cellio | evacuations

Katrina is certainly a tragedy, and I feel really bad for the people who've lost lives and property. My heart goes out to those people. But two things: (1) this is not anything like the tsunami in magnitude, Mr. Mayor, and (2) there are other things going on in the world too and I'd like the news to cover them. (I mean, really, if I were a nefarious government agent itching for some shenanigans, this would be the perfect time.)

anastasiav posed a thought experiment today. Given 12-24 hours' notice that you have to clear out and you have only your current vehicle with which to do it, what would you take? I have sometimes played through the "the house is on fire" scenario, where you maybe grab something on your way out the door, but this is a different scenario.

This isn't the order in which I thought of things, nor is this in full priority order, but I'm trying to group things for easier reading. For purposes of the exercise I'm assuming that my VW Golf is not currently in lemon mode. :-)

The universal "this goes without saying, right?" list: passport, cash, checkbook, cell phone, non-perishable compact food, drinking water, medicine, blankets, a few changes of clothes, toiletries, contents of the "important papers" drawer.

Every bit as essential to me: the cats (duh), some food for them, computer CPU and external hard drive. Yes, if a shelter turned my cats away I'd keep driving, as long as I possibly could. (And by the way, the cats and the external hard drive -- in that order -- are what I'd grab in the event of a fire.)

Thinking practically: contents of the "original work" drawers (research notes, sheet music, etc that aren't on the computer), one good knife, photos of items being left behind (including contents of bookshelves) for the insurance claim and to help with rebuilding,

Sentimental stuff: photo albums (I don't have a lot), the afghan my grandmother (of blessed memory) made for me (doubles as a blanket, too), a few (specific) pieces of jewelry, copies of my band's CDs (one each, I mean, not stockpiles), kiddush cup from our wedding, Shabbat candlesticks from a good friend.

Special and possibly surprising to some: about a dozen specific religious texts, or that entire section of the bookcase if I had room. Books are replacable, but that's not the point. I would do my best to specifically rescue the books containing the (real, not translated) name of God. I would also check with my synagogue and offer to take one torah scroll with me if needed. Yes, I would give my religious community a chunk of my evac space for something that important; it's kind of like tithing, when you think about it.

(Oh, in case you're wondering, Dani has his own car. We'd certainly try to use both. So I haven't factored him into this. This is my list, not our list.)

Unless there's room (which I kind of doubt), my hammer dulcimer didn't make the cut (though I'd grab the bag of hammers; good hammers are really important, and they're small). It's expensive and it would be a shame, but I do know where to get another. Losing the case would be annoying (not commercially available), but in this scenario I'd be doing enough rebuilding of the core parts of my life that this would be noise. (Err. So to speak.)

Sure, I've got lots of other stuff -- but most of it is stuff that could be replaced. It's just stuff. The things I listed go beyond "just stuff".

What are the things that you consider to be beyond "just stuff"?

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But two things: (1) this is not anything like the tsunami in magnitude, Mr. Mayor, and (2) there are other things going on in the world too and I'd like the news to cover them.

(1) several good points have been made here already, so I guess I'll just add that New Orleans alone has a regular population of over 400,000. Add to that all the outlying areas, plus the coastal areas in Alabama and especially Mississippi that have been totally destroyed. New Orleans is being completely evacuated and no one knows when (or if) people will be able to return. Its not completely unlikley that a million people -- a million people will be completely homeless for at least several weeks, if not more. FEMA is talking about setting up refugee camps (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/082905dntexafterkatrina.31f1021.html) to deal with those who have nowhere else to go. Perhaps the loss of life is not as great as it was in the Tsunami, but the impact to an entire region will be as great ... if not greater. And the most frightening part? Its not even peak Hurricane season yet. Remember those refugee camps? Now imagine if a second storm, of any strength, strikes the area.

(2) On the contrary, I want to see the same level of coverage for Katrina that we saw for September 11th. I want to see all news, all the time. I want the commercials to stop running. I want America to wake up to see what's happened here. Charities and relief agencies raised over $657 million in the three weeks following September 11th. 2,776 families shared donations totaling $54.3 million from the Red Cross alone. That's just a hair under $20,000 per family -- and these were people who lost a life, yes, but not a home; not everything they own except the clothing on their backs. Yes, insurance and FEMA will help some, but it won't be nearly enough. Katrina is, by far, the worst natural disaster ever on American soil.

Sorry to rant, but I'm fearful that the help that is needed will simply never materialize. I'm fearful that American's are tapped out on crisis, that they feel as you do -- that it doesn't affect them, that they just want to see other news, hear other stuff. I'm fearful that we'll have honest-to-god refugee cities in America for a year or more to come. I'm fearful that New Orleans (in particular) will become a lawless hot-zone that can never be reclaimed. I'm fearful that America just doesn't want to pay attention, and these people who are suffering now -- and, in particular, those who lack the means to rebuild their lives -- will suffer more, and worse, before the end of the week, not to mention the end of the year.

If smart people like you can feel this way, what chance does the rest of America have?

It's not that I don't care; I certainly do. I know this is a big problem for the people who live in that area, and I hope to never experience something like that. (I hadn't thought of it as the biggest natural disaster we've had, but you're right that it probably is. I was ssuming the SF earthquake of 1906 was bigger.) I've already sent off a donation, which is about all I can do from here to help. And I do want the news to cover this.

But there are other pages in the newspaper, other places for links on news sites, and other broadcast minutes available, too. For most of Monday every single link "above the fold" on CNN was Katrina-related; I think people would have been just as informed if half of those links had been other national and international news, and I woudln't have had to dig so much to find out what's going on in Iraq, for example.

For most of Monday every single link "above the fold" on CNN was Katrina-related

What do you consider to be above the fold? Check google's cache of CNN.com (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:XBvJ7pr5NuMJ:www.cnn.com/+CNN&hl=en) from Monday evening (I have no idea how long this link will be good...). There's several non-Katrina links in the 'more news' section (which I consider above the fold, but it may be a monitor resolution difference).

In fact I remember being annoyed that Green Day's MTV thing was anywhere NEAR the Katrina stuff; that particular link was up all day.

Personally, I don't mind having a bit of a break from Iraq, but then I get it all day at work, too, not just from the news sources.

I'm referring to the section at the top, with a big feature story and usually about a dozen other links. This is before you get into the "world", "US", "sports", etc sections. To extend the metaphor, those are the front page below the fold.

This morning, if you counted the story about oil prices in the wake of the storm, every "above the fold" link was again about the storm -- even though if you followed the "developing story" link (and don't most people do that?) you got those same links there too.

Currently, in addition to the set of links in the "stomr" box, there are 8 above-the-fold storm links and 4 non-storm ones (one of which is about the cost of gas; the other three are Baghdad, Martha Stewart, and chimp DNA).

bradhicks has suggested that instead of refugee camps, people displaced by Katrina be moved to cities across the US, many (most?) of which are losing population. They'd still need a lot of help, but they'd have better access to what they need and better chances of finding work.

That's a very good idea. There would be some resistance from the people affected, because a refuge camp is temporary ("I can go home again later") and a move to another city feels and probably is permanent. Attachment is a powerful emotion, and even if you "only" lost property I expect there's a grieving process akin to losing a person. (If I found myself on the street with nothing but the clothes on my back, you can be darn sure I'd be grieving!) But all that said, if people could be persuaded to move to other cities sooner rather than later, I'm inclined to agree that this would help enormously in the recovery. If you're not going home again anyway, you may as well go somewhere where you can get a start on building a new life for yourself -- which isn't going to happen in a refuge camp.

Pittsburgh has been hemorrahging people for years in large part due to economics -- but those problems are mostly about taxes and government abuses, not a fundamental lack of jobs, and refuges would presumably have a different tax situation. (By the time that changes, they would be able to move to the 'burbs.) There's room here, and infrastructure, and (so far as I can tell) jobs. I assume there are dozens of other cities with similar situations.

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