Katrina Aftermath

Accounting for Katrina's Dead

2006-10-25T12:13:00.000-04:00

URL http://www.earth.columbia.edu/news/2006/story10-23-06.php

How do we fully account for the people killed by Hurricane Katrina? Should we count the kidney dialysis patient who died when treatment was interrupted? What about a despondent evacuee who committed suicide months after leaving New Orleans? Or the suspected looter shot in the street?

More importantly, what happens to our understanding of the storm's impact on society if these and other uncounted are added to the list of those who drowned?

These are the questions John Mutter, deputy director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, hopes to answer through a new project that seeks to compile an online list of all Gulf Coast residents who died as a result of direct and indirect effects of the storm, and as a result of the victims' social standing or decisions made by policy makers.

The list is now freely available on the Internet.

Katrina Artists.com

2006-02-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

This is a free space for Gulf Coast artists in the tri-state area affected by Hurricane Katrina to post information about their work, to let customers know where they are now and to sell their work online. If you would like to feature your work here, e-mail katrinaartists AT at@gmail.comfor more information.

Though much attention is focused on rebuilding efforts after the hurricane, many don't realize the full extent to which local artists depended on a thriving local economy to survive. Art vendors often sold work to tourists who flocked to the areas for wonderful food, beach getaways, quaint shopping areas and gambling.

Many artists do not have the time (or the money) to wait for the area to rebuild. They need our support now. This site is not asking for donations - we are simply asking you to support Gulf Coast artists by buying their work...and working to make that easier for you to do.

(more...)

New Orleans Today: It's Worse Than You Think (Time)

2005-11-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

Neighborhoods are still dark, garbage piles up on the street, and bodies are still being found. The city's pain is a nation's shame

By CATHY BOOTH THOMAS NEW ORLEANS

On Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, the neon lights are flashing, the booze is flowing, and the demon demolition men of Hurricane Katrina are ogling a showgirl performing in a thong. The Bourbon House is shucking local oysters again, Daiquiri's is churning out its signature alcoholic slushies, and Mardi Gras masks are once again on sale. But drive north toward the hurricane-ravaged housing subdivisions off Lake Pontchartrain and the masks you see aren't made for Carnival. They are industrial-strength respirators, stark and white, the only things capable of stopping a stench that turns the stomach and dredges up bad memories of a night nearly three months ago. Most disasters come and go in a neat arc of calamity, followed by anger at the slow response, then cleanup. But Katrina cut a historic deadly swath across the South, and rebuilding can't start until the cleanup is done. In much of New Orleans, the leafy coverage of live oaks is gone. Lingering in the sky instead is a fine grit that tastes metallic to the tongue. Everyone's life story is out on the curb, soaked and stinky—furniture and clothing, dishes and rotting drywall, even formerly fabulous antiques. Dump trucks come periodically to remove the piles, taking some to a former city park, now a heap of rubbish several football fields long, towering above the head. The smell is sweet, horrific.

(MORE...)

Confessions and Advice, After the Storm (Wired Campus Blog)

2005-10-19T22:30:00.000-04:00

By Chronicle of Higher Education

John D. Lawson, the chief information officer at Tulane University, garnered a standing ovation from a crowd at the Higher Education Leadership Forum, a two-day event sponsored by The Chronicle and Gartner. His talk covered in detail Tulane's preparation for Hurricane Katrina and the issues the university dealt with in the aftermath.

Mr. Lawson opened with a picture of the projected path of Hurricane Wilma, and then he started in. His talk was peppered with advice for CIO's and presidents, and also contained a good deal of true confessions. "We didn't really understand the scope of the disaster that could hit us," he said. He also admitted that Tulane's communications plan was not as robust as it should have been. He advised the audience to have a plan to rely on multiple cellphone vendors (he carries three phones) since the lines will likely be clogged. He also told the crowd to have an old-fashioned radio-communications system available, as that would be more reliable than telephones. Tulane had backed up its systems and arranged for the evacuation of those back-up tapes. But, he confessed, the tapes were stored in a downtown building that was locked before the pickup could occur.

He said that Tulane reacted to the disaster by establishing central control. Deans of schools within the university can't worry about their individual needs, he said, and egos need to come second to the survival of the institution. Mission-critical operations need to be preserved first -– keep public-relations staff close, re-establish e-mail for critical staff, and know how to handle payroll and billing. Take control of your destiny, he said –- don't wait for the government or insurance companies to come to the rescue. He told presidents to watch out for wild rumors, and he told CIO's to relay information accurately, no matter how dire. "Have a thick skin and a soft heart," he told his peers. "You are going to be the hero and the goat –- and often the hero and the goat at the same time."

He also said a college needs to show concern for its people. A disaster is as taxing mentally and emotionally as it is financially. And he ended on a tearjerker, saying that colleges hit by disasters should keep in mind the suffering of the people around them. He showed a news clip of an interview with a man whose wife was torn from his arms when Katrina floodwaters ripped their house apart. Before she disappeared into the water, she told him to take care of the kids.

URL: http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/2005/10/confessions_and_1.html

Free Medical Journal Articles on Impact of Katrina (BeSpacific)

2005-10-17T13:16:00.000-04:00

From the October 13, 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the following essays, available at no cost to non-subscribers, "discuss the immediate challenges [physicians] faced and address the public health concerns in the aftermath."

Volunteer Work — Logistics First

Public Health Response — Assessing Needs

Finding Supplies

Aftershocks

Evacuated Populations — Lessons from Foreign Refugee Crises

Lethal Levels

Triaging Tragedy

Unexpected Necessities — Inside Charity Hospital

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/009439.html

Grace Lee
http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Hurricane Katrina Relief Resources: LawHelp

2005-10-12T11:31:00.000-04:00

This page provides links to both general relief resources as well as legal resources and information on nonprofit legal services providers in states affected by Hurricane Katrina. You may also wish to visit KatrinaLegalAid.org.

Katrina spawned plague of misinformation (USA Today)

2005-10-12T11:24:00.000-04:00

By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY

One thing can be said for certain about what it was like in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina roared through:

Much of what was reported as fact by government officials and the media during the chaotic first week afterward turned out to be fiction.

Myths and misinformation multiplied, from how many people died to what conditions were really like inside the Louisiana Superdome.

"If you don't have accurate information ... you could be making bad decisions and just creating the next disaster," says Ken Murphy, director of Oregon's Office of Emergency Management and a director at the National Emergency Management Association. ( more...)

Site helps bring legal aid to Katrina victims

2005-10-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

from Robert Ambrogi's LawSites:

Working to facilitate the fair distribution of disaster benefits to New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina is the goal of The New Orleans Coalition for Legal Aid and Disaster Relief . The coalition, developed through the efforts of Tulane Law School faculty, students and alumni, seeks to bring together resources from all parts of the legal community. Membership and participation is open to anyone -- especially lawyers and law students -- who want to help with relief efforts.

The coalition's Web site provides forms for those in need of legal help to request it and for lawyers to volunteer their assistance. It also provides information on sources of legal and benefits assistance. Eventually it will include a blog.

Beyond providing legal help, the coalition plans to serve as a watchdog and oversight group to ensure that public and private resources are distributed on an equitable basis. It also will conduct research on topics relevant to the relief effort, such as benefit programs, insurance and bankruptcy.

Grace Lee

Depraved Librarian

American Diaspora - Katrina

2005-10-06T07:54:00.000-04:00

Fleeing Katrina

To map the mass exodus from the Gulf Coast, ePodunk analyzed more than 40,000 messages posted on the Internet by survivors of the storm.
"Family is safe! House is lost! Kids are in Indiana with grandparents."

We looked at Web "safe lists," including those maintained by CNN, craig's list and MSNBC, and recorded data from every message in which the poster included his hometown and a city and state where he had found refuge.

An advantage of compiling data this way, rather than through official reports from agencies such as FEMA, is that these reports include not only people who were in shelters, but also those who were able to leave on their own, before and after the hurricane.

In our analysis, people reported moving to 724 cities in 46 states. Many expressed an intention to move on from their temporary quarters, so the map would likely to change with time.

Our sample, while sizeable, is not a complete picture, nor is it intended to reflect the numbers of people moving to a city. Houston, for example, experienced a much greater influx than Seattle.

However, the map does provide a graphic representation of the nationwide impact of such a huge migration. Indeed, repercussions will be felt beyond national borders. Eventual destinations mentioned in postings included Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and the UK.

Photos of Damage in Mississippi (LISNews)

2005-10-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

The Council of State Historical Records Coordinators has posted Photos of Damage in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina . These photos were taken September 18-20, 2005, during a visit by a team from the archival community. They include visits to the Biloxi Public Library, City of Bay St. Louis, Hancock County Historical Society, and Waveland. A preliminary report on a trip by Miss. Archivists is also online.

URL: http://www.lisnews.com/article.pl?sid=05/09/29/1240257

Roundup of Immigrants in Shelter Reveals Rising Tensions (Wall Street Journal)

2005-10-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

By CHAD TERHUNE and EVAN PÉREZ
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 3, 2005; Page B1

LONG BEACH, Miss. -- Last Wednesday, police and the U.S. Marshals Service swept into a Red Cross shelter for hurricane refugees here. They blocked the parking lot and exits and demanded identification from about 60 people who looked Hispanic, including some pulled out of the shower and bathroom, according to witnesses. The shelter residents were told to leave within two days or else they would be deported.

"They asked me where I wanted to go: to Houston, Atlanta or back to Mexico," said Jose Luis Rivera, 39 years old and an undocumented construction worker from Veracruz, Mexico. Mr. Rivera said he had been sleeping in a tent outside the large shelter building since Hurricane Katrina struck just over a month ago, flooding his second-story apartment in nearby Pass Christian and destroying all his belongings, including a pickup truck. "I lost everything I own in the storm. But they said they didn't care. They told us that if we didn't leave they would return on Friday with buses to take us away," he said.

Fearful they would be forced to leave the country, Mr. Rivera and most of the other Hispanic men left the Red Cross shelter the next morning. Local contractors agreed to house workers they are hiring for cleanup work and other jobs in tents at worksites. Mr. Rivera set up his tent at a Baptist church that told him it had room for Hispanics from the shelter. ( MORE...)

