Heartbreaking
September 2nd, 2005Katrina’s aftermath has struck our house silent with emotion. With every news report and today’s posting of a heartbreaking radio interview with New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, it just seems to get worse. I’ve been afaid to post anything for fear of backlash about not saying something earlier or to ask why we haven’t pledged monetary support. Let me say it here: we’ll be donating whatever we can to the aid of residents and the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and other areas hit by Katrina. It will likely span several charities and organizations and span months.
It’s all we can do from here for now. There is a big part of me that wants to fire up the truck and head down there to volunteer, but that is not possible or realistic on so many levels. Perhaps if we lived closer. I so want to help, but have no clue what to do in the short term. There is such a sense of hopelessness. If ever there was time for a strong, courageous leader in the White House, it is now.
The Bush response to this horrible disaster has been pathetic up to this point. I hope that he can find it within himself to get out of his bubble of cronies and roll up his sleeves. He has the power to affect great change. I hate to say this, but if we weren’t in Iraq, would we have the military resources to have devoted more people more quickly here at home? I can’t help but think about this as I watch people struggle to survive.
I fear that the death toll from Katrina will eclipse that of any other tragedy in my lifetime. What a horror. Such a paralyzing sight to see so many without any place to go, except where they are told. That constant vision from the television is almost as tragic as the storm itself.
We have a long way to go in this country. Such a long way to go. o
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Jon, Heather and all the other bloggers out there: thank you for all your wonderful posts. Thank you for taking time out of your lives to share your stories with us and to help build a community that can help to fix the problems that exist in our F’d up little world. I hope that we don’t stop with New Orleans.
As I look at what has unfolded in New Orleans I can’t help but think of RFK and how his exposure to the misery and poverty that existed in Appalachia in the
1960’s he helped launch a war on poverty. When President Bush saw the misery
and poverty that existed in New Orleans he (and those around him)
seemed to say, “Yeah so…. That’s what happens when you’re poor.”
America has long been a first world country with a third world country
inside it. It seems to me that difference between people like RFK,
LBJ, most Americans and Neo-Cons and Republican greed heads is that
the Neo-Cons and greed heads are OK with there being a third world
country inside our country and the rest of us are not. I think a
signal that this is not OK is being sent loud and clear.
I can’t help but think that if Louisiana had a minimum wage that was
higher then the Federal minimum wage there would be a lot fewer dead
people in Louisiana right now.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm#Louisiana
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:09 pm
erat says: Welfare is not responsible for keeping relief from arriving in N.O. and along the Mississippi coast.
Of course not…it just kept people from being able to get out. What IS keeping the relief from arriving in NO is the widespread destruction, not the politics. Relief workers have had to balance bringing relief in with getting people out. As everyone has seen on tv, the paths in/out are extremely limited. Was it planned as best as it could be beforehand….? Probably not. Is that the President’s fault? No. I am a conservative, but if Clinton had been president during this, or Gore, or any Democrat, I would not have blamed them. Can more be done? Yes. Is it being done? Yes. But please remember, it’s not just NO. My relatives in Mississippi, who live seven miles inland, can now see the ocean from their home because the surge has wiped everything out. Folks, it’s TOTAL DEVASTATION for miles and miles and miles. 100’s of miles. Let’s save the fingerpointing (and I’m including myself in that) for later. Let’s stop using people’s misery as an excuse to blame people whose politics differ from ours. We are Americans…and we help the world. We help ourselves. A tough examination of this situation will be done. There will be enough blame to go around, and it won’t rest on just one person. (And it’s not global warming…the late 1800’s saw a plethora of devastating hurricanes hit the southern U.S. Google it for more info.) I’ve survived Frederic, Danny, Georges, Ivan, Arlene, Cindy, Dennis, and now Katrina. I never once blamed any politicians for the forces of nature. I was grateful to the help we received from all over no matter the political affiliation of the person who donated it or gave of their time. Damn it, let’s treat each other as Americans…save the politics for the election booth. This is a time for aid and comfort…bitching might make YOU feel better or righteous, but it doesn’t help the people who are REALLY suffering.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:16 pm
Pammy G: So by “Pack of Lies” what exactly do you mean? The fact that WMDs have not been found? Please… Ouday and Kousay Houssein WERE WMDs as far as I’m concerned. Ideals are more potent weapons than SCUDS, and what flowed freely from IRAQ was hatred and patent disregard for human life.
This “Pack of Lies” bleat is tiring, and it’s completely off-topic here - save it for the next Camp Casey event. WMD’s were not the REASON we went into Iraq, any more than Tax Evasion is the reason for taking down a Mafia Don and his “Family”. The suspicion and “evidence” of their existence even from the Clinton administration was our “probable cause”.
Bleat, bleat, bleat… I’m hurricane-whupped and TIRED. The media is whoring the wholesale suffering of real people and you people are lapping it up and using it to politicize. I still believe all this ‘Blame Bush for Everything’ is rediculous. Strike that, it’s offensive. So-called “Global warming” that allegedly caused Katrina is Bush’s fault. The price of Gas is Bush’s fault. (Hey, where’s our cheap gas the “No Blood for Oil” bunch promised - I want mine now!) Puhleeze.
(To all, not just Pammy G:) Fingerpointing doesn’t do a damn-frickin thing to help the people who need help NOW. Before you say another damned thing about disaster recovery, I invite you to move your home down here - stand in the path of a hurricane with everyone you love and all you own and experience the preparation, the anxiety and anticipation, and more importantly, the aftermath - the realization, cleanup and restoration. Donate your TIME, your LABOR, not just your fucking money. (With over a million refugees from the Gulf Coast, there’s surely something you can do in your own hometown.) “Oh, I’m donating so much of my paycheck.” Big effing deal. You lifted a pen. Now do something more than boasting and bitching that not enough is being done or being being done fast enough.
There’s plenty of blame to go around in the aftermath of a national disaster. But the real demoralization comes from the likes of you and those making political and racist charges in what is a universally HUMAN event.
Oh, and to your 70 year old father (and to be fair, my late 81-year old hardline-Democrat father would have said the same damned thing), moving troops and bombs is easy - it’s what our *military* (look-up the definition if the meaning of the term escapes you - we’re not U.N. “relief” forces) stands ever-ready to do. Re-tooling to perform humanitarian functions is *secondary* to the call of our military and takes additional time. Moving assets and supplies among a destroyed infrastructure makes the job that much more difficult, but it IS BEING DONE.
Realize that the day Katrina struck, we were STILL dealing with Ivan’s aftermath. Pensacola was already having fuel distribution problems because of hurricane Dennis. There is no magic wand for hurricane cleanup, and the effects are more widespread and cumulative than anyone commmenting about it here realizes. FEMA has been sapped by a barrage of hurricanes this year and last. No doubt wails of blame would ensue as earmarked funds and supplies were depleted regardless of the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:36 pm
John -
You might want to watch the weatherchannel and read msnbc.com and stay tuned to your local news.
You seem to have missed that we have 30,000 national guards and tons and tons of hellicopters down there and tons and tons of busses, food and supplies and everything else already down there.
And also the fact that so many other countries are donating 2 million barrels of oil a day to us to help us get back up on our feet.
Gas prices are already dropping in Springfield, Missouri.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Very true. Very true. Very true. I just wonder when many others in this country will open their eyes and realize just the same.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:29 pm
One thing I think is interesting is how the news media seemed to get places that officialdom didn’t.
Several reporters yesterday and this morning (this was NBC) said that you COULD find routes into the city, the violence WASN’T that bad, and so forth. After all, THEY were there. One NBC guy, who was persuaded by an enterprising citizen to come down to the convention center so that something would get out on the air, said that while conditions were absolutely dreadful and he literally saw people die while he was there, it wasn’t from violence.
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:32 pm
Jon, that is so true. You have described my feelings exactly.
This is all.
Billygean
September 3rd, 2005 at 1:36 pm
Getting a few people in is easier than getting large vehicles in/out. And now that the water is receding/drying up (sort of), there will be more routes opening up. But I would also like to know just HOW reporters get there? Are they flying in on helicopters? Are they boating in on small boats? If those routes are big enough to get rescue vehicles in, then they need to broadcast it on the air. But don’t just assume that because some reporter might be putting his life at risk to get in to NO means that relief workers can safely get in the same way, or more importantly, get victims OUT safely.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:03 pm
they’re going in from the westbank, which has open roads straight to the mississippi river bridge and over to the new orleans side.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:07 pm
Everyone, please know that the junk you are seeing on television concerning the relief efforts is not accurate to what is going here in Louisiana. The people and government(even though slow) have stepped in to help ALL of the ones who are without food, money and shelter. The lines of color are disappearing. What you are seeing in New Orleans are people who refused evacuation before the storm and who are making the jobs of the rescue teams even harder than they should be. People all over south Louisiana are lending hands, homes, supplies and money to take care of our own. The few people that folks like Geraldo are pulling from the crowds are very few and far between. There are some with “victim mentality” who choose to believe that the government PUT them in places to die, but that just isn’t true. Thousands of people are being evacuated daily and hundreds of buses are rolling through Baton Rouge doing the job. It is a long hard job and it can’t be done in 1 or 2 days. It’s a shame that people without first-hand knowledge of the situation are the people who are speaking the loudest (Kanye West).
I wish some people’s brains worked as fast as their mouths. Those people should shut up and drive to Baton Rouge and help the rest of us unload 18 wheelers full of aid every day. Maybe some sweat would do you good.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:13 pm
1) baton rouge does *not* need more people in it (i.e., thousands of volunteers). our resources are already stretched very thin (per the mayor himself).
2) those are *not* people who “refused evacuation before the storm.” most of those people just *could not leave.* and geraldo showed a nice, calm group of people waiting in front of the convention center just this morning.
3) while you may be down here too, *please* don’t misrepresent those who stayed. you have just portrayed a very very inaccurate picture. thank you.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:16 pm
I too just had to say thanks, Jon, for putting into simple words a complex series of feelings, and also, it helps to read the comments from others who feel the same way. Like Jenna said in another comment - I feel guilty for trying to enjoy this stunning Saturday afternoon in Chicago when so many are still in need. I feel like I should be doing more….and don’t get me started on the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach over the animals affected by this.
I’ve been overdosing on CNN and MSNBC, frantically searching for “real person” accounts and blogs online. It does more harm than good probably, but once in a while, I find a ray of hope in the gloom. It makes me so proud to see all the grassroots efforts of relief and rescue pouring in all over the world. It seems like only the politicians and news media care about the race and socio-economic status of the victims. The rest of America just seems to want to help.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Pointing fingers….blaming….not productive. Not fair. Not even possible really even if one wants to. It’s a catastrophy, one of many and not the last this country or others will come to bear witness to and endure.
All that can be done is unite and act to provide help in any way possible.
I feel as sick to my stomach and as helpless as the next person, but wasting energy playing the blaming game is futile and puerile…
I have been reading your wife’s blog for a few weeks now and yours, Jon, just today.
September 3rd, 2005 at 2:52 pm
If you’re going to play the blame game, don’t blame Bush. Blame innefficient planning on the municipal level in New Orleans. Blame Presidential administrations for the last 30 years who have cut FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers budgets. The people of New Orleans had at least a five days notice the storm was coming. If you want to join the airhead Katie Couric crowd and blame Bush, go ahead. But you’re wrong.
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:12 pm
I’m sorry for the extra Entry Sir Blubomat… but I just read some stuff here that is giving me a seizure…
I just read someone’s note that mentioned how they lived through hurricane Andrew and 9/11… and how the government came around, did a good job… and yada yada… Umm excuse me, but if you really were in SOUTH Florida where Andrew hit, you would have seen people with their guns, perched and protecting what was left of their rubble. YOU would have heard the random gun shots, YOU would have been floored at those coming into the area charging 50 bucks for a flippin’ bag of ice, YOU would have been at one of the shelters, as I was, helping a random old woman, displaced from her home, trapped in her wheel chair, without her medication, with just juice, helping her get to the bathroom from her corner against the wall, at the local high school cafeteria…
COME THE F’ ON.
Bush senior was SEVERELY criticized for dragging his feet to bring aid then. And, many say he lost the following election in part to the criticism in handling the catastrophe.
