evacuations

[cellio]

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"?

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

In terms of number of deaths, the tsunami was bigger.

However, in terms of worldwide economic impact. . .

Well, the Port of Louisina is apparently the single biggest grain-exporting port in the world. Depending how badly that port is smashed up, this could suck for people EVERYWHERE.

[cellio]

Good point. I'll admit that I was thinking of the direct impact -- people and property -- because I suspect that's what the mayor was thinking of when he said it. My perception could be mistaken, of course.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Some numbers I heard suggest that the insurance bill is going to be like ten times the insurance bill for the tsunami, simply because 99% of the people killed, injured, and displaced by the tsunami had no insurance.

[cellio]

The insurance bills will be higher, yes. That's not the same as the cost of rebuilding. (And I'm not taking into account the routine costs in the various locations.) At least the folks in Mississippi and Louisiana can take comfort in knowing that some of their financial losses will be taken care of. That's small comfort if you lost family, but it's more than many folks get.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Oh, also: I have a rule of cutting slack to people who've just undergone great personal tragedy who make inaccurate hyperbolic statements. And being the mayor of a city which was in the process of being destroyed, to an extent that just hasn't happened in the 1st World since 1945 or so -- that's got to be a great personal stress.

[cellio]

Ok, good point. It's (too) easy to be analytical from a couch hundreds of miles away.

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

This is basically what I was going to say. Statistically, no, it's not the same as the tsunami. To the survivors (and those who didn't), to those who didn't have much and yet lost it all (with no insurance to replace it), to the people who watched their spouse or child wash away and could do nothing about it, I'm sure it's every bit as catostrophic.

[siderea]

Am I the only person looking at the situation, seeing a multi-mile wide cesspool filled with raw sewage, dead bodies, free roaming vermin, humans still in close proximity, and temperatures expect into the 90s, and thinking, "Hot Zone"?

Yeah, I'd say this could suck for people everywhere.

[siderea]

(That said, I understand the body of water which is flooding the city is salt water, which definitely helps.)

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

I would guess for the people of the Gulf coast this sucks in ways that I hope to never understand.

I am thinking that the long term effects both to public health and to the economy (from the loss of the port of New Orleans) we can't even guess at yet. But it will be really bad.

[cellio]

This definitely sucks; the damage and disease potential are very high. Because they had warning, the loss of life will be much lower than it would have been otherwise. I think I was reading the mayor's comment too narrowly, perhaps because we (well, I -- I won't speak for others) have become used to talking about catastrophes in terms of body counts. And we shouldn't; that's a component but far from the whole picture.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm just thankful that malaria has been essentially eradicated in the United States. But there will be plenty of other diseases.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

You are not. This is a serious, serious concern, especially when coupled with the multitude of toxic-chemical-producing plants in the area. A nasty combination of biological unpleasantness, magnified by the coming heat, with really ugly chemicals making clean-up even harder.

The "good" news is that the river tends to flush things out into the ocean, rather than further inland into more populated areas. But that's cold comfort, given the ten mile wide incubator that the city has become.

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Something that didn't occur to me until zoethe mentioned it: "It's not unfair to pronounce Katrina 'our tsunami.' The only reason she didn't kill thousands was that we had fair warning." (http://www.livejournal.com/users/zoethe/391352.html)

I'd forgotten that one of the big issues with the tsunami was the lack of an early warning system there.

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

The US had a very effective system (or at least mostly good enough) to detect stuff like this but also to get word out to people as quickly. in the Tsunami there was no early detection but also no notification. the US NWS had some clues it was going to happen pretty early, but there was no one to call and say "Hey there is going to be a problem in 4-6 hours" and no way for that person to do something if they did call them.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I think it will turn out that Katrina killed thousands. There's a comment somewhere on Making Light (http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight) about doing volunteer work getting people from a nursing home off evacuation buses. Out of 250 people, 2 died on the 4 hour bus trip.

I'm not sure what to multiply this by, but getting it up to thousands doesn't seem at all unlikely.

Thousands dead still doesn't put it in a class with the tsunami, though.

[cellio]

Ooh, excellent point. I hadn't thought of that.