Shelter/Housing Needed for Evacuee in Minden, LA

2005-10-01T14:37:00.000-04:00

Evacuee from Baton Rouge, currently at a shelter in Minden, LA which
will be shutting down needs a place to stay in Miden. 1st preference
of permanent or temporary shelter/housing is Minden. Evacuee and her
family needs financial assistance but first priority is somewhere to
stay at. If you are located in Minden, LA and are in a position to
help out, please contact Brenda Pool at +13183779310. Address of the
shelter at which she is currently at is: 216 Camps Smokehouse Rd,
Minden, LA 71055

If you can't get through to Brenda, please email the KatrinaHelp team
on katrinahelp.info@gmail.com with subject line as 'Help-Minden,LA' or
call us on +15042081564 and we will get your offer of kind assistance
in to her.

Thanks,
KH-Angelo.

--
The KatrinaHelp Team
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

Operation Eden blog

2005-09-30T17:23:00.000-04:00

A personal chronicle of what hurricane Katrina has done to my poor proud people. Scroll all the way to the bottom, and travel with me through this.

St B Middle School / Mansion 2 eyewitness accounts

2005-09-29T22:08:00.000-04:00

These 2 people have no internet access to send these accounts and asked to do it for them-but these are their words with nothing omitted or added-and i am just replaying their accounts- please do not brush this off and let it be forgotten by the happy fluffy stories. Local police corruption and calusness should be known by the St. Bernard Parish residents and taxpayers whos money will be used to rebuild their parish.

2) Please Help please call Frank, 504-701-3233. He needs advice and if anyone want to go with him to gather the evidence and document/video tape evidence. Please help.The day of hurrican Katrina, 6 dogs were put into Sebastien Roy School on Bayou Rd. in St. Bernard Parish. This was the only safe place to put the dogs. These were full bred pit bulls, well trained, my brother has bred them for fifteen years. Poncho, the head male was eight years old and superbly trained. Cheyenne was pregnant and near the birth. The others were three females, three years, five months, and seven months and a male who was five months. Yesterday my brother was able to enter the parish and go see for his dogs. This is what he found: The head male and and the three females were shot dead, shell casings litter the area. They appear to have been dead for at least two weeks. The young male, a five month puppy, was locked in a room and found dead. This dog was left to starve, which he did. The mother had given birth to three puppies, all were found locked in a stairwell with no water or food. The puppies were well, but the mother was near death, never has he seen a dog as skinny as she was. My brother is furious at the murder of his animals and intends to return tomorrow to photograph the evidence and take any legal action that he can. He was told by a first hand witness that the St. Bernard Sheriff dept. did the shooting. This was not necessary. We can understand that the head male might have to be put down because he would defend his family, but the others were puppies, they would not hurt anyone. Please call Frank, 504-701-3233. He needs advice and if anyone want to go with him to gather the evidence. Please help.

1) I found all of the dogs that were in that huge mansion Beauregard Middle School in St Bernard parish. dead. Most chained with curtain cords. Some appeared to have been shot. Mother dog laying dead on her dead pup. Pure horror..There were people staying in there for a long time too. It looks like about a 20 foot wall of water came through there. I found desperate scribblings on the wall about peoples pets. Angel was one of them. I didn't find any beagles (Hunter) but I found a brown collar with tags that had been chewed off and the dog was gone. There were fresh dog tracks in the mud in the newer part of the school in the back but when we went in there there was a lot of water, it hurt our lungs to breathe, so we walked the murky halls calling and no dogs came. I think a couple of mini schnauzers and a dachsund were rescued for I saw a note scribbled on the wall by Nat. guard saying they took those dogs to baton rough. I photographed everything including the pleas written on the walls....The people held up there lived in squallor, it was a scene from hell."

Marilyn McGee, animal rescuer

Animal Rescue Efforts at Fever Pitch - National Guard to Assist

2005-09-29T20:40:00.000-04:00

Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada), a licensed veterinarian, announced today that the National Guard will begin escorting animal rescue crews in Louisiana. This report was greeted with relief by internet animal rescuers. The posts are flying at nearly one a minute at NOLA.com's pet rescue forum following reports of wholesale animal slaughter in St. Bernard's parish. A $5,000 reward (http://ericsdogblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/5000-reward-offered-for-dog-shooters.html)
is being offered for information leading to the conviction of anyone
involved.
The KatrinaHelp Team
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

Volunteers URGENTLY Needed in Kirbyville, Beaumont, TX

2005-09-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

Those who can do hard physical work, carpenters and people who know
how to string a fence, operate machinery, etc. are urgently needed to
help out at the Exotic Wildlife Refuge & Orphanage in Kirbyville, TX.

Please contact Monique Woodward at phone # (409) 423-4847 for more
details or if you're close to the area, please go over to:

EXOTIC CAT REFUGE and
WILDLIFE ORPHANAGE
HC 3 Box 96-A
Kirbyville, TX 75956

If anyone has a backhoe (this is specific to a volunteer team that's
already on the ground or going over there) please take it along with
you to the orphanage, they need one over there to hold a couple of
trees up. If you require more information regarding this location and
volunteering details, please email the KatrinaHelp team with subject
line as 'KH-Exotic-Volunteers' on katrinahelp.info@gmail.com

--
The KatrinaHelp Team
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

Common Ground is Seeking Medics and Licensed Health Professionals

2005-09-29T13:46:00.000-04:00

Common Ground is a community-run organization offering temporary
assistance and mutual aid to the citizens of New Orleans and the
surrounding areas. Common Ground's team includes doctors, lawyers, aid
workers, community organizers, and volunteers of all stripes and
creeds. If you would like to volunteer to assist Common Ground bring
relief to those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

...
Common Ground is seeking medics and licensed health professionals
(MD's, RN's, Nurse Practitioners, Physicians Assistants) who can staff
their free medical clinic in Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana. If you
can offer your time and expertise, please contact Michael Kozart, M.D.
at (415) 702-5872 or Scott Weinstein, RN (240) 432-9386. Email:
healthalgiers@yahoo.com. Temporary phone and location: (504) 361-9659,
1401 Teche St. Algiers, LA 70114.

Please click here for more info on volunteering with Common Ground

******************************************************

How to Get to Common Ground

Algiers Medical Clinic
1401 Teche St.
New Orleans, LA, 70114

Malik Rahim's house and community center area:
331 Atlantic Ave.
New Orleans, LA, 70114

West Bank Steppers Community Center
1510 Newton St.

St. Mary's Relief Center
3518 General Meyer Ave.
New Orleans, LA, 70114

Moses' Church
2129 General Meyer Ave.
New Orleans, LA, 70114

--
The KatrinaHelp Team
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

March the Music Back: A Valley Benefit for Gulf Musicians

2005-09-29T11:16:00.000-04:00

Date: Friday, September 30, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: John M. Greene Hall at Smith College in Northampton, MA.

Admission is free but donations are requested.
100% of proceeds will go to the Gulf Coast Orchestra Relief Fund of the

American Symphony Orchestra League.

Hosted by John Montanari of WFCR and featuring:

Smith College Chorus
Cantabile
Valley Light Opera
Mt. Holyoke's Victory Eights
New Valley Singers
Pioneer Valley Symphony Chorus
Carol R. Daggs and Friends
Smith College's The Vibes
Smith College Glee Club
Evelyn Harris

A Webinar on Hurricane Katrina: Innovative Information and Communications Responses

2005-09-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

(This item was originally posted to
<http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/
_archives/2005/9/28/1266385.html>.)

On Tuesday afternoon, I participated in a webinar on innovative ICT
responses to Hurricane Katrina that was jointly hosted by the
Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network, HumaniNet, Aspiration, and
the Innovation Funders Network.

I felt proud to hear about the geek emergency response to the recent
tragedy. Representatives from a range of organizations - such as Cisco
Systems, Technology For All, and the Center for Neighborhood
Technology - briefed us on their efforts. Some information about the
Katrina PeopleFinder Project was also ably presented by Zack Rosen (of
CivicSpace Labs) and Steve Wright (of SalesForce.com Foundation).

I do my share of griping about the limits of the webinar format, but I
can't deny that there's great potential benefit in conducting this
sort of briefing and coordination in real time.

N-TEN will probably make transcripts and other materials available to
anyone who is interested, but there's an even better (though more
labor-intensive) opportunity coming up for those who want to
participate in this conversation. On 17 October 2005, there will be
an international conference in Washington, D.C. on the topic of
"Answering the call: Katrina, the Tsunami, Darfur, Afghanistan -
lessons learned from the Global ICT responses." N-TEN and HumaniNet
will once again be playing host.

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog
http://public.xdi.org/=deborah.elizabeth.finn

NOLA College Student Desperately Needs Help

2005-09-28T04:42:00.000-04:00

Currently Katrina has left Lisa with just the clothes on her back and
she's found a place to stay, college is starting very soon and she
desperately is in need of help.

Lisa urgently needs the following items:

-clothes/shoes. Clothing Sizes: 0-2 Shoe sizes: 8-8.5
-towels
-underwear size small -bras 32B
-bookbag (for college)
-laptop (for college)
-roundtrip ticket to NOLA (salvage items from her house)

You can send the above items to:
Liza Puglia
30-50 30th St. Apt. 2L
Astoria, NY 11102

Alternatively, you can also email Lisa (lizapuglia@yahoo.com) with
details of your offer to help out.

--
The KatrinaHelp Team
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

Storms Stretch Safety Net for Black Colleges (New York Times)

2005-09-25T16:08:00.000-04:00

By PETER APPLEBOME

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 24 - After Hurricane Katrina hit, there was six feet of water in the library at Xavier University. There is a beached boat on a campus made that much soggier by the wind and rain from Hurricane Rita. There is a waterlogged chapel, floors as slimy and slippery as river moss, with chairs and Bibles and plants strewn willy-nilly and a statue of the Virgin Mary perched on a pedestal overlooking it all.

Three miles away, there is a pile of rubble at Dillard University where three modular student dorms used to be before a post-hurricane fire burned them to the ground. There is a soggy morass of ruined books and backpacks and notebooks in the student bookstore, a ghostly vista of shrubs turned black by the polluted water that covered the campus for two weeks, and no students, just the chug, chug, chug of trucks pumping out water and drying out buildings.

When most people think of higher education in New Orleans, they are more likely to think of Tulane or perhaps Loyola than Xavier and Dillard, two small historically black universities scrambling to get back on their feet. But in the parable of race and inequality left behind by the floodwaters, one chapter still to be written will be the fate of places like Dillard and Xavier, which suffered far worse damage than their wealthier counterparts on higher ground and have tiny endowments, limited resources and students who are almost all dependent on financial aid.

Both say they will survive and eventually recover. But that could be a long, slow process, with Dillard researching the possibility of holding some sort of a spring semester away from its home campus and Xavier saying it needs $70 million to $90 million in aid to get it back where it was before the storm.

"I don't have an endowment I can take money from," said Dr. Norman C. Francis, the president of Xavier. "If I can't recover the money we expected for the first semester to pay faculty and staff and pay our bills, we're standing here naked. We have nothing. And what we're looking for now is the help we need so we won't be severely crippled in our ability to come back."

Higher education, like everything else, took a wallop from the storm in the New Orleans area, where more than 75,000 students had to flee their colleges and universities. All had to shut down, including Tulane, the largest private employer in Orleans Parish. As it turned out, top officials there relocated to temporary office space in Houston, only to have to move again when Hurricane Rita threatened.

But few face more daunting hurdles than Dillard and Xavier, both small private universities, with almost 6,000 students between them. (more...)

Hurricane Rita Stormwatchers Blog (Houston Chronicle)

2005-09-24T17:31:00.000-04:00

Citizen journalists covering Hurricane Rita

Editor's note: Welcome to our experiment in citizen journalism. The bloggers who are posting here live in various parts of the city, and they will be posting their experiences as Hurricane Rita approaches and moves through the area. Bloggers here are posting on their own and are solely responsible for the content of their blogs.

(more...)

URGENT Help needed for a Mom & her 4 Kids

2005-09-24T09:28:00.000-04:00

Janet Posey who's a mom of 4 kids, needs urgent assistance for her and
her kids such as clothes and furniture. She has a 12 year old, a 9
year old, a baby of 13 months and a 9 week old infant. Janet needs
baby clothes, children's clothes & children's furniture ASAP.

If you can help, please email Janet (avon1510janet@yahoo.com) or if
you can't get through to Janet with your offer of help, please call
the KatrinaHelp team on +15042081564 with your offers of kind
assistance, leave us a voice mail message if our line is busy.
Alternatively you can send an email to the KatrinaHelp team
(katrinahelp.info@gmail.com) with the subject title as 'Help for
Janet Posey'.

Thanks,
Angelo Embuldeniya.
--
(The KatrinaHelp)
www.katrinahelp.info

+15042081564 -- local to Tulane, LA
24hrs/day & International

New Orleans' Ninth Ward under water again (Nola.com)

2005-09-23T17:54:00.000-04:00

9/23/2005, 2:06 p.m. CT

By MICHELLE ROBERTS and BRETT MARTEL

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Rita's steady rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighborhoods in a devastating repeat of New Orleans' flooding nightmare. But levees on other canals were holding their own.

Dozens of blocks in the Ninth Ward were under water as a waterfall at least 100 feet wide poured over and through a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal levee.

"Our worst fears came true," said Maj. Barry Guidry of the Georgia National Guard.

"We have three significant breaches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly," he said. "At daybreak I found substantial breaks and they've grown larger."

The levee on the other side of the Industrial Canal, which protected other sections of the city proper, were holding.

And at the 17th Street Canal, where the Lakeview area was flooded after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the fix was holding. "I'm certain this area is secure," said David Wurtzel, a Corps project engineer. "All of our monitors and gauges are holding steady."

(more...)

Gulf Oil Production at a Stand Still, yet Prices Drop

2005-09-23T16:36:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Essentially all Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 30 percent of U.S. oil refinery production was shut as Hurricane Rita approached the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Oil prices dropped Friday afternoon as Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 at maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

About 72 percent of natural gas production was shut in by Friday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said. More from ABC...

Via Nature's Wrath, an aggregator for weather-related news and commentary.

Hurricane Rita Resources (Gary Price's ResourceShelf)

2005-09-23T15:26:00.000-04:00

+ Watch/Listen To Live TV and Radio Coverage from Houston Stations
A link to a compilation of sources that Gary posted on SEW Blog
+ Harris County Office of Emergency Management Sitation Report
Continuously updated.

+ Up-to-the-Minute Coverage of Hurricane Rita
NewsNow aggregates content from more than 21,000 sources. Page auto-refreshes every five minutes.

+ Storm News Tracker from the Wall Street Journal
Acccess to the page is free, you don't have to be a WSJ subscriber. The tracker is updated with headlines throughout the day.
+ Hurricane Rita Resources via Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management
Maps, links to local emergency mangement offices, and more.
+ Facts: Texas Disasters at a Glance (PDF)
+ Facts: Texas Levels of Emergency Response (PDF)
+ The Harris County (Houston area) Office of Emergency Management offers this real-time,

interactive rainfall map.
+ Harris County Storm Surge Zones Map (PDF)
+ Harris County Elevation Map (PDF)
+ Emergency Managers Weather Information Network--Houston
+ Hurricane Rita Tracking Map (via Geodata.gov)
+ Buoy Data near Hurricane Rita (via NOAA)

URL: http://digbig.com/4erjg

It's Not Too Soon to Start Thinking About Hurricane Rita...

2005-09-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

...and about how information and communication technologies can be
deployed to assist those who are affected by it:

<http://ritahelp.info/>

(This item was originally posted to <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/
blog/_archives/2005/9/20/1245211.html>

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog
http://public.xdi.org/=deborah.elizabeth.finn

Conference Calls Detail Katrina Concerns, Failings (National Public Radio)

2005-09-23T08:54:00.000-04:00

Morning Edition, September 23, 2005 · In the days before Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, officials in local, state and federal governments held a series of telephone conference calls aimed at coordinating their responses to the storm. The sessions were recorded by Walter Maestri, emergency manager for Jefferson Parish, who shared them with NPR.

In tapes of the disaster planning meetings, emergency managers and civic officials evinced a growing concern with the strengthening hurricane's possible effects -- and after the storm made landfall, a growing frustration with the aid effort mounted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

As emergency preparations gave way to coordinated actions and pleas for equipment, the recorded calls depict an emergency command center in Baton Rouge that became a center of frenzied activity.

As late as Saturday morning -- 48 hours before the storm struck -- officials were debating how best to handle an evacuation. At one point, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans brought up a troubling issue: If community leaders simultaneously told residents to leave, gridlock could result.

Throughout the weekend, local officials continued in their plans to open disaster shelters. In detailed plans drawn up several years ago, state and federal governments agreed on the need for a network of "special needs" shelters, with emergency generators that could power medical equipment. But in a series of phone calls, officials complained they couldn't find the generators they needed.

Dozens of key officials from state and federal agencies spoke with local counterparts like Walter Maestri, of Jefferson Parish, a large suburb of New Orleans hit hard by the storm surge and the flooding that followed.

On the morning of Monday, Sept. 5, with Katrina making its way inland from the Gulf Coast, Maestri said on the call, "Things are collapsing." And questions persisted over who was in charge: "So FEMA will coordinate emergency supplies?" Maestri asked. Soon after, communications were lost, and the next conference call took place nearly two weeks later.

The calls could play a role in any investigation -- whether by the White House or by Congress -- into why the initial response to Katrina failed to match the scale of the hurricane's impact on the region.

This piece was produced by NPR's Katherine Davidson.

(Web Extra : Hear Full Exchanges from the Calls)

__
Grace E. Lee
http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Healing Katrina's Damage to 'Liquid Louisiana' (National Public Radio)

2005-09-23T07:50:00.000-04:00

Morning Edition, September 23, 2005 · The geography of southeastern Louisiana is unlike any place else on Earth. Much of what looks like solid ground on a map is actually marshland, floating like a pancake on a plateful of syrup.

Scientists are now piecing together how Hurricane Katrina affected those marshes, which form a buffer against storms and flooding. What they find will help determine how the region is rebuilt. For the latest NPR/National Geographic Radio Expedition report, Christopher Joyce journeys to "liquid Louisiana" to survey the damage.

Scientists believe Hurricane Katrina created a giant storm surge that gathered in the Gulf of Mexico and barreled westward up the wide swampy delta on its way to New Orleans. It may have reached 20 feet high by the time it hit the city's eastern suburbs.

Levees built to protect the city may have actually focused that storm surge: Instead of spreading a sheet of water out across the delta, the levees created a channel for the surge. Also, the natural marsh buffer zones that soften the blow of a storm surge have been largely replaced or hemmed in by ship channels and development. All those channels and levees cut off river sediment that enable the marsh to take root and thrive.

(more...)(audio player software also required, if you want to listen to the whole story)

'The Only Lifeline Was the Wal-Mart' (Fortune)

2005-09-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

The world's biggest company flexed its massive distribution muscle to deliver vital supplies to victims of Katrina. Inside an operation that could teach FEMA a thing or two.

Monday, September 19, 2005
By Devin Leonard

Jessica Lewis couldn't believe her eyes. Her entire community—Waveland, Miss., a Gulf Coast resort town of 7,000—had been laid waste by the storm, and Lewis, co-manager of the local Wal-Mart, was assessing the damage to her store. The fortresslike big box on Highway 90 still stood. But Katrina's floodwaters had surged through the entrance, knocking over refrigerators full of frozen pizza, shelves of back-to-school items, racks of lingerie. Trudging through nearly two feet of water in the fading light, Lewis thought, How are we ever going to clean up this mess?

That quickly became the least of Lewis's worries. As the sun set on Waveland, a nightmarish scene unfolded on Highway 90. She saw neighbors wandering around with bloody feet because they had fled their homes with no shoes. Some wore only underwear. "It broke my heart to see them like this," Lewis recalls. "These were my kid's teachers. Some of them were my teachers. They were the parents of the kids on my kids' sports teams. They were my neighbors. They were my customers."

Lewis felt there was only one thing to do. She had her stepbrother clear a path through the mess in the store with a bulldozer. Then she salvaged everything she could and handed it out in the parking lot. She gave socks and underwear to shivering Waveland police officers who had climbed into trees to escape the rising water. She handed out shoes to her barefoot neighbors and diapers for their babies. She gave people bottled water to drink and sausages, stored high in the warehouse, that hadn't been touched by the flood. She even broke into the pharmacy and got insulin and drugs for AIDS patients. "This is the right thing to do," she recalls thinking. "I hope my bosses aren't going to have a problem with that."

Wal-Mart, America's biggest company, is many things to many people-discounter extraordinaire, union buster, guardian of small-town virtues, wrecker of small-town shops-but about one thing there is no question: It is the repository of the nation's stuff. And for the people whose lives were stripped bare by Katrina, it was mundane stuff that meant the difference between life and death. Lewis was one of thousands of Wal-Mart employees who delivered, and no, her bosses don't have a problem with what she did. ( more...)

New Orleans MP3-annotated musical history (BoingBoing)

2005-09-22T14:51:00.000-04:00

The MP3 blog Aurgasm has posted an MP3-annotated musical history of New Orleans. Among the featured artists are NOLA natives The Dixie Cups, Lee Dorsey, and Sidney Bechet, whose 1932 rendition of Gershwin's Summertime (MP3 link ) is guaranteed to break your heart.

Link to post, which includes nearly a dozen music files, as well as a comprehensive set of links to Katrina-related MP3 roundups on other music blogs.

Strippers help tease back New Orleans nightlife (MSN)

2005-09-22T09:55:00.000-04:00

First strip club reopens in city's famous French Quarter

Reuters

Updated: 5:35 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.

Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Déjà Vu club, which reopened this week.

It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck.

"It's nice to get back to work, and all these men need some entertainment," Dawn Beasley, 27, a dancer at the club, said Tuesday night. "They haven't seen anybody but their buddies for two weeks."

The crowd hooted and hollered as women peeled off their tops and gyrated as customers tucked tips into their G-strings. ( more...)

Need and response proved out of sync (NOLA.com)

2005-09-21T10:54:00.000-04:00

Initial confidence rooted in ignorance

Getting 'boots on the ground' proved particularly difficult

By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON - It was 8:30 a.m., shortly after Hurricane Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, and Donald Bordelon was feeling pretty good.

Katrina's 145-mph fury was still raging outside his Arabi home. But in St. Bernard Parish, where residents look up at the Mississippi River, the real worry is water. Always, the water.

For the time being, the levees were holding back the forces of nature that daily threatened to render his neighborhood just one more south Louisiana swamp. His relief didn't last long.

Forty minutes later, water swirled up around the stove in his kitchen. He jumped into his boat and gave up his home to the storm.

Elsewhere in the hurricane's tailwinds, a brief sense of security swept across much of southeastern Louisiana and the nation. In the early afternoon of that Monday, it seemed, the 287-year-old city had once again been spared a direct hit by a major storm. A headline in a national press service assured, "New Orleans Weathers the Storm."

That assumption was dead wrong.

As surely as water seeks the lowest level, Katrina was about to lay bare the shortcomings of disaster plans by local, state and federal officials. ( MORE...)

Katrina Caravan Rescue

2005-09-21T10:45:00.000-04:00

Katrina Caravan Rescue is a small organization dedicated to finding Katrina Evacuees a way home to family and friends in unaffected areas. We started up the Wednesday after the disaster and we have transported well over 500 Evacuees to friends, families and hosts. Please help us with our needs and hopefully we can put ourselves out of business!

In New York:

We need volunteers for a few hours to check messages and take calls in the Brooklyn office, if you are available to come to Brooklyn, M-F between 10-5, please give a call at 718-783-1453 but only if you can come to Brooklyn.

Here is what we need all over:

Caseworkers (Urgent Need)

Think of these as social workers for transport. Our Case Coordinator will help you get ready to aid evacuees. You will be matched with three to five evacuees depending on your time constraints and you will personally contact them to verify their needs, the areas they are traveling to, as well as a host that is expecting them. Then you use our database to match evacuees to drivers throughout the US, that can transport them to their final destination. If interested please email Sharon sharon@podunkjunque.com ASAP and tell her you would like to be a caseworker. This is an amazing way to reach out and personally touch evacuees and their families. Can do from home.

Phone Support

We need people to man the phones for our toll free evacuee hotline. You will be trained and the work is fun and the evacuees so grateful. We need people in shifts, so if you have blocks of time during the week or weekend where we can forward the lines to your home phone and you have internet access so that you can enter evacuees into the database as you go, please email Annie hobbledog@yahoo.com and let her know that you would like to be a phone support volunteer. Can do from home.

Drivers

We need drivers already in the South or those willing to drive to the southern regions for the explicit reason of picking up evacuees and bringing them back to their home region. At the moment we cannot accommodate anyone who wants to come down South for a week or more on the off chance that we can use you but if you have a weekend free and can make the drive to Houston or Baton Rouge or areas in Oklahoma, please email us at info@katrinacaravan.org and we will enter you in the database. Please let us know when you can make trips and how far you are willing to travel. Please leave a number and an email we can contact you at, if you have already been contacted because you are in the database there is no need to reply to this call.

Data Entry

We need two data entry people to go into the mail and transfer all volunteers, drivers and evacuees into the database so that we can contact them in a swift and easy manner. An easy job that can be done while you are at home possibly babysitting or watching TV. If you can do this job please contact Sarah at katrinacaravan@msn.com . Can do from home.

WEB DESIGNER (Please we need someone) www.katrinacaravan.org

We need someone to get in there and fix things up! Can do from home.

Donations

If you are interested in making donations, we cannot accept cash but we have an urgent need for gas and Wal-Mart cards. If this is something you or your local community (social groups, churches, schools) want to help with, this allows us to keep drivers on the road and prepared with food supplies. Please contact us at (866) 738-9144 and we can tell you more.

Thank you all for being patient and for offering so much of yourselves!

Katrina Caravan Rescue
www.katrinacaravan.org
(866) 738-9144 Info/Volunteer
(866) 829-7313 HOTLINE FOR EVACUEE TRANSPORT ONLY (No housing sorry)

NYC: VH1: Get UP Stand UP: 9/23 and 9/26

2005-09-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

VH1's new disaster outreach program "Get Up Stand Up" will fill a truck of urgently needed supplies to the Mercy Corps Gulf Coast command center. According to the folks at Mercy Corps, what they need most are backpacks for K-12-year-olds and lots of them, filled with age-appropriate pens, notebooks, rulers, etc. On Friday, September 23rd and Monday, September 26th, go to 1515 Broadway (actually, 46th and Broadway on Friday and 45th between Bway and 8th on Monday) with a backpack filled with school supplies that a kid can use. Please label with tape on the front of the backpack which age group it is intended for and whether or not the contents are gender specific. Any of the following are needed.

For Elementary School kids, small stuffed animals, water-based markers or crayons, binder with loose-leaf paper, colored pencils, ruler, box for storing supplies, blunt-end scissors, drawing pad, erasers, glue stick. Middle School: binder with loose leaf notebook paper, flash light, highlighter, colored pencils, ruler, box for storing supplies, erasers, glue stick, two #2 pencils, pencil sharpener.

High School: small calculator, calendar assignment book, binder with loose-leaf notebook paper, flashlight, highlighter, ruler, erasers, two #2 pencils, pencil sharpener. Please indicate with tape on the outside of the backpack which age range it's intended for and whether or not the contents are gender specific

[via the Manhattan Users Guide]

Thanksgiving 1994 (Regina Schrambling's Gastropoda)

2005-09-21T08:48:00.000-04:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I survived what felt like an untranslated eternity in an Italian hospital by traveling nonstop in my mind. I couldn't walk to the bathroom three steps from my bed, but I could go back to every wondrous destination (and a few grim ones, too) where my consort has led me in 24 years of sharing a home (anniversary No. 2). And one day in one city gave me incalculable pleasure to relive: Thanksgiving 1994 in New Orleans.

I could lie in that miserable bed and somehow be zipping along in a rental car on an impossibly bright afternoon, crossing the Mississippi from Algiers back toward the French Quarter after turducken at Kelsey's, John Hiatt's "Buffalo River Home" blasting from the tape deck ("tearing through the cotton fields and bus shelters, the South running helter-skelter;" "I've been taking off and landing but this airport's closed;" "just when you think you've been gypped, the bearded lady comes and does a double back-flip").

I went that first time after my consort moved there for a couple of months to shoot it for National Geographic, back in the good old days when a photographer could actually be underwritten in his desire to live and breathe a story. I joined him for one week in slave quarters converted into a rental apartment in the Garden District, and we just soaked the place up, to the point that I noticed a Times-Picayune story about a do-gooders' plan to serve 25,000 or so turkey dinners to the poor and had to make my way to the Convention Center to help. Surprisingly, almost more volunteers than takers showed up -- it was pretty much a horde of white people in "Feast of Friendship" commemorative aprons standing around with a bunch of photographers. I remember being dejected but hopeful: Maybe poverty wasn't so bad in a city that had already struck me as one of the most troubled in America, with blood almost literally running on the sidewalks. Maybe all the needy were off having the Norman Rockwell experience on their own?

I think I knew even then how silly that was. But that day we just blithely got in the car and went to eat turducken (overrated) and then to a run-down house where the young cooks from Nola were holed up and had invited us for their potluck after Bob struck up one of his singularly engaging conversations while we ate at the pizza bar one night. That was a revelation, too: guys sleeping on mattresses on the floor in otherwise empty rooms for the chance to cook with Emeril, a hero a couple of them had not even met. But they could cook -- I had the best duck of my life, in confit with rosemary. Everyone had kicked in a specialty: pot stickers; smoked turkey glazed with roasted garlic; apple-habanero chutney; New Mexican carne adovada; mushroom soup, even canned cream corn, with six types of bread. It was so New Orleans (as was seeing a great-looking young black guy with his girlfriend being fawned over at Nola another day at lunch and wondering what celebrity he might be, only to learn he was an employee who was being treated to lunch to experience how patrons were treated -- a concept every restaurant should adopt, actually).

The rest of the trip was a heady blur, although I'll never forget the artist who shared a joint before taking us to a three-hour lunch at Galatoire's and too many drinks at the Napoleon House, or Jamie Shannon serving us amazing gumbo and then driving us in his little red convertible to meet his seafood supplier and refusing Bob's quicker route because he thought it was too dangerous, or Anthony at Ugglesich's talking us into his trout Muddy Waters and barbecue oysters and crab cakes, washed down with a Barq's and a $2.50 chardonnay, and the local arts official we ran into afterward at a coffee bar saying he could tell by the smell where we had just eaten. Duck at the Upper Line, biscuits at the Sonniat House, a muffuletta from Progress Grocery, a Ferdi po' boy with debris at Mother's, Vietnamese food after the surreal farmers' market out near the Camelot apartments in New Orleans East, Sazeracs and snapper with crab at Brigtsen's with Susan Spicer across the room on a Saturday night -- those are memories I will always be almost able to taste.

It was a truly enchanted city. Bob was so smitten he wanted to move there for good, but reality reared its unavoidable head. Even then it was clear that it would be an impossible place to make a living in, and not just because temptation beckoned from every corner. A good friend once posited that the only way to thrive in New Orleans would be as an alcoholic millionaire. And has that ever been made clear, in the cruelest way.

Only a soulless dry drunk of a millionaire would let it be devastated and then just make photo-op cracks about the good times he let hurl there.

2005-09-20T20:43:00.000-04:00

IT Disaster Recovery - After the Fact (PDF)

2005-09-20T12:25:00.000-04:00

from TechSoup, the Technology Place for Nonprofits:

Created in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, this
comprehensive document provides advice on getting technology
systems working again in small- and medium- sized nonprofits
where business continuity plans were not sufficient or did not
exist. Included in this report are instructions on hardware
recovery, restoring Internet connections, dealing with lost
passwords, working with borrowed technology, claiming insurance,
and a host of other useful information for your organization's
recovery efforts.
http://ga0.org/ct/67aqlen1CXnM/

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

How Vile Is Katrina's Toxic Goo? (Wired News)

2005-09-19T20:36:00.000-04:00

02:00 AM Sep. 19, 2005 PT

Before Hurricane Katrina even reached New Orleans, scientists warned of a "toxic gumbo" that would fill the giant soup bowl of a city. Now that their predictions have come true, specialists are turning their attention to the next big challenge: the leftovers.

As the water recedes, a disgusting muck coats the surfaces of buildings and streets. But it might be less dangerous than first feared.

The simple passage of time will cure the Big Easy of many of its ills, according to specialists in germ and chemical threats. To say New Orleans has become a giant toxic waste dump is "too strong," said Danny Reible, chair of Environmental Health Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

One reason for the optimism is that the nature of the New Orleans flood might actually result in less thick mud for residents and workers to cope with. In typical floods, "you've got this river that has been rampaging and carrying soil from everywhere in the watershed with it," said Reible, a former professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana State University. "Here, in a way it was a slow trickle, by comparison, that came through a breech in the levee. As a result it probably didn't bring in nearly as much ... mud." (more...)

New Orleans mayor suspends reopening of city (AP)

2005-09-19T19:03:00.000-04:00

The Associated Press
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005

NEW ORLEANS: Under pressure from President Bush and other top federal officials, the mayor Monday suspended the reopening of large portions of the city over the next few days because of the risk of a new round of flooding from a tropical storm.

''I am concerned about this hurricane getting in the gulf. If we are off, I'd rather err on the side of conservatism to make sure we have everyone out,'' Mayor Ray Nagin said.

The announcement came after repeated warnings from top federal officials — and the president himself — that the city was unsafe.

The mayor reversed course even as residents began trickling back to the first neighborhood opened as part of Nagin's plan, the scarcely damaged Algiers section.

The mayor said he had wanted to reopen some of the city's signature neighborhoods over the coming week in order to reassure the people of New Orleans that ''there was a city to come back to.'' He said he had strategically selected ZIP codes that had suffered little or no flooding.

But ''now we have conditions that have changed. We have another hurricane that is approaching us,'' he said. He warned that the city's pumping system was not yet running at full capacity and that its levee system was still in a ''very weak position.'' (more...)

Kerry, Edwards Blast Bush Over Katrina (Yahoo News)

2005-09-19T18:49:00.000-04:00

By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer

Two Democrats who might seek the White House again in 2008 criticized President Bush for his response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, assailing the suspension of wage laws while urging a concerted effort to aid the poor.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and former Sen. John Edwards spoke separately Monday on the government's handling of the catastrophe and on the broader issue of poverty in the United States.

In a blistering critique, Kerry said former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown was to Hurricane Katrina "what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to 'slam dunk intelligence'; ... what George Bush is to 'Mission Accomplished' and 'Wanted Dead or Alive.' ... The bottom line is simple: The 'we'll do whatever it takes' administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done."

Speaking to an enthusiastic audience at Brown University in Providence, R.I., the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said the government's response to the disaster revealed a "broader pattern of incompetence and negligence" in the Bush administration. (more...)

Home, briefly (sssssturtle)

2005-09-19T18:45:00.000-04:00

When I turn the corner, the house looks mostly as we left it. There are a couple of strips of weatherboard missing from the second floor, but they came off weeks ago when we were just starting the tropical storm alphabet, during Cindy. Most of the homes around me are fine, too. An awning torn off, a few tree limbs down. Nothing too big.

I get closer and see that our dormer window is gone. On the far side of our house, the neighbor's 30-foot-tall loquat tree has fallen. It slid alongside our house on its way down, taking out the fence, a couple more sideboards, some windowpanes, and one complete window. The hand of Fatima is still hanging by the front door, though. So is the snooty French, "Attention: Chien Lunatique" sign. There's a mark spraypainted on the front of the house, presumably by the National Guard. I can't translate it entirely, but I think it means "No dead bodies inside."

The door is heavy and swollen. That's not surprising: midway through September, it's still sweltering and very, very humid in New Orleans. I give the door a kick and breathe a sigh of relief: nothing's changed. Glass on the floor from a shattered window, but otherwise, it's okay.

There's no smell of death in the air. I'm hopeful for Lola.

I get to the kitchen, and there are still two full bowls of cat food on the floor: the SPCA must've come early on and taken her away. I put my bag on the table and call around just to make sure. No answer. Great. (more...)

An easy way to display a Katrina-related public service announcement on your blog

2005-09-18T12:59:00.000-04:00

<http://www.wordofblog.net/>

"Word of Blog is a new and free service that helps you spread the word
about things you like, events you care about and worthy causes you
want to support.

"Bloggers: You can pick and choose any of the ads appearing on this
site and display them into your blog or website. Simply copy the HTML
code appearing below the ad and paste it where you wish it to appear.
The ads have been formatted to fit into most blog columns.

"Organizations: If you want to post an ad on this site so that
bloggers can start spreading the "word of blog" about you, please go
to the "Submit Ad" section."

Feds: Nagin's Ambitious Return Plan is Problematic

2005-09-17T23:32:00.000-04:00

Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen said federal officials have worked with Mayor Ray Nagin and support his vision for repopulating the city, but he called Nagin's idea to allow citizens to return and businesses reopen in the next week both "extremely ambitious" and "extremely problematic."

The Associated Press article states that fears of another storm hitting the region's weakened levee system could put returned evacuees in danger.

Via the Hurricane Katrina Live Coverage Aggregator

Greetings from New Orleans: An Experiment in Found Art

2005-09-17T13:12:00.000-04:00

A few weeks prior to Hurricane Katrina, I completed this photo project with the intent of displaying the images in a New Orleans gallery. Clearly that's not going to happen any time soon. When I evacuated my now-flooded house, these photos were among the few possessions that I saved. I look at the images now and realize with some despair what's been lost. New Orleans has been my adopted home for a total of ten years, and for the most part it's been a love affair that has enriched my life enormously. While the city certainly had its share of problems prior to Katrina, the good has always outweighed the bad, elegance has always balanced out crassness, and the distinctive cultural contributions of its music, food, and architecture have been preserved throughout the cities neighborhoods for centuries. Now that the city has been reshaped by this disaster, I wonder what I'll be returning to in the coming weeks. I worry that the quirkiness of its people and that the physical charm of the landscape will be irreparably harmed. I look at these images now and feel privileged to have been witness to the glory that was New Orleans. Hopefully, a reverse diaspora will occur over the next few months to reinvigorate this beloved and beleaguered town.

[from BoingBoing]

Help Katrina Lawyers: Legal Resources, Consultants, Relief Support for Lawyers, Law Firms

2005-09-17T13:04:00.000-04:00

Lawyers in Louisiana and Mississippi have been displaced or have had their practices completely disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. A Louisiana Bar report estimated at least 1/3 of all New Orleans lawyers were unable to either access their offices or find a way to resume their practices. Facing a likely avalanche of businesses and individuals with serious disaster-related legal issues, the ability to restore our brethren to functionality is of paramount importance. The general public needs access to legal services as soon as possible. The best way those of us in the legal technology and practice management community can help is by providing technology guidance. Our volunteers represent legal technology consultants, practice management advisors and vendors of legal products and services across North America.

We Can Help:

    * Guidance regarding restoring backed up data, or recovering data from physically damaged computer systems or media
    * Advise about temporarily practicing with either borrowed, rented or purchased new PC and voice systems
    * Provide remote access to allow any lawyer who can get online to use well-known legal software to get their work out and contact clients and associates
    * Provide sound longer-term focused guidance on replacing destroyed or damaged systems - but doing it the best way at fair prices, avoiding making costly   mistakes

(MORE...)

Higher Ground Hurricane Benefit (Jazz at Lincoln Center)

2005-09-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES HIGHER GROUND HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT CONCERT and AUCTION SEPTEMBER 17

CONCERT WILL BE NATIONALLY TELEVISED ON LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER ON PBS AND BET Jazz and BROADCAST ON NPR; XM SATELLITE RADIO; WBGO JAZZ88.3FM; WNYC, NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO 93.9 FM, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.

