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All good points and noted, Temple. Nagin's a piece of trash. The nature
of each disaster is quite a bit different. Back in 1994, FEMA wasn't part of Homeland Security, either, and, from every account, was far more efficient back then. The point I try to make in this is the basic indifference shown the Gulf states (especially New Orleans) in the aftermath, not to mention the ineptitude, which you have abundantly pointed out. This is in pointed contrast to Southern California. But it does have a lot to do with the socioeconomic factor -- perception is everything, Temple. Southern California is perceived as relatively affluent. The Gulf Coast is considered relatively poor. Poor people are dispensible to those in power. Always have been. It seems like they always will be...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 8, 2007 at 8:00 PM
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No shocker there, joab...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 8, 2007 at 7:40 PM
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The destruction between the two incidents isn't on the same level.
And Malibu is not San Diego. The difference is HERE we had great local government that took care of us right away and made sure things were happening with the governor and the red cross, etc. -- and when in 1994 I lost my apartment in the Northridge earthquake, they took wonderful care of me then, including FEMA. Yes, it takes a little time, but within a few days I had my deposit back from my old apartment, and within a month or so I had a check to get a new apartment, vouchers for Target and other places to replace what was lost. I did have some renters insurance, though, and that helped a bit. However, FEMA paid for some time in a hotel (even though I had some friend's houses to stay at, I had animals and I couldn't bring them, and didn't want them in the Humane Society for a month -- they eventually went up north to my best friend's house). They also reimbursed a lot of my expenses. They had one stop shopping where I could close my old bank account (we had some looting), open a new one, get all the vouchers, get food stamps, everything we needed. It was just me, no family, so it wasn't a lot, and I lost an apartment not a house, so that is different -- but even though I was working full-time I needed their help. That was a disaster because of insurance, like Katrina, and like these fires... they never want to pay. But, I'm really sick of people making it like it wasn't so bad for us because we have some wealthy folks here. San Diego is a military town (and we are not wealthy! lol...), and we had our biggest base on FIRE. We have a lot of immigrants, a lot of illegals, a lot of people that don't speak English and didn't understand the warnings. Katrina was worse because of the nature of the disaster, just pure size and coverage, and because the local governments in New Orleans were not prepared... Ray Nagin is useless. They shot dogs instead of letting people keep them, made them choose between their animals and themselves, let buses sit unused. We had buses and shuttles going, everyone could take their animals (even livestock), we had horse and cattle trucks/trailers donated... it was a whole different thing... not because of money, because a lot of this happened in the poor areas where immigrant farmers run their land and they had people go GET them that spoke Spanish. It started with our Mayor. So, FEMA may have a chance to get it together here or not (although we have fewer people out of their homes), but San Diego will make sure we take care of ours and Mayor Sanders and the fire chiefs saved a LOT of lives.
posted by
Temple
on November 8, 2007 at 3:23 PM
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The Biggest Difference Between The California Fires And Hurricane Katrina
Gotta' luv 'em for being so brazen. I heard that 3 of them got network offers.
joab
posted by
joab1
on November 8, 2007 at 2:44 PM
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There should have been a complete cleaning of house after the Katrina and
Rita debacle in the Gulf Coast area. They should have started with the Washington level bureaucrats and continued all the way up to the Oval Office...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 6, 2007 at 4:56 PM
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The point will always remain that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were
snubbed by the Bush administration and was the victim of FEMA and governmental (on all levels) mismanagement. It remains so today as well. There won't be much of that in Southern California, I'll bet. Especially around Malibu...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 6, 2007 at 4:54 PM
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I heard someone say on a news program a few nights ago:
How do people from FEMA even keep their jobs? That cracked me up.
posted by
FineYoungSinger
on November 6, 2007 at 4:52 AM
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Hey now...
That's not fair. We were taken care of big time here. It's yet to be seen how FEMA will respond, but why does everyone have to find the bad things to exploit? I'm tired of that.
posted by
Temple
on November 6, 2007 at 3:41 AM
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Thank you, Kayzzaman...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 5, 2007 at 10:00 AM
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Thanks, afzal...
posted by
saul_relative
on November 5, 2007 at 10:00 AM
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Good commentary, saul.
posted by
Kayzzaman
on November 5, 2007 at 5:20 AM
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posted by
afzal50
on November 4, 2007 at 11:42 PM
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