A "birds-eye" view from the Houston Astrodome

[lebkuchen]

From a friend of a friend, written by someone who has worked for a lot of non-profits...I realize that some of these narrations are making the WWW rounds, but this one contains no imbedded RW apology for Bush.

***************************************

Thought you all might be interested in an up close and personal account of what's going on in Houston. I have volunteered at the Astrodome and Reliant Center but haven't made it to the George R. Brown Convention Center yet.

I can say that they are more organized each day but do not make as large of strides as in the initial few days. It has been complete chaos in this city since Monday, August 29th. Every hotel, roadway, grocery store, etc., is packed. The city has absorbed 100,000+ bodies virtually overnight.

By Tuesday as the devastation became apparent, the city began donating everything and anything that might be of help. A local church that I stopped at opened it's doors to donations at 8AM and at 1PM when I stopped by, the gymnasium floor was completely covered. This was the case citywide. People poured into shelters that popped up everywhere. People opened their home to gobs of relatives and friends. Woody (remember him?) had 22 people for a few days. It seems that familles are trying to disperse across the country to limit the burden any one household has to bear.

Wednesday, the crisis at the Super Dome became our undertaking because our "new" mayor makes quick and strong decisions, consequences be damned. The Astrodome was vacant and he offered it. Little could anyone have understood the impact this decision would have (both good and bad). As news of Houston's undertaking spread, the populus understood that it would "take a village" to pull this off, even if the government and agencies did not. People showed up in the hundreds at the Astrodome and the Red Cross and were turned away everywhere. We were told that the National Guard would handle the initial staging.

Late Wed./early Thursday, buses began to arrive and pandemonium ensued. They wanted to register the arrivals. Logic says you can't take info from 20,000 people in a timely manner. People sat on unairconditioned school buses (what most of them made the now 12 hour journey (up from the normal 6) because the causeway had fallen down, for hours waiting for their turn to unload. They were in filth, either from wading through polluted water or from the stay at the Super Dome. People came in, had to bathe, then stand in line for 2 changes of new clothes. For people who had not slept or had food in days, they were a sad sight. They then got to take a cot on the floor of the dome and get some food. They hoarded the food. People looked and acted like starving animals, taking as much as they could hold. More than they could possibly eat in several days. Of course it spoiled but that's a whole other story along with the associated health issues.

By Friday at 1AM (basically still Thursday night) they figured out what Houston knew all along. They needed help. Volunteers were asked to come to the aid. And they did. The people who were up at that time came. A lot I talked to were up because they couldn't sleep with all that was going on. They woke up their children, spouses and friends. I was up sorting clothes for a friend's family at that time when my neighbor called and told me. The news showed the line of headlights that extended for miles waiting to get into the dome.

Saturday, word was out and by noon they had to turn volunteers away for some shifts. Companies responded to every request but most anticipated the needs and delivered what was needed before it was asked for. Just an FYI, other than cots and blankets supplied by the Red Cross, all food, clothes, healthcare, etc., is being supplied by Houston. They ran out of room at the dome (or so the firemarshall said) and it was decided to send the remaining buses to Dallas. Couple of problems with that. 1) Dallas didn't want them and 2) the buss drivers (many from the east coast) had driven the buses half way across the country and hadn't slept in at least 36 hours. So a judge overruled the firemarshall and things progressed ... for another couple of hours until they really couldn't fit any more into the dome. Then they opened Reliant Arena and Center. And then they filled up. So the mayor in yet another controversial move, opened up the convention center. That required canceling a very important convention, costing our city millions in lost revenue and jobs. He was right, though, when he pointed out that if they sued him for breach of contract, they would have bad karma for ever.

Each day and each location allowed for learning from the prior one. The people at the convention center have it so much better than those in the dome. It is weird to be there at 5AM and all the lights are on over a sea of cots with the old and the young and it is silent. No crying babies. No angry shouts. Silence. I have found the evacuees to be very appreciative and nice to me personally. I have found others who have had a different experience but it is mostly how you approach people. For what they have been through I am amazed that they are not sullen and rude. It is insanely frustrating. Information cannot be had. The place is so large, you can be completely unaware of services available to you because there is no one coordinating. Every day services are physically moved, so if you knew where something was yesterday, it may not be there today. Simple things like another change of clothing took until today to happen. There has been no ability to track the people so if a family member shows up to collect them, how do you find them in amongst the 10K+ that remain?

Some of the people were sick when they arrived. Many others have contracted the Norwalk virus (diarrhea & vomiting) that has to run it's course. The city's hospitals have been so taxed, that last night they moved all the evacuees from the Reliant Arena into the other venues so that they could convert it to a hospital, complete with surgery suites and an ICU. Chris - I know you donate your time to the needy of other countries, but you could have come down here and kicked butt and got the place organized! They didn't address how to handle the mentally ill and yesterday a woman self medicated herself into oblivion curtesy of 5 different prescriptions that she had filled for free on Tuesday.

Today FEMA started handing out $2,000 ATM cards to each household so that they would have some immediate funds. I left when the rioting started. Everyone will get one but it will take days and everyone wanted to be first. They literally locked out thousand of people who had left the facility to walk around town. They were pushing on the gates which had to be reinforced by police cars. Another possible oversight of this idea is that people are going to go buy "stuff" and bring it back to their facility. I bet someone else will decide that they would like to have that "stuff". Up to now, very little has been stole and it usually belongs to a volunteer.

Not all is bad. Yesterday children registered for school and today they started. Many are being merged into local schools who already took in thousand last week. The others will go to two schools that were reopened for this need. It's odd to see the school bus stop in front of the Astrodome.

Both as a spectator and a participant, it has been both a humbling and frustrating experience. I can also say that many of these people will remember what has been done for them and I truly believe that they will make the effort to do the same for others if ever given the opportunity. That's your "birds eye" view.