Hosted By Laurence Fishburne. Featured Artists Include Wynton Marsalis, Laurence Fishburne, Terence Blanchard, Ken Burns, Shirley Caesar, Cyrus Chestnut, Peter Cincotti, Bill Cosby, Elvis Costello, Aaron Neville, Robert De Niro, Renee Fleming, Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Abbey Lincoln, Bette Midler, Toni Morrison, Arturo O'Farill, Dianne Reeves, Paul Simon, Meryl Streep, James Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Robin Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Buckwheat Zydeco, and many others.

Jazz at Lincoln Center will record live CD to be released by Blue Note Records with all profits going to hurricane relief fund efforts Auction items include Martin guitar autographed by Eric Clapton and John Mayer; items from LeRoy Neiman, Candlewick Press and more.
Beginning Friday, September 16, auction items can be viewed at www.ebay.com/higherground.

New York, NY (September 14, 2005) Jazz at Lincoln Center today announced plans to produce the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert and Auction on Saturday, September 17 at 7pm at Rose Theater in Frederick P. Rose Hall on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City.

The Benefit Concert and Auction produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center will raise funds for the Higher Ground Relief Fund established by Jazz at Lincoln Center and administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to benefit the musicians, music industry related enterprises and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina and to provide other general hurricane relief. (MORE...)

Celebrity Auction
The Higher Ground benefit event will include an auction, which will begin on Saturday, September 17 at 7pm ET and will run through Monday, September 26 until 7pm ET. Items to be auctioned include a 000-28 Martin Eric Clapton model guitar, autographed by Eric Clapton and John Mayer; artwork by LeRoy Neiman; artwork by Peter Max and items from Miramax Films. Paul Rogers and Candlewick Press are pleased to donate ten pre-publication, first edition copies of Jazz ABZ: An A To Z Collection of Jazz Portraits by Wynton Marsalis that will be signed by the author and the illustrator. Each book will be accompanied by a special edition print (15" x 15" framed) that features one of the following ten artists portrayed in the book: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie. Beginning Friday, September 16, auction items can be viewed at www.ebay.com/higherground.
Concert Broadcast (PBS.org)
Higher Ground Hurricane Benefit Concert Sept. 17 (NPR)

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

The Tipitina's Foundation

2005-09-17T08:55:00.000-04:00

New Orleans Artist Relief Effort (Tipitina's Foundation)
Until the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Tipitina's Foundation has devoted its efforts to uplifting the New Orleans music community through its Music Co-op Office, Instruments A-Comin' benefit concerts and the Tipitina's Internship Program. That mission has changed, as we now fight to save and rebuild that very community. We are currently finding musicians housing, gigs and instruments while we raise funds through donations and nationwide benefit concerts to meet the challenges facing us in the coming weeks and months. Tipitina's Uptown, 501 Napoleon Avenue, will open up as soon as we can return as a Musical Community Center with a Music Co-Op, as we all come together to preserve the spirit of New Orleans. (more...)

Etiquette Tips for Displaced Musicians (National Public Radio)
Weekend Edition - Saturday, September 17, 2005 · As director of Tipitina's Foundation, Bill Taylor is trying to address the housing needs of displaced Louisiana and Delta musicians. Tipitina's Web site lists tips on how to be a good host to musicians in distress and alternatively, how to be a good guest.

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

The Teasing Press: Cholera Found in Evacuee

2005-09-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

Headlines are claiming one of the evacuees has been diagnosed with cholera, though further research proves this strain is not contagious. There has been much talk about possible infectious diseases plaguing evacuees, but fortunately the "news on the health front is surprisingly good so far: There have been no major disease outbreaks, despite early fears. The chief complaints of people seeking care at clinics and hospitals have been skin infections, stomach problems, heat stroke, cuts and scrapes", doctors and health officials said.

Via the Hurricane Katrina Live Coverage aggregator.

New York City: ABC is Seeking Volunteers for Hurricane Katrina Victims

2005-09-16T16:32:00.000-04:00

The Association to Benefit Children (ABC) has been called upon by the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management to provide childcare for the victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Many thousands of families with children have fled to New York City in search of assistance. ABC will set up A Child's Space, a therapeutic play space, for children affected by Hurricane Katrina at the Disaster Assistance Service Center in Manhattan. A Child's Space will be a warm, friendly, and nurturing environment where children can play, relax, and express themselves in ways that are comfortable for them.

As we did for 9/11, ABC is once again seeking your help as a volunteer at A Child's Space - to play with the children, read to them, comfort them, rock a baby, play a game, do an art project, organize supplies, work at the sign-in table, let the parents know how the children are doing and answer phones.

The location is 520 West 135th Street (bet. Broadway & Amsterdam), 3rd Fl.
Near # 1 train on 137th Street and Broadway

The center's hours of operation will be from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, and we will appreciate any amount of time you can give. If you would like to participate, please e-mail or call me with the dates and times of your availability (see contact information below).

You may also contact Gretchen Buchenholz, ABC's Executive Director, at gbuchenholz@a-b-c.org or 212-845-3828, or Eri Noguchi, ABC's Director of Programs and Contracts, at enoguchi@a-b-c.org or 212-845-3822.

Thank you.

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Animal Emergency Response Network

2005-09-16T15:54:00.000-04:00

Petfinder.com has unveiled a comprehensive Animal Emergency Response Network helping companion animal victims and their caretakers during disasters. This is a collaborative database linking information from the public and emergency response organizations and making it available to rescuers, victims, and volunteers. The database features the following:

displaced hurricane victims post the locations of their pets so that rescuers can go in and save them
rescuers post the descriptions and photos of pets they find making them available for distraught pet parents to find them
volunteers post their offers of foster care which displaced hurricane victims can search to find temporary care for their pets

This is a collaborative effort powered by Maddie's Fund and a coalition of organizations who are all working together to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to: American Humane Association, Humane Society of the United States, ASPCA, Best Friends Animal Society, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, United Animal Nations (EARS), IFAW and Code 3 Associates, Alley Cat Allies and everyone who has come together to put the pets first.

URL: http://disaster.petfinder.com/emergency/

Musicares Hurricane Relief 2005

2005-09-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

As our nation struggles to respond to the devastation and displacement wrought by Hurricane Katrina, MusiCares' assistance is even more critical in ensuring that music people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed can begin to rebuild. To that end, MusiCares and The Recording Academy have established the MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund, a $1 Million dollar commitment of charitable funds to be distributed to musicians and other music industry people directly affected by this disaster.

How We Help: Hurricane Relief Assistance may include funds for basic living expenses such as shelter, food, utilities, cell phones and transportation; medical expenses including doctor, dentist, hospital bills and medication; clothing and toiletries; musical instrument and recording equipment replacement; relocation costs; school supplies for students; cell phone service; insurance payments and more. Applicants may also be referred to other resources, as needed.

URL: http://www.grammy.com/musicares/

NOLA.com blogs and forums help save lives after Katrina

2005-09-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

[Here's an inside look at how the website for the Times-Picayune helped guide rescuers and provided in-depth news for evacuees.

By Mark Glaser

Posted: 2005-09-13

Jon Donley

wa·ter·shed n. 1. A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. 2. A critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point. (American Heritage Dictionary)

As the water finally starts to recede in New Orleans, the watershed for online journalism has been laid bare. Hurricane Katrina brought forth a mature, multi-layered online response that built on the sense of community after 9/11, the amateur video of the Southeast Asian tsunami disaster and July 7 London bombings, and the on-the-scene blogging of the Iraq War.

I spent one entire afternoon glued to my computer, reading The Interdictor blog, written by DirectNIC crisis manager Michael Barnett about survival in a downtown high-rise in New Orleans. But no one could touch the incredible journalism done by the staffs of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, its online counterpart NOLA.com, and Advance Internet (the corporate head of NOLA.com).

NOLA.com is known more for its MardiGras.com site and its live webcam, but now has become Exhibit A in the importance of the Internet for newspaper companies during a disaster. When the newspaper couldn't possibly be printed or distributed, the NOLA.com news blog became the source for news on hurricane damage and recovery efforts -- including updates from various reporters on the ground and even full columns and news stories.

The blog actually became the paper, and it had to, because the newspaper's readership was in diaspora, spread around the country in shelters and homes of families and friends. The newspaper staff was transformed into citizen journalists, with arts reviewers doing disaster coverage and personal stories running alongside hard-hitting journalism. In a time of tragedy and loss, the raw guts of a news organization were exposed for us to see.

And it wasn't just about newsgathering. NOLA.com editor Jon Donley turned over his NOLA View blog to his readers, who sent in dozens of calls for help. Those calls were relayed onto the blog, which was monitored constantly by rescuers, who then sent in teams to save them.

from the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review]

Wal-Mart Opens Gift Registry for Hurricane Katrina Victims

2005-09-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

More than 1,300 Hurricane Katrina victims have signed up for items they need through a new hurricane gift registry at Wal-Mart stores and online at Walmart.com.

"So many friends and family members want to help hurricane victims in a tangible, personal way, and this registry is helping," said Pam Kohn, senior vice president for Wal-Mart. "Storm victims list items that they really need, and friends or family members can buy items for them at our stores or online."

By this morning, 1,358 storm victims had registered for items. The registry opened last Thursday.

Here's how it works:
Storm victims register for items by visiting a gift registry kiosk at Wal-Mart Supercenters and discount stores in the U.S., or online at Walmart.com

Friends or family members who want to purchase items for storm victims can go to the gift registry kiosk at Wal-Mart stores, or click on "Gift Registry" at Walmart.com. They enter the name of a storm victim and select the items they wish to purchase.

Items purchased online can be shipped directly to the recipient; items purchased at stores must be shipped by the sender.

(MORE...)

Bush Speech Details Aid Programs for Gulf Region

2005-09-16T08:08:00.000-04:00

All Things Considered, September 15, 2005 · President Bush proposes what many are calling the biggest bailout for a region in national history as the federal government moves to help repair the extensive damage inflicted on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina.

In an address to the nation from New Orleans Thursday evening, the president outlined a massive reconstruction plan to restore areas devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed. He touched on areas from rebuilding water and electrical systems to mail delivery and simplified procedures to attain federal help. (more...)

[from National Public Radio]

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Katrina 05 blog

2005-09-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

I was wondering if you could add my blog to your list. Good blog, by the way, I've been using it to do some of my research for my blog.

-LP

Bush: New Orleans Will Rise Again

2005-09-15T21:53:00.000-04:00

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Thursday night that storm-battered New Orleans and the Gulf Coast would rise again with extensive federal dollars and he ordered a review of emergency planning to avoid a repeat of the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," Bush said in a televised prime-time speech in the heart of the French Quarter.

Bush's first major speech on the hurricane came as he reels from record-low public approval ratings and faces a public with less confidence in the government's ability to respond to crises, a major theme of his 2004 re-election campaign.

Even many in his own Republican Party had hoped he would have delivered the speech much sooner.

The August 29 hurricane killed more than 700 people in the U.S. Gulf Coast region and displaced 1 million. More from Reuters...

Via the Hurricane Katrina Live News Coverage aggregator.

The ultimate DIY IT story (Doc Searls' IT Garage)

2005-09-15T20:01:00.000-04:00

The ultimate DIY IT story, and our first IT Garage podcast, all in one

One of the greatest all-time DIY IT stories is the one that will be told, and re-told about how DirectNIC stayed up and running through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, which remains the greatest disaster to befall a major American city in the country's history: a catastrophe on par with the Chicago Fire and the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

Sigmund "Sig" Solares is a lifelong New Orleans native and the CEO of DirectNIC, a substantial domain registrar and hosting service headquartered in the Crescent City, close to the Superdome. While DirectNIC's data center, on the 9th floor of a large office building, was not flooded out, it was victim to the complete loss of infrastructure suffered by the city surrounding it. Gone were electricity, ventillation, elevator service, water and, well, civilization. Yet Sig and his crew kept the service running — while all hell broke loose outside. Literally. (more...)

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Bringing It All Together for Disaster Preparedness

2005-09-15T16:36:00.000-04:00

(Originally posted to <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog
/_archives/2005/9/15/1230048.html>)

As a side effect of volunteering with the Katrina PeopleFinder Project, I've started to worry about future disasters, and a few of us on the team have started to think about long term preparedness.

Here's a vision that we've been discussing:

We could bring together the CityCares / Hands On Network, the Community Technology Center Network, and the Katrina PeopleFinder Project team.

The Hands On Network could recruit, screen, and coordinate concerned members of the community who are interested in short-term volunteer tasks.

CTCnet could coordinate the use of local community technology centers as disaster preparedness training sites and as sites to which volunteers would report in the event of an emergency.

The Katrina PeopleFinder Project team could provide the technical skills, experience, resources, and training.

In the event of a disaster, Hands On Network volunteers in unaffected areas (who were previously trained by the PeopleFinder Project team) could proceed to the nearest CTCnet affiliate - in order to process data about missing persons, or to help distraught loved ones who are searching for evacuees to enter queries into the PeopleFinder data repository.

I've already been in touch with Lisa Flick (Hands On Network's national director of network development) and Kavita Singh (CTCnet 's executive director) about this, and both of them have responded very positively. Of course, it's understood that we all have to cope with the current emergency before we can discuss long term plans, but I'm hopeful about the future.

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog
http://public.xdi.org/=deborah.elizabeth.finn

2005-09-14T23:40:00.000-04:00

To all the defenders of gw on the new orleans floods,
Remeber the buck stops here,,
Who should have taken charge when people were dying at
the dome and trapped in thier attics, Who could have
ordered relief in days earlier. Instead wait 3 days
and rides in appoints a new gen. and suddenly 150
trucks roll in. How long had these trucks been held to
make this entrance. Why when you look at fly over
pictures there is no or few helicopters in the photos.
Why did it take 4 days before blackhawks started
dropping supplies into NOLA.
Why didn't the corp of engineers start checking the
levees on Monday morning, and start shoring them up
before the break. (the 17th st canel was washed out
under the walls), The quickest way to have pluged the
17th st canel was to go to the bridge lake side of the
break, and come in from the dry side and pluged the
canel. not repair the break it self, and then with
only one barge that had no moter worked to repair it.
Three barges should have been used, one at each end
and one being refilled.
A hunred other mistakes were made and our leader was
no where to lead except for the photo ops.

Chertoff delayed federal response, memo shows

2005-09-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show. Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm.

(more)

No pay for New Orleans teachers

2005-09-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

Also from Reuters....

New Orleans teachers will not get paid for periods after Hurricane Katrina because there is almost no money left in the city's strapped school system, an executive of the outside firm that runs the schools said on Wednesday.

But a team of experts was set to descend on the city on Wednesday to find schools that can be reopened as soon as possible, providing the system gets emergency funding from the government to operate.

The paycheck issued this week to teachers is for the last pay period before the storm hit, said Bill Roberti, a director with the restructuring firm of Alvarez & Marsal, which runs the school system.

"This is the last payroll we will be able to issue for the time being," Roberti said in a briefing. "We were not able to move forward with the $50 million financing we were pursuing to keep the district afloat. We are very low on cash at this time."

(more)

Senate Scuttles Bid for Independent Katrina Commission

2005-09-14T14:42:00.000-04:00

From Reuters:

Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina. The New York Democrat's bid to establish the panel — which would have also made recommendations on how to improve the government's disaster response apparatus — failed to win the two-thirds majority vote needed to overcome procedural hurdles.

(more)

Katrina: a cameraman's journal in NOLA (BoingBoing)

2005-09-14T11:47:00.000-04:00

from Part One:
Excerpt from a personal diary written by a friend who's a news cameraman working in New Orleans. Name and affiliation withheld by request. This was written on Sunday, September 4th, six days after the storm hit.

New Orleans - The Real Story
It's September 4th in New Orleans, and unfortunately - no one is getting it right, not the Feds, the State, the Local folks or the media. I'm sure that many people are trying, but for what ever reason- it is a rotting, deteriorating mess.

I'm only writing this because of what I watched on tv last night. It was the first chance I've had to see some of the coverage and what I watched was pathetic. I sensed it yesterday when, amongst the chaos of the unfolding disaster, you realized some of the differences between what is happening here compared to major calamities we've endured recently.

There are almost no news crews in the field trying to cover the story. Hundreds, if not thousands of media people are in the region - but I have driven back and forth through some of the worst neighborhoods in the city and you don't see them. You don't see the National Guard…..you don't see ANYONE, except for the poor unfortunate souls wandering the streets looking for food or water. Many of them are on their last legs; they are literally not long for this world. It is surreal; it's like a zombie scene from Dawn of the Dead. It's disgraceful that in our times, we are seeing the complete disintegration of our ability to care for our own.

from Part Two:

New Orleans - September 9th

I've been here in New Orleans a week and on a daily basis I'm witnessing the staggering expanse of Katrina's destruction. I've driven over a thousand miles around the city and the individual tragedies stretch from block to block. Whether traveling by air boat (remember the tv show "Flipper"?) or Humvee or by foot, every single street contains the remnants of someone's life. Endless debris fields - entire life savings. The wreckage crosses all economic lines.

IRS Guide to Charitable Giving and Tax Related Issues for Disaster Victims

2005-09-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

The Internal Revenue Service is working to provide appropriate relief and assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and information to their fellow citizens who want to help. Please check this page periodically for updates. People affected by Katrina who need help with tax matters can call 1-866-562-5227

Make Your Hurricane Relief Donations Count

As thousands of Americans generously offer cash and other donations to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the IRS urges people to make contributions to reputable and qualified charities. The IRS makes no endorsement. The public also should be on alert for possible scams. The agency has prepared the following information:

Tax Relief and Other Assistance for Hurricane Victims

The IRS issued special tax relief for taxpayers residing in the Presidential Disaster Areas struck by Katrina. This relief provides victims additional time to submit estimated tax payments. The IRS is providing other assistance as well.

(MORE...)

Staggering

2005-09-14T07:54:00.000-04:00

Dear friends and family,

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that 160,000 homes in New Orleans
are damaged “beyond repair”. A truly staggering figure. When you read a
statistic like that and you are intensely familiar with the grief
involved in just one of those 160,000, the misery maths is overwhelming.

The Greater New Orleans Metropolitan Area, which stretches from St
Bernard on the east to Jefferson Parish in the west, has a population of
around 1.3 million. I guess that works out to around 600,000 houses or
so. So almost one quarter of the city’s homes will be demolished. I’m
still trying to imagine that.

It’s already been stated that almost every single one of the 27, 600
houses in St Bernard will be bulldozed. I think our area of Lakeview
will likely lose most of its houses. I worry that the rebuilding will be
done in haste rather than taste and we’ll end up with the double-storey
brick monstrosities so favoured in Metairie, the suburb just to our
west. In St Bernard, a much poorer district, who knows what will be erected.

What do you do with the rubbish left over after you bulldoze 160,000
houses and their contents, all imbued with toxic waters? Where do you
put it?

I’m worried they’ll do what they did after Hurricane Betsy: dump all of
it in a landfill, cover it with topsoil and then build a neighbourhood
for the poor. The Betsy waste, along with decades of earlier garbage,
lies underneath the Agriculture Street Landfill Community in eastern New
Orleans, a community which is 97% African American.

I get anxious when I see residents rushing to return to New Orleans. I’d
much rather things were done slowly, carefully and equitably than in a
hasty, desperate charge. Still, even with the pressure to return and
rebuild, they say many of us won’t have housing in New Orleans until 2010.

Well, Lillie and I will be getting into our temporary Houston home
today. It’s a six-hour drive from here and we want to leave early to
avoid traffic out of Baton Rouge and the traffic nightmare which is Houston.

Because our apartment is unfurnished and we have almost nothing, we’re
going to stay with some people nearby while we set things up.
Originally, Helen Prejean contacted some friends in Houston, Karen and
Guy Clifton, to have us stay with them. But they are already housing
their third set of refugees and the latest lot are yet to move into
their new place. So Karen arranged for us to stay with friends of hers,
Marcia and Kirk Blackard, who were out of the country when Katrina hit
and who are very keen to help in any way possible. So I’m glad we can
oblige them!

We've also heard that the owners and many of the staff from the
wonderful Fairgrinds coffeehouse (www.fairgrinds.com) have ended up in
Houston and they've organised regular weekly gatherings for refugees and
friends at the Orange Show (www.orangeshow.org) there. Fairgrinds was a
real community hub in the Faubourg St. John ('Faubourg' means
neighbourhood) where Helen lived and our Death Penalty Discourse Center
offices were located. As well as great, fair trade coffee and friendly
staff, it had meeting rooms, noticeboards, free wireless Internet, water
bowls and treats for doggie visitors (outside), fair trade coffee and
local artwork.

People here in Baton Rouge, in Houston and all over the place are being
exceedingly generous and supportive. Everyone from my friends and family
to my online community of fellow activists at Omidyar.net, work
colleagues, friends of friends of friends, shopkeepers and even credit
card companies. People working in the rushed, overstretched Baton Rouge
stores are particularly gentle with the droves of New Orleanians.

One amusing contrast between the refugees and their Baton Rouge hosts
was noticeable the weekend immediately after Katrina. New Orleans has a
very laissez-faire attitude (“Laissez les bon temps roulez” is an
unofficial city motto) while Baton Rouge is firmly entrenched in the
Bible Belt culture that crosses the South. The weekend following Katrina
bemused refugees looking for a little liquid solace stood gazing at
signs in supermarkets stating things like “No hard liquor sales on the
weekend”, “No wine sales on Sundays” and “Beer sold only between hours
of 12pm and 2pm on Sundays”. It made it particularly easy to spot fellow
refugees. There were many mumblings of “You’d think they’d make an
exception this weekend.”

So, Houston today. I’m not sure when I’ll write again. My hosts have an
Internet connection available, so it may be tonight. Then again, I was
up before 4am this morning, so I may just collapse on arrival.
Everyone’s sleeping habits are awry.

Much love,

Rose Vines

Shots (Interdictor: Survival of New Orleans Blog)

2005-09-14T00:42:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, September 13th, 2005
4:45 pm
Shots
For those who are in the area and want to get them, vaccinations and assorted shots are available at the convention center. People are being strongly encouraged to get shots if they're going to come into the city. Sewage and waste is backed up in the pipes and many fear this will lead to some outbreaks of nasty illness as it pours into the streets.

We've been told that this sewage backup is the main reason the water pressure is being kept so low in the city.

On a more disgusting note, flies and roaches are in abundance -- I've seen them on several floors of our building, and I suspect nowhere in the city is there freedom from these pests. Roaches in New Orleans are particularly hideous things, capable of flight and often being as large as 3inches or longer. You have never heard a shriek until you have seen a giant flying roach land in a woman's hair in New Orleans.

Aside from roaches and flies, the winged rat aka pigeon appears to be the most prevalent beast. They are really feasting on the flood's leftovers.

The water is still being pumped out of the buildings and the 82nd is still patrolling on foot.

I didn't get to see the President yesterday, but somehow my life will go on.

And on a personal note, I have begun playing a solitary game called "count how many typos and misspellings I just made in a simple post." (more...)

(The Interdictor is a blog written by a someone who's been holed up in an ISP in New Orleans since the beginning of Hurricane Katrina)

Nursing home owners charged in Katrina deaths (USA Today)

2005-09-13T23:42:00.000-04:00

By The Associated Press

The husband-and-wife owners of a New Orleans-area nursing home where 34 people died in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters were charged Tuesday with negligent homicide.

By Rick Bowmer, AP

The case represents the first major prosecution to come out of the disaster in New Orleans.

The owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in the town of Chalmette "were asked if they wanted to move (the patients). They did not. They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these patients," Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said.

Salvador A. Mangano and his wife, Mable, surrendered and were jailed on 34 counts of negligent homicide. Each count carries up to five years in prison.

The charges came as Katrina's death toll in Louisiana climbed to 423, up from 279 a day before, the state Health Department said.

Earlier Tuesday, President Bush said "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said. (more...)

We had to kill our patients (Daily Mail)

2005-09-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

by CAROLINE GRAHAM and JO KNOWSLEY, Mail on Sunday

Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leaving them to die in agony as they evacuated hospitals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.

In an extraordinary interview with The Mail on Sunday, one New Orleans doctor told how she 'prayed for God to have mercy on her soul' after she ignored every tenet of medical ethics and ended the lives of patients she had earlier fought to save.

Her heart-rending account has been corroborated by a hospital orderly and by local government officials. One emergency official, William 'Forest' McQueen, said: "Those who had no chance of making it were given a lot of morphine and lain down in a dark place to die." (more...)

2005-09-13T18:01:00.000-04:00

Via the Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated Blog: According to this article, doctors faced with the futures of patients already on the verge of death hastened the matter with large injections of drugs.

With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.

From the Hurricane Katrina Live Coverage Aggregator

Blame is an interesting thing...

2005-09-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

It seems odd that the people talking of "blame" don't seem to be doing anything. As one of the few military people, who have defended our Nation, right or wrong, I believe I've earned the right to speak of what is right and what isn't. All those who don't contribute in America, other than moaning, "take a ticket folks", you are not adding benefit - just hurting the country that allows you to rant.

MANY other states have faced crisis - some as extreme as Katrina - over the past years. Florida (Homestead), South Carolina & North Carolina (Hugo), North Carolina (Bertha & Fran within 4 weeks of each other). I didn't see shooting, or whining, just action. Florida dug out. South Carolina dug out. North Carolina dug out. FEMA HELPED - FEMA didn't "do everything" as apparently Louisiana Governor Blanco believes they are supposed to. FEMA "assists". FEMA doesn't do your work Governor - so maybe you should READ the plan next time before complaining.

Mississippi dug out from Katrina. Anyone looting, shooting or whining there. Don't think so. These are people who add value and are good Americans. Oh, by the way, Mississippi took the hardest hit in Katrina's path - not New Orleans.

So let me say what the real problem with Katrina is: The issue isn't Race, and never will be. The issue isn't FEMA. The issue is "What happens when you have 30% of a major city on welfare, with no transportation, and they aren't used to working or doing anything?" THIS is what happens. Looting - shooting - no drivers for the 800 buses - few working people to dig out - riots - rapes - chaos - death. New Orleans after Katrina is an example that we all need to learn from. A society that embraces ENTITLEMENT - is doomed to the consequences. Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco - at a MINIMUM - should have put FOOD and WATER at the Superdome. Didn't happen. Mayor Nagin should have had his Police and Emergency personnel briefed and on call - many ran away. Governor Blanco should have activated ALL LOUISIANA National Guard. These are HER RESOURCES - why were some of the first units from Texas? Louisian State Police? Who knows. Bush - yep - he should have been clear with Homeland Security and FEMA to COORDINATE for the needs. Expectations of everyone were incorrect - and now half the people are complaining - and the other half are doing the usual - and digging out.

Now we all live with the consequences. Most people who could afford to evacuate Katrina did. These were the working people - they probably will return to Louisiana. Most of the people who didn't evacuate didn't have the means to do so - many of them were underpriveldged and unemployed. So - we've now taken these folks and put them on a different State's Welfare roles. Just moved the problem - and didn't fix it.

Katrina has caused a mess. It is a darn shame that America can't work together and find a solution that IMPROVES things - and makes sure this doesn't happen again. Instead we allow for political bickering, rhetoric and nonsense. "Bush doens't like Blacks" - what imbecile actually believes this? So let's ask the question for most Americans who have never served their country - "Are you willing to work in a positive manner to fix this situation?", "Are you willing to only speak of positive and good things that will help, instead of the negative, blame, nonsense?" - If so - you are an American. If not - we don't appreciate you taking up space.

Austin, TX

Yahoo! for Good
Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Arrest Warrants Issued for Nursing Home Operators

2005-09-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

The Louisiana Attorney General is giving a press conference right now.
He's just said they've issued warrants of arrest for the operators of
the nursing home in which nearly three dozen residents died during the
hurricane. The operators of St. Rita's nursing home will be charged with
34 counts of involuntary manslaughter for refusing to evacuate their
patients despite the pleas of family members and authorities.

Nagin says some residents can return Monday

2005-09-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

From NOLA.com:

In a drastic revision of earlier predictions, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said today that he expects to begin allowing residents in areas that did not flood to return to their homes. Those areas are Uptown, Algiers, the Central Business District and the French Quarter.

Potable water may be available in some of those areas by the end of next week, Nagin said.

FBI warns of Katrina online scams

2005-09-13T16:12:00.000-04:00

A press release from the San Diego FBI office:

Similar to the Tsunami scams which surfaced last winter, there has been a rapid increase in websites and associated SPAM being deployed; purporting to be legitimate fundraising efforts for the victims of the recent Hurricane and subsequent massive flooding in the Gulf coast region. Over the past week, there have been more than 500 sites advertising Hurricane Katrina relief services. On Friday, September 2nd, there were approximately 300 established that day alone.

The challenge is to quickly analyze and assess those sites which appear to be illegitimate and to develop a strategy to ascertain the responsible parties and ensure the safety of the public, who research these sites. In order to do this, the FBI relies heavily on key partnerships established with both; law enforcement (domestically and abroad) and in many cases, with the well-known charitable organizations, who good names are being used to give credibility to the scammers.

As with the Tsunami fraud scams, the FBI continues to enlist substantial cooperation from its law enforcement partners, particularly the US Postal Inspection Service, US Secret Service, DHS, and a vast array of state and local agencies. As many of these scams involve international aspects, our growing partnership with international law enforcement will be vital in efficiently following and capturing the evidence trail.

Several matters have been developed and referred out for investigation throughout the FBI. We expect the number of investigative referrals to increase over the next several weeks.

Those who desire to contribute to the Hurricane Katrina funds should carefully research the organizations soliciting funds to ensure the monies donated will be used as guaranteed.

Anyone with information concerning a scam related to Hurricane Katrina victims should contact the FBI at 858-565-1255.

Bush: 'I take responsibility'

2005-09-13T15:40:00.000-04:00

From Reuters:

President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for any failures in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and acknowledged the storm exposed serious deficiencies at all levels of government four years after the September 11 attacks.

"To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush told a White House news conference at which he openly questioned U.S. preparedness for another storm or a "severe attack."
Bush's rare admission of "serious problