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The Official Katrina Aftermath Thread


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I am not so much worried about the economic impact, but the human impact is staggering. I am 42, and I think this is by far the worst natural disaster that I can remember. I know we got hit in Richmond a couple years ago by a CAT 1 storm, and we were 120 miles inland, and this city was in rough shape for a week.

 

I just cant imagine what is going on down there. Not only are people losing their homes and possesions, but I gotta imagine that a good many of them have lost their income as well. I am a hard core liberterian/capitalist to the core, but damn these folks are gonna need our help!

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Its basically mind boggling that we've lost an entire city, thats basically going to have to start from scratch when this is over. People form Ivan are still cleaning up and re-building, i can only imagine how long it will take to get everything resembling normalcy...years i bet...

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Its basically mind boggling that we've lost an entire city, thats basically going to have to start from scratch when this is over. People form Ivan are still cleaning up and re-building, i can only imagine how long it will take to get everything resembling normalcy...years i bet...

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Yeah, for at least the foreseeable future, that's the case.

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This may seem like a silly question. But if you're evacuated and your company is destroyed and you can't go to work and you can't get a pay check then....

How do you live? How do you pay rent? How do you buy food?

Or does the Red Cross and other agencies support you with basic necessities until you find work?

 

How do you pay your bills? I know that FEMA can stop problems with the mortgage payments, but what about credit cards, car payments, insurance, medical insurance etc.

 

This must be an administrative nightmare for months. I just can't figure out how someone survives this.

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This may seem like a silly question. But if you're evacuated and your company is destroyed and you can't go to work and you can't get a pay check then....

How do you live? How do you pay rent? How do you buy food?

Or does the Red Cross and other agencies support you with basic necessities until you find work?

 

How do you pay your bills?  I know that FEMA can stop problems with the mortgage payments, but what about credit cards, car payments, insurance, medical insurance etc.

 

This must be an administrative nightmare for months. I just can't figure out how someone survives this.

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I dont think its silly at all. At least the people from biloxi can go back and start cleaning up whats left and such. But the people from N.O. are basically displaced with no place to go. We have to hope that families of these people will step up to the plate whenever possible and help them shoulder the burden.

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This may seem like a silly question. But if you're evacuated and your company is destroyed and you can't go to work and you can't get a pay check then....

How do you live? How do you pay rent? How do you buy food?

Or does the Red Cross and other agencies support you with basic necessities until you find work?

 

How do you pay your bills?  I know that FEMA can stop problems with the mortgage payments, but what about credit cards, car payments, insurance, medical insurance etc.

 

This must be an administrative nightmare for months. I just can't figure out how someone survives this.

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That was just the point I was trying to make. Again, I may be wrong here as I have never been to NO, but my impression is a fairly blue collar/ tourism type of town. Lots of hourly employees that have no shot at getting paid for the foreseeable future. Think of all those employees that worked in the casino industry. That is why I really see this as the most devasting storm in my lifetime. I mean, they cannot even start to get things back to a bare minimum in terms of living conditions until they can get rid of that dam water.
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I'm sure Buffalo feels cheated as well during blizzards.  And Grand Forks did when downtown went up in flames while the Red River flooded it.  Homestead and Dade County definitely felt cheated.  Less affluent communities always feel cheated when something bad happens.

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Is there an vital national economy in Buffalo? For all instensive purposes they should evacuate the city and start a new. Gary can tag along with the plan.

 

When you contribute... No one likes to feel cheated. And that is exactly what happened when they failed to secure funding for higher, re-enforced levees.

 

IMO, the federal gov't is directly responsible for the levee breaks... They should have never happened.

 

All agencies involved should swing.

 

 

:doh:B-)

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:doh:

 

On 9/11, we lost four planes and two buildings.

 

The country, for all practical purposes, just lost an entire city.  Half a million refugees. 

 

Yeah, it's not on the scale of 9/11.  It's closer to the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

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On 9/11, we were attacked on U.S. soil for the first time by an agressor power. That WAS a national event. A natural disaster to one part of the country has much less national significance ("big picture").

 

I'll agree, on a personal level to the individuals involved, Katrina is much more significant. However, 150,000 people were killed by the tsunami vs. a thousand or so in N.O. so I don't agree with that comparison, either.

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This sure as hell is a national event. And when it comes to the historical significance of the Big Easy being destroyed its hard to comprehend. That was one of the cultural centers for this country and it may be completely gone, at least how we knew it, forever. I am sorry the tsunami was terrible and the human loss was ridiculous, but this is human loss and all sorts of other entangibles that were lost when Nawlins, Biloxi and all the gulf towns were wiped out.

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This sure as hell is a national event.  And when it comes to the historical significance of the Big Easy being destroyed its hard to comprehend.  That was one of the cultural centers for this country and it may be completely gone, at least how we knew it, forever. I am sorry the tsunami was terrible and the human loss was ridiculous, but this is human loss and all sorts of other entangibles that were lost when Nawlins, Biloxi and all the gulf towns were wiped out.

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No, it's not. It's only a local event. Half a million refugees and a shattered city has no impact on my life.

 

Now excuse me while I B word about gas prices in another thread... :doh:

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....vs. a thousand or so in N.O. so I don't agree with that comparison, either.

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So sorry that we can't have an apples-to-apples comparison for you complete with 250,000 dead, but this is closer to the tsunami than to 9/11, whether you agree with it or not. As if it's your agreement that makes it so.

 

A thousand? Wait awhile.

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This sure as hell is a national event.  And when it comes to the historical significance of the Big Easy being destroyed its hard to comprehend.  That was one of the cultural centers for this country and it may be completely gone, at least how we knew it, forever. I am sorry the tsunami was terrible and the human loss was ridiculous, but this is human loss and all sorts of other entangibles that were lost when Nawlins, Biloxi and all the gulf towns were wiped out.

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Amen.

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Well, since you brought it up...how will it impact your life??  Let's have some examples.

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Considering the potential these gas prices have to cripple the US economy, I'd say that it certainly has the potential to affect everyone in this country.

 

Myself, I live 500 miles north of New Orleans. We're already seeing a large influx of those left homeless filling local hotels.

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Well, since you brought it up...how will it impact your life??  Let's have some examples.

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You in NYC or DC? How'd 9/11 impact you? Have to take your shoes off at the airport now, while bitching about the PATRIOT Act? :doh:

 

I've got friends in New Orleans, !@#$. Just sent one of them ALL my spare cash so she could buy clothes, since she lost everything.

 

Even beyond that...who do you think bears the cost of recovery and rebuilding? Of housing half a million people for six months or more? Probably a hundred thousand people out of work? The major Gulf port shut down for the rest of the year? What do you think the disruption in grain shipments is going to do to food prices? What do you think the cost to all the companies HQ'd in New Orleans is going to do to their share value in your retirement funds?

 

Sure..."it doesn't affect me". That's why we're talking about gas rationing throughout the southeast.

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On 9/11, we were attacked on U.S. soil for the first time by an agressor power.  That WAS a national event.  A natural disaster to one part of the country has much less national significance ("big picture"). 

 

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Are you sure you want to stick with this assesment?

Maybe I am missing something, but if the military is mobilized, parts of five states are emergency regions,

the president flies over, the congress puts together a relief package,

the economy is influenced and markets spike, and thousands of

americans are dead, what exactly qualifies as a national event?

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Are you sure you want to stick with this assesment?

Maybe I am missing something, but if the military is mobilized, parts of five states are emergency regions,

the president flies over, the congress puts together a relief package,

the economy is influenced and markets spike, and thousands of

americans are dead, what exactly qualifies as a national event?

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Not being able to take your nail clippers on an airplane, apparently. :doh:

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