Yes, it takes time and coordination in massive scales to organize relief, and its excruciatingly difficult and taxing. H-O-W-E-V-E-R, a hurricane is not a surprise. NOT 9/11. (And as current and permanent NYC resident don’t you even DARE compare), it’s not an earthquake, it’s not a wam-bam! hit and miss tornado. IT IS A HURRICANE. WITH A RELATIVELY PREDICTABLE PATH. (precise? no. never. But very predictable.)
The national guard should have been placed on call and ready to go. To then have entered and start moving people IMMEDIATELY in the aftermath, in whatever capacity they could. THEN, and only then, could Bush have waited a bit to gauge if further assistance was needed. Regardless, SOMETHING, ANYTHING should have been witnessed immediately in the aftermath as a form of relief. SOMETHING. No one is asking YOUR precious president (CUZ MY ASS DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM), to predict the depth of despair or the extent of the hell that this has escalated to… but there should have been SOMETHING to show the government was making an active choice to be prepared, to help, to save… to MOVE THEIR ASSES OUT OF VACATION MODE FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME THIS YEAR, and into the job he is getting paid 6 figures to do. Anything, would have been something. And that is where the despair in people’s mind lie…
Yet, there was NOTHING. NOTHING. The void for help was wider and grander than the current void between your ears.
Had the public seen something being mobilized from day one, in preparation for the impending strike… even if it had just turned out to be a category 1… but something, anything, Bush would have come out and said…” We were prepared, but unfortunately no one foresaw how grave this would become and we are now mobilizing for more.” (okay so my vocabulary span is waaaay BETTER, but you get the gist.) And most of us, whether we already hated Bush or not, would have responded…
“Well Georgie, shit sometimes happens, but at least you’re on top of this game… and God willing, we won’t lose any more lives.”
Yet ALAS!!!!! This was not the case. SO!!! understand the anger, the shock is VERY warranted by the populous. And yes, local agencies have to respond first, but it only takes have an asses brain to know, hurricanes bring cities down… power goes out, phone lines goes out… etcetera… and even local agencies have a hard time getting it together. And as with Andrew, 9/11, christ…etecetera!!!!! they EASILY become overwhelmed.
And so I ask you.. as many others do again…
WHERE IS MY GOVERNMENT NOW…????
He asked for the job.
He got it.
So when is it going to happen. The do-ing that is…
And another thing!!!! One more crap in the ass about, “well I… yada… yada… know what it’s like to fight a war… yadda… and you people should be thankful for your freedom…yada…”
I am.
We are.
Get off the self Righteous, we have the only GOVERNMENT THAT SHOULD RULE THE WORLD!! *enter maniacal pirate laugh here* mentality…
No one is denying what we have here. In fact what we have here is so great, so powerful, and “could” be so amazing… that it only adds to the shock with relation to the response on this current crisis. We have the power and the will to re-create the enlightenment period three fold!! As an immigrant, that was granted the right to become a citizen so I would not have to grow up in a country with oppression and a dictator watching my every move, only to possibly killed for even reading the wrong book. SO I AM THANKFUL. BELIEVE ME.
And again, no one is any less supportive of the troops who go off to Iraq. The troops themselves are not at fault for the careless decisions of those dictating their moves. We all know this and most, just want them to come home, and be safe. Because it is VERY obvious what it is they are giving up. But there is a thing as “sovereignty of state”, of a nation, all over the globe. And we seriously breeched that when entering a country, based on a fabricated lie, fed to all and US. Saddam is and will always be shit. And in part I am very glad to see him go. But how we went about it was entirely INCORRECT and CARELESS. Brutal, and at the very least egotistical.
And as the daughter of a once military man… I can talk. So please, wake the f’ up. Whether it’s a war or a damn hurricane, this administration is continually failing us. And as a result more and more lives are at jeopardy every day.
September 3rd, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Umm… correct me if I’m wrong… but errr… and I just heard this on CNN… precious George Bush JR CUT the BUDGET. Man oh man… we are in serious trouble.
September 3rd, 2005 at 4:15 pm
Here in Central Texas they’re asking that anyone willing to open their homes to the survivors contact the Red Cross. I personally know of a recently vacated ranch in Crawford…
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:15 pm
You have a big heart. You are not alone. Millions of people are deeply saddened by this nightmare of a situation. My heart aches for these people. It does look like they are starting to get a handle on the situation. It’s a complicated mess. I do agree that relief came too late, but it’s a complex issue, and we cannot point the finger at one person. Many systems failed. This is such a hard lesson to learn. Hopefully we learn our lesson and something like this will never happen again.
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:18 pm
Earlier I asked for a stop in the finger pointing on ALL sides…geez, guess I should get my own blog to set the standard. But, I’m too busy…recovering from a hurricane, ya’ know, and helping with a refugee center in my area, working with the refugee children that will be in my classroom on Tuesday, waiting in gas lines because of the shortage, waiting on the shelves at Wal-Mart to get filled again…all you high-and-mighty “Let’s Blame Bush” reactionaries can just go on pointing. Those who can make a difference, do. Those who can’t, just go on bitchin’. Point the finger at yourself, and ask, “What can I do to make a difference? Just complain about Bush? Or can I put that energy into making a POSITIVE change?”
I simply cannot believe the negative energy here. Yes, I know you don’t like the President and his policies. I don’t agree with all of them, myself. But I can at least say that I’ve examined all sides of the political spectrum. I was born and raised a Democrat. I was for gun control, and I was a member of the military. I’ve been married, divorced, a single parent, on welfare, and got myself off of it. I’ve been a church-goer and a non-church person. I’ve applied all that I’ve experienced to become solid (but not inflexible) in my ideologies. And they don’t involve relentess rants. (Excepting this one, I guess )
To all of you who are REALLY helping in some way, THANK YOU! And helping can mean more than picking up a pen and writing a check. That’s done and over with…safe and easy to go back to your haranguing. I’m not asking for people to come here and work with those suffering here…that’s unrealistic for most (if you can, more power to you!) But I am asking you to try, really try, to realize the enormity of the destruction along the Gulf Coast. The need down here is beyond politics. That is the only point I am really trying to make. If you could see the suffering first hand, all thoughts of politics would go out of your head, and your heart would ache for their need. But as this is America, and this is someone’s personal blog, politics can be the rule. This is what makes America great, despite whoever is the President. Thank all of you for your time in ‘listening’.
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Just by talking about it, you’re helping. But I understand the hopeless and futile feeling - all of this is happening one hour away from my home; it is happening to my family and friends, it is happening to my favorite city and other cities and towns that I love.
There are so many little things we can do, though. Start a fundraiser - a raffle, a garage sale, a carwash, so on & so forth. Donate all of the money to one of the great charities that are helping out. Pray for these people, help them find homes - open your home if you can (some of you may have already done this).
The American people are beautiful - I have seen and heard (I work for a state agency) SO MANY people coming in, wanting to come in, doing all and everything to HELP. If the help had been up to everyday Joe’s and the average American, I don’t think it would’ve gotten this bad. Somehow, somewhere along the way, our government - some branch of it, some heiarchy of it - *failed us*…failed the people of New Orleans and surrounding areas, failed (is still failing) the people of lower Mississippi.
What scares me is that this lethargy to bring in help may have killed more people than Katrina herself!
My heart is broken.
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:57 pm
Hi, I’m originally from New Orleans, now living in Atlanta. My parents who still live(d)there evacuated ahead of the storm.
To all the people who argue about people staying even after being told to leave, from what I remember hearing, the storm strenghthened and headed for New Orleans less two days before landfall. I remember from growing up there that it was projected it would take much more time to evacuate a metro area of 1 million people.
My father works at the Corps of Engineers and for YEARS this agency has been trying to get necessary funding to strenghen the levees, and has never gotten enough funding.
I agree that the N.O.govt and LA politics can be corrupt, but this is not an example of that. I don’t see how Nagin could have ordered a mass evacuation of folks with no transportation in such a short time with ALL of the highways out of the city already so congested. They would have been stranded on the highways when the storm hit! The Superdome was a place of last resort and he stated that time and time again. Please don’t kick New Orleans while it’s already down. This man and the govt. officials of Louisana are watching a horrific nightmare they can not stop. To compare Nagin to Guiliani doesn’t make sense. This is Nagin’s ENTIRE city and his city hall is under water. Leave him alone, will you?
