Now that I've rehashed the timeline, let us move on to what is happening now. The sadness that I feel is immeasurable. The enormity of it is unthinkable. The human tragedy should have been for the most part, preventable. The one thing that affected me most, was when someone closest to me who had been working for the relief efforts told me, "Mothers are giving up their babies because they can't take care of them anymore. They are just handing them to strangers begging them to give them a better life."
I want to point out that even though it is my opinion that everyone living in and around New Orleans, (including those who didn't live there but were aware of the potential for disaster) is responsible for the tragedy that followed, recovery is America's responsibility. We will all end up paying for it.
Just before a time of thanksgiving, when most of us were preparing to be with family and friends and discussing what we felt blessed about, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin opened up most of the rest of the city to returning evacuees. But to whom did he open the city to and to what? Of the estimated 300,000 New Orleans residents that fled, it is estimated that just about 60,000 residents are actually living there now, having returned or stayed there during the storm. Although the drinks are being poured and the strip clubs are open, most returning residents have nothing to return to. Most all of whatever they had was contaminated in the standing black floodwaters; no longer salvagable.
Adding insult to injury, only two of eight hospitals have re-opened, most of Orleans parish is still without power, three-quarters of the city's tax base has gone, the city loses an estimated $1.5 million dollars a day in tourism, only a quarter of over 3000 restaurants are open, the city's credit rating has been lowered from investment grade to junk and worst of all; the nation's flood insurance program ran out of money for the first time since it was created in 1968 and some insurers have stopped issuing checks. While a gay couple cannot legally marry, FEMA considers them a couple and will only allow them to turn in one application for aid. If they turn in two, FEMA rejects them as fraudulent. And they are still finding bodies.
For the many that have paid for years for flood insurance, rather than spending time recovering from the disaster, they are now fighting with insurance companies over outdated mathematical formulas. It's a battle over Hurricane Katrina (a natural disaster) and poor levee design (a man-made disaster) that will ultimately show the value of their policies and whether they rebuild or move on. Independant science and engineer groups have stepped forward and stated that it was poor levee design and not Katrina, that caused the catastrophic damage. The final decision will make the difference as to how financially involved the federal government will be. FEMA is being raked over the coals as having too much money that hasn't been spent. All this while sandbagged levees still leak into the city, a testement of budget over lives.
The speed by which the rebuilding efforts take place is not only being affected by the cost, but to how much money is spent and more importantly where it will be spent. Many people, from government agencies, politicians to hundreds of residents met in November with the governor appointed "Louisiana Recovery Authority" to discuss the cleanup and rebuilding process. This "vision" of what New Orleans will be when recovered is a part of the plans. Mayor Nagin created the "Bring Back New Orleans Commision". The arguments over money continue. The state has asked for $250 billion dollars in recovery money, an amount met with virtual contempt and aligned with robbery. Editorial writers nicknamed it the "Louisiana Looter's Bill". FEMA cut off hotel payments on December 1st to encourage evacuees into using the deposit monies given them to move into permanent housing.
I can't see how this will all be paid for unless Congress raises our taxes or cuts spending on needed services. Forbid that pork barrel and gratuitous spending be eliminated. We are already burdened by the cost of war.
When Mayor Nagin appeared before Congress in an attempt to gain more support, the response to him was a cool one. A Republican aide's response has become the norm, "We want to see them helping themselves before they ask us for help."
I wonder how it is that Congress will "see" how the evacuees and residents of damaged areas are helping themselves. Many have been doing just that, from cleaning up their neighborhoods to helping others because they themselves have nothing left to clean.
Harry Anderson of "Night Court" fame has been holding meetings in his French Quarter nightclub for local residents. Up to one hundred people at a time have shown up for their Quarter's "town hall" type meetings and even local and FEMA representatives have braved the crowd. The group has made progress; in one instance getting the city to ease the curfew so that bars could remain open later to rebuild business. He and his wife had opened their side-by-side businesses two months before Katrina. At one meeting the conversation was about Mayor Nagin recently holding a town hall in Baton Rouge, garnering comments that there were more New Orleans residents living there than in New Orleans itself.
The health of the New Orleans healthcare system is by far it's largest problem to face yet. Medical records are missing or have been destroyed by floodwaters, the main treatment center moved onto a Naval ship (it was anchored near New Orleans as Katrina neared the city) after Katrina, then was moved to tents in the city is now housed in the New Orleans Convention Center, there is a substantial shortage of nursing, only 15% of the doctors have returned and the main trauma center for those badly injured is located in a neighboring parish. A victim can get into surgery in about an hour if they come in during "bankers hours".
Of the many problems to be addressed, the initial one most residents there now and the ones considering a return is the same, they want the levees rebuilt to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The Army Corps of Engineers stated that the levees will be repaired before the next hurricane season. They also promised Mayor Nagin that they will be rebuilt to withstand a Category 3 storm "plus some", leading most to believe that they will just repair and improve some on what went wrong during Katrina. Improved levees are to be 17 feet high rather than the 12-13 feet high before Katrina. The reality of this is that most likely, the levees will never be rebuilt to withstand the force of a Category 5 storm. The cost will be exhorbitant and the many who might otherwise be financially involved will squawk because they won't get a decent return on their investment.
I find it interesting that it was initially predicted that even with a Category 3 storm, the storm surge would still come over the levees by 8-10 feet. Instead, Katrina was a Category 4 with up to a 30 foot storm surge, topping the levees by upwards of 10-12 feet of water. A Category 5 storm, even if the levees are raised to 17 feet, would still top them by almost 10 feet of storm surge.
Interesting that they are deepening the "bowl" that many did not or could not escape from. From my viewpoint, it is reasonable to believe that the cost of human life is not enough to re-engineer the levees, lands and the waterways surrounding them. Deepening the bowl is simply putting a bandage over an openly gangrenous wound that until properly cleaned and restored, will never heal.
I hope those who now hold the rebuilding of New Orleans in their hands, hear and remember the cries of the mothers that weep for the children they gave up to strangers as well as the cries of the people who lost those that they loved. Though all are equally responsible, it is the surviving children who are paying the ultimate price.
Continued.....
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