http://www.channel4.com/community/showcards/D/Dispatches_-_Hurricane_Katrina.html this is a web chat held by channel 4 with one of the doctors who spent 4 days helping people at the convention centre. Very interesting reading!

Thanks for the link - it was very interesting reading. According to Dr. Henderson, there was NO military presence in the city until 4 days after the storm. He said, "I think the situation in New Orleans was a 'perfect storm' composed of lack of preparedness and frank ineptitude at all levels of government."

Dr. Henderson was wrong, we know there were national guard at the base inside New Orleans and they count as Military, even though they are guardsmen. In addition it took one day for federal troops to begin arriving after Blanco got off her butt and gave the US Government proper authorization. Dr. Henderson was right on the point that the ineptitude was astounding, but fails to realize that the US Government can only go into a state once the Governor asks for them to come in. We have a thing as the 10th Amendment and State's Rights in this country that the Federal Government isn't supposed to supercede.

I don't think Dr Henderson ventured to guess as to why the military wasn't there - he only stated that he didn't see them. We know that Governor Blanco refused delivery of relief material, and delayed authorization to allow federal troops into the area, but at the time Dr Henderson didn't have access to that information. Outlooker, you were absolutely correct yesterday when you pointed out that Jeb Bush's mistakes were minor ones. Governor Blanco isn't nearly as competent, and her constituents suffered needlessly.

That is true enough, Dr. Henderson's comments might be right but worded wrong. Another important point is "What else did he say" and not just what the papers reported. Something a single comment can be worded poorly but when placed in context with the over all thought then it can be right enough. :) That may also be true too, he may not have had that information. I didn't see the date he made the comment. Jeb Bush did a good job, not perfect and he could have done better, but each hurricane is a learning experience. Next time you may see even more improvements.

Jeb Bush did a good job, not perfect and he could have done better, ******************************************************* Just curious, what do you think Jeb could have done better?

There are two things which immediately comes to mind. The First is the situation with no power for the gas pumps. The second is something Abby said and I am not going to look it up to make an exact quote, but what she said is people should up at places according to a schedule for Ice and Water, I guess, and there were no supplies at those stations for the people. According to the news the other night, the oil companies forbade the company-owned stations to up-grade their stations so that they could have generators to run the pumps. The way these "owners" were talking, this is something the government of the local areas and state should have known about, but that is really neither here nor there. What was lacking was to insure there were gas pumps around with electrical generators attached so that the emergency vehicles had access to fuel and didn't have to wait too long to get filled up... just in case they couldn't get to where they fill up or in case their pumps were tied up. It wouldn't surprise me if Jeb takes care of that problem with in the next year. The second item was the fact that supplies were not at places which their schedule said they would be. That tells me that someone dropped the ball.. which sadly falls back upon Jeb because he is the big man in the state. Jeb may offer an explanation but I fully expect him to take the blame for it as he took the blame for other things in the past. I also expect he will do something to rectify the situation for the next time and maybe something dealing with that won't work right, but maybe it will go smoothly. The point is he will most likely try to resolve these issues and others that crop up... instead of finger-pointing. :)

Interesting news about the oil companies, Outlooker. I wonder why they would forbid their gas stations to upgrade. The gas situation is much improved in South Florida. We can now purchase gasoline with only a short wait in line, or (when we're really lucky) with no line at all. I, too, think that someone dropped the ball on the distribution of relief supplies early after the storm. Jeb did take the blame for it, as he should. But the problems were quickly rectified. The thing I really appreciated about Jeb Bush is that he took responsibility. He went on the air and told everybody not to blame FEMA; that he was responsible and if there was any blame to be taken it would rest with him. But he further pointed out that everybody had been warned to put together a 3 day supply of necessities, and if they had taken care of their own responsibilitiess they wouldn't be dependent upon government aid and services.

Did you ever notice that all Target Stores or K-Marts look pretty much the same? You can actually go into a K-marts in Phoenix and it will be laid out pretty much like the one you go to in Florida. This is because most of these chain stores only have a few (like 3 or 4) different approved layouts and the individual stores are only allowed minor changes. Company owned Gas Stations are the same and if something major isn't in the plans then these Companies get... well they get stupid about it, to put it bluntly. Sometimes you need to take the Symbolic baseball bat and break it over their symbolic heads in order to get changes made. These Oil Companies, or should I say some of their employees, can get very ignorant and arrogant with the private owners as well. I can remember a case where an employee of Gulf Oil tried telling a Private owner that he had to take certain items down off the shelves because they weren't Gulf products. The owner quietly listened to his rantings and then politely said "I don't have to do that, I am privately owned.". The man got uppity over it and demanded he take the stuff off the shelves and the owner simply told him if he didn't be quiet then he would end up waiting on the bus out in the rain. This is the type of stupidy that owners and managers have to put up with from time to time. I don't know where the ball was dropped, Abby, for I have never seen a follow-up. I do suspect Jeb tore into someone over it and the rippings just flowed downhill. :) It would surpise me if the same exact thing happened again. You know Jeb and George don't do a whole lot of justifying, like many politicians do. They make their comments and usually end up accepting the blame just to be able to move on. I like that, but sometimes I think they are too quick to move on and allow those against them to get a stronger foothold. I think their belief is that the truth will all come out in the end and there is no real sense in devoting months arguing silly points. But Jeb is right, he gave appropriate warnings and advice. I never did like being so depenedent upon our Government and I believe alot of what the Government has done in the past were things that we, the people, should have been able to work out amongst ourselves.

Govenor Bush also had problems with this last storm getting relief into areas, some taking a week or more and he admitted we were not as ready as he thought we were. So every one needs to realize it takes time even if you are a seasoned state with plenty of pratice. Sometimes things just do not go as expected. We all need to prepare better ourselves instead of depending on others to do it for us. We could have enough food and water to do a couple weeks on hand especially if we know a storm is forecast tohit our area.

What you say is true, no matter how perfect your Disaster Preparedness plan is, no matter how many time you practice it and no matter how many times you react to a disaster.. there is always something unforeseen which changes the formula. You are also right in saying that this is why we must prepare better ourselves. On this forum we have talked about personal disaster preparedness and the role of the local, state and federal.. one thing we really never did discuss is our community disaster preparedness. Not only should we strive to be self sufficient for 3 to 5 days but we also should think maybe of working with our individual communities to see how we can help prepare as a group. Back in the 70s I belonged to a CB Radio Club and we offered our assistance to the police departments of the local boroughs and towns. Numerous towns and Burroughs called us out for Parades, Special Events and even Disasters. Mainly they used us for traffic control and most of the time we blocked streets.. however we also cruised these burghs and reporting things back to our base, which was located at the local Burrough Building/Police Department. In this way it helped the cops to be more effective. The same type of group could be used to help pass out supplies or do other things the local entities need. The bottom line is when disaster hits, we really can only count on ourselves.. at least for awhile.

Excellent point, Sunny. You are so right. Governor Bush did a great job, despite having some difficulties with the distribution of relief supplies and fuel. We all have a personal responsibility, too. Most of us can manage to put aside a week's worth of food and water. Those of us who are able-bodied need to be self-sufficient, so that government relief can focus on elderly and/or handicapped people who need help the most. Just today I heard on the radio that the Humane Society was donating pet food to hurricane victims. Well, here we are 11 days after the storm, and many stores have re-opened. I just can't imagine anyone needing donated pet food - it's not an expensive item, and it's not scarce. It's very nice of them to offer it, and I'm not unappreciative. But fortunately, I can buy my own. I don't think hurricane help should turn into a free-for-all for Florida residents. Help should be specific to those who need it, the limited to the basic necessities that they need.

Pet Food to hurrincane victims? :) An Alpo Meatloaf doesn't sound too appealing to me. lol I had a friend, back when I was a teen. We walked into his house after school and went to the fridge. He asked if I wanted a burger and fries and I accepted the fries but I figured a hamburger would ruin supper... so I declined on that. Well he fried up this burger and put the usual condiments on it and ate it. When his mom came home he asked where she got the hamburger from cause it was the best tasting burger he had. His mom said "What hamburger? I haven't been to the store yet, there shouldn't be no hamburger in there." When she went to look she told him he ate the dog's food. Hey nothing bad happened to him so the stuff must have been at least as good as hot dogs. :)

Outlooker - i'm curious. I wasn't actually in NO when this happened and yet the doctor in question was. he wasn't being told things by the media he was actually there, getting on with the situation unfolding around him. As an by stander to this event i have to rely on eye witness accounts and not what i'm told by the news/polititions etc etc As you say you think he was wrong in some case's does this mean you were in NO too during the disater? How can you be sure that someone who actually experienced the events 1st hand is incorrect? The 2 most amazing comments he made on the program that unfortunatly weren't included in the Web chat were: He was listening the the radio talking about armed gangs who had broken into his hospital and raided the Hospitel pharmacy for drugs....he was listening to this report from the Hospitel Pharmacy WITH the hospitel pharmasist!!...but the best one was when, on the several radios they had around the building they heard on the main radio station that the whole hospital had already been evacuated!! when in fact not a single person had been air lifted!

Outlooker - i'm curious. I wasn't actually in NO when this happened and yet the doctor in question was. he wasn't being told things by the media he was actually there, getting on with the situation unfolding around him. As an by stander to this event i have to rely on eye witness accounts and not what i'm told by the news/polititions etc etc As you say you think he was wrong in some case's does this mean you were in NO too during the disater? How can you be sure that someone who actually experienced the events 1st hand is incorrect? The 2 most amazing comments he made on the program that unfortunatly weren't included in the Web chat were: He was listening the the radio talking about armed gangs who had broken into his hospital and raided the Hospitel pharmacy for drugs....he was listening to this report from the Hospitel Pharmacy WITH the hospitel pharmasist!!...but the best one was when, on the several radios they had around the building they heard on the main radio station that the whole hospital had already been evacuated!! when in fact not a single person had been air lifted! +++++++ I wasnt in New Orleans for the storm either, I evacuated 12 hours prior. I have lots of friends in the area who stayed including nurses, cops, state troopers and even National Guardmen. My coworker is a member of the Louisiana Air National Guard ( 159TH out of NASJRB NOLA) he was activated on the Saturday Prior to the storm along with several other guardsmen. He was sent to Hammond Louisiana ( to refuel aircraft after the storm) other members of his unit were sent to the Superdome ( The convention center was not a "shelter" nor was it ever intended to be) Maybe that explains the lack of guardsmen at the Convention Center. I have a friend who was taken by a military truck from the an area east of New Orleans to the convention center on the Tuesday following the storm. So from eyewitness reports that would put the military in the area less than 48 hours after the storm. My friend ended up at the Astrodome after spending 4 nights at the Convention Center. He told me and I have no reason to believe he is lying , that everything we heard on Television about what happened there actually did. He had 2 small children with him and did not let go of their hands for the entire 4 days.