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:19 pm
What I’ve noticed when watching coverage of the relief effort is that in the absence of federal aid, individuals and small groups are stepping up to take care of their own. My girlfriend is an educator and is contributing to an effort to send money and school supplies to Texas, where many displaced school children have enrolled. A bunch of tech geeks are planning to make the Astrodome the world’s largest Internet cafe. Musicians are looking after one another by tracking who is safe and who may not be. And several bass players are taking care of a fellow bassist down in NOLA during her time of need.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:31 pm
I just read a comment that I think someone took my earlier comment out of context and got very upset. I was NOT comparing 9/11 and the relief there to the relief to a hurricane, especially Katrina. What I WAS doing was saying that in recent days the race card has shown it’s face, and I was saying that I was upset that that was being used, as when I look at the TV I see PEOPLE…not skin color. Then I made mention of a comment that had been used during 9/11 where someone also had heard of the race card being used, and made the comment that they could not see race as because everyone was covered with ash, that everyone was ash colored. I would hope that clears that up. I am in no way infering that 9/11 and the response there should be in any way compared to a natural disaster. I apologize for that confusion.
My anger has been with the fact that people always want to blame a persons situation, color or someone else, and unfortunately our President is the man in charge, at the top. People in crisis are going to look to him, it comes with the job. I do personally think that he should have been a bit more hasty in his response than he was. As Richard has pointed out, and correctly I might add, pointing fingers is behind us now and of no use whatsoever. However, when the man at the top takes something seriously, and asks for things to get done in a case like this…it should get done. I served in the military and then the Air National Guard for many years myself, and we were always the first ones called when disasters happened, and rightly so. It is an organization that just steps up and has leadership and security in place before you even get to the location and everything seems to flow. Also, I don’t care what people here say, but when the military shows up, there is somewhat of a feeling of relief felt on the part of the victims, they seem to feel safer and that they will be taken care of…something that was severly missing for several days down there, and thus we saw the chaos and crime resulting from that. I know when I served in that capacity people came to me and thru tears and thanked me for being there, and I had just got off the truck and hadn’t even had time to look around let alone help do anything. What made this hard was the double whammy of both the hurricane, who yes, there were supplies ready and waiting, but then the storm path changed, and then to add insult to injury, there came the flood waters due to the levees. A very sad situation.
My heart foes out to these people, and I am encouraged by the sense of community that surrounding states have been to these people. We have all given what we are able to give, and some may only offer prayers, or words of encouragement whereas others offer their time and physical presence, while others offer money and supplies. When disaster happens, good people become better and bad people become worse, and unfortunately bad people get better press, it is only now that we are seeing some of the good stories, ones of hope and encouragement coming out of there.
I hope that this would clear up some of the misunderstanding of what I was refering to earlier, as I do know the difference between an attack by an enemy and a hurricane, and I also know that the response to both is different and unique to each individual circumstance.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:48 pm
I am not a self-hating American. I am, however, frustrated by the “how can this happen HERE” sentiment.
There is an appropriate line from Terry Prattchet that goes, “civilization is only 24 hours and two meals away from utter barbarism.” Americans are only human beings, and America is just a random place on the earth, no more or less voulnerable to nature than anywhere else.
I am not surprised that relief efforts have been slow and disorganized. We have resources, but a massive disaster is still a massive disaster, even if it happens on the sacred soil of our forefathers. I don’t think many of us (myself included) understand the scope of the damage, the scope of what is needed. Imagine how slow and futile relief efforts must be in places without mighty American resources.
The reality is that for so many, even our best efforts (were they being given) would not be enough. There are some things that even we cannot control. And that is the most frustrating thing of all.
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:36 pm
The city of New Orleans is supposed to be able to handle a Category 1 or 2 or a fast-moving category 3 hurricane. A slow-moving category 3 or a 4 or 5 is supposed to be handled by the government because it would overwhelm local resources. So it isn’t right to blame the local government: it was known beforehand that they could not handle this level of emergency.
As for evacuations, and for locals “ponying up” to fix their own levees, remember that NO is a very poor city. 2/3 of the population are African-American. The average income for African-Americans is 11k/year. For whites, it is 28k/year. To fix the levees–and to fix them to a point to compensate for the loss of wetlands–is a very, very expensive proposition.
And Bush cut the budget for levee repairs by 2/3.