.......the buses were able to get to the Astrodome, etc.

[SouthernDem2004]

21. Because the roads open are used for emergency vehciles and evacuations.

Evacuations from shelters and hospitals come first. If you let everyone drive around the roads will gridlock and help can not get in. If people want to leave they can go to the shelters and get on those buses. We do not need more cars on the roads.

[Silverhair]

22. Where do you want them to walk to?

So according to you all those people should just be allowed to start walking on the interstate.

Very, Very BAD idea.

1. Crowds of walkers on the interstate would slow down relief traffic, making the problem worse.

2. Most people are simply NOT capable of that kind of hike. They would have to walk for hundreds of miles. Many of the roads are DESTROYED. I-10 is nothing but a huge bridge for about 50 miles. That's 50 miles, in the hot sun, extremely high humidity with no water available as they walked.

3. Any place they could walk to is another hurricane damaged area.

The only thing that saves the greatest number of lives is to keep the people in one place, and bus them out from that place.

Sometimes reality bites.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

24. There is dry ground near New Orleans they could put tents on

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for not moving them to a sanitary facility.