Swept Away

It is incomprehensible to visualize 100,000 dead in Burma after Cyclone Nargis came ashore. As was the case with Hurricane Katrina and most hurricanes, the majority of deaths resulted from the storm surge. Many in the United States criticized the federal government for its seeming lack of response to Hurricane Katrina. While doing so, two important stories were missed. The first was the massive evacuation that occurred before Hurricane Katrina. The metro area of New Orleans, which includes Chalmette, Gentilly, Slidell, and other cities and towns had a population of around 1.2 million people. The Mississippi Gulf Coast had a population of around 400,000. In spite of the way Hurricane Katrina was reported, the majority of those in Mississippi, Louisiana, and the coastal areas of Alabama did evacuate. That was one of the most successful evacuations involving close to 1.6 to 1.7 million people.

The biggest story that was glossed over in favor of reporting inaccurate and misleading ones was the massive rescue efforts by the Coast Guard, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Louisiana National Guard. Contrary to what was reported of riot like conditions in the Superdome, of people shooting at rescue workers, the National Guard was keeping order and people were being rescued.

In my opinion, the way the news media portrayed New Orleans actually led to the hampering of relief efforts. If rescue people were being shot at, why should authorities allow in more rescue and relief workers?

Given the conditions after Hurricane Katrina, the response by emergency officials was well within the time frame estimated for water, ice, and food to arrive. Each time we in south Mississippi are warned of a potential hurricane strike, we are told to have on hand enough food and water to last 3-5 days. On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Katrina hit on Monday, August 29, 2005. On Wednesday, the first trucks loaded with water and ice arrived. Given the road conditions, that was a very good response time. I really didn't expect them until Friday. The only problem with those wonderful trucks loaded with water and ice was their location. We had to go to the trucks and those that had lost everything from their homes to their cars had to find some way to reach the trucks. Volunteers and the military went into those areas and did a good job of providing the water and food needed in those areas.

For New Orleans the focus was on rescuing people and then getting them out of the city. It wouldn't have made much sense to bring in massive amounts of water when the population was being evacuated. The National Guard was rationing food and water but there seemed to be enough. The one thing that still amazes me to this day is that 50,000 rescues were performed and those rescues were completed by the Saturday after Katrina had hit. To me, that is very indication that the emergency response was effective and not the disaster so many have proclaimed it to be.

The cyclones in the Indian Ocean have proved to be deadly. In 1970, Bangladesh was hit and the number of deaths was estimated to be between 150,000 to 550,000. The military junta in Burma is being forced to let aid workers in. The Chinese, unlike when the Burmese monks were staging peacful protests, urged the military junta to "open up". The military junta is unable and unwilling to help the people of Burma.

Words are inadequet and the it defies the imagination to think of those hundreds of thousands of lives swept away in Burma. Marshal Ramsey, Clarion Ledger always seems to be able to capture the feeling of loss: