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Sat. Sep 03, 2005

Over Capacity

While I suggested people Shut Up And Give as part of the web-wide effort to raise funds on Thursday, I think it’s now more appropriate to call it “Katrina’s Cuss Jar.” After all, a Cuss Jar is used after the cuss, not so much to stop it, but to generate something good out of it. And though I believe in focusing on Priority One, helping those still at risk, there’s at least one larger lesson we can draw from this, as individuals. And families.

Specific accountability? Sure I’d like some, but I still don’t think we’re quite there yet when so many are still at risk. When your house is still on fire, you don’t spend time chastising the electrician for the bad wiring, you devote your energy where it is needed, and saddle up the lawyers later. There will be plenty of time, reams of assessments, and probably some investigative committee to detail who did or didn’t do what. All we know for sure now is that it started as an Act of God, and I’m sure He’ll be publicly censured as well.

But some things are already clear to me. In a few days, people will begin ruminating on the fourth anniversary of 9/11. Remember on September 12th when we were all New Yorkers? Has anyone even thought the same thing about New Orleans? Remember after 9/11 when members of Congress gathered on the Capitol steps to sing “God Bless America”? They hurried back on a Sunday night from a vacation to pass a bill for Terri Schiavo, but could only bring themselves to knock a couple of days off this vacation and return five days after the storm hit the Gulf Coast.

Remember that brief shining moment when it seemed like maybe we could pull together as a people, when we all saw our fellow Americans face such a clear and obvious disaster? When it seemed like maybe the government would do things at all levels to improve our state of preparedness for disaster, since we now saw just how bad it could be?

Nearly four years after that brief shining moment, we got a national capacity test. A big one. It came with some warning, though not much. It was a natural event that was certainly not unexpected, in fact, many called it inevitable.

And we failed that national capacity test, on every level. Federal, state, local … and personal. The tri-level governmental failure will be dissected to death and beyond, and there is surely plenty of blame to go around, on both sides of the aisle, going back a long ways. We’ll get to that.

But what about us, you know, as a people. Americans. Can I still use that term? I don’t know, some might find it offensive these days. My apologies. At any rate, after 9/11, the diversity that is this nation pulled together in amazing ways and responded to the tragedy we all saw. Sure, many had questions, and we all wanted answers, but there it wasn’t an immediate consideration … that can wait for later, the rubble is still burning and people may still be in there. This time, in less than five days, with tens of thousands still at risk, we’ve compiled a long list of blame and finger pointing.

Today, we still pull together quickly, but not in the same way at all, in my opinion. Very quickly, disturbingly quickly, we pull into at least three distinct clumps, one red, one blue, and one, I don’t know, brownish like most humans. Note, in this case those red and blue clumps were not as big as you usually see them, and the brownish clump was bigger than both of them. I’d guesstimate the split at 20-20-60, this time. It varies widely by issue and event.

So, it’s a gathering, of sorts. But it sure ain’t like it used to be. Because these multiple clumps may appear to have somewhat similar goals on the surface, but their methods and motivations are diabolically opposed, especially the red and blue ones.

And that’s not new, it’s just not what one might have predicted or hoped for after 9/11. It’s just the last part of this lesson. Not only is it likely your government will fail you, your fellow Americans may expend as much energy on partisan bickering as they do on your relief.

Almost all of us live at some risk of a disaster, whether it’s a hurricane, an earthquake, a swarm of tornados, or a major terrorist attack. And the lesson of New Orleans is that if the worst befalls your city, you’re on your own.

You may not have fully comprehended this before now. But they knew it (emphasis mine):

Each time you hear a federal, state or city official explain what he or she is doing to help New Orleans, consider the opening paragraphs of a July 24 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

“City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans’ poor a historically blunt message: In the event of a major hurricane, you’re on your own.”

“In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm’s way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation.”

AJC: No plan ever made to help New Orleans’ most vulnerable

That was over a month before Katrina. They knew this storm was inevitable, they knew the city’s levees would be unable to keep the water out (though they now claim surprise that the levees failed ... over the top, or via breach, the end result was the same, deep floods), they knew over 100,000 people would be unable to evacuate, and they knew those people would be on their own.

Today, none of us can claim it’s a secret anymore.

The previously prudent 3 to 5 days of non-perishable food, water, batteries, and flashlights could be just enough to extend your suffering. It used to be considered enough to tide you over until relief arrived. I think anyone with a TV to watch and two brain cells to rub together would agree that’s no longer a safe assumption.

And think about the next time. Another scenario most “experts” claim is “inevitable” is some type of terrorist attack with a nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon that causes mass casualties. Does the medical system of New Orleans, the surrounding area, and the federal “responders” look like it’s able to care for the injured and sick? Or even remove the dead? How does the surge capacity of our country’s medical system look in a mass emergency? How does our nation’s capacity to quickly restore law and order to protect the victims look right now?

If we’re attacked, there will be no warning allowing the evacuation of 80% of the population, nor will there be any argument that those people were too stupid to leave (though I bet you’ll hear that next time if it’s New York). No pre-declaring it a disaster area so you can get things prepositioned like this time.

And what if it comes in the next few weeks? What if there’s another 9/11, or, even more likely, another Category 4 or 5 hurricane roaring ashore somewhere else? You will be so very on your own.

Look at the people you see on TV, now in Day Six left with little more than the clothes on their back, and the three bottles of water and MRE’s some of them have been given. In addition to lacking the evidence we all now see, and they now experience, most of these people probably couldn’t begin to stockpile supplies for a lengthy emergency before this hurricane hit.

Maybe you can’t either. Times have been tough for many lately, including us here at Bunker PD. But if you can, learn from this, and remember that if disaster hits your city … you’re on your own.

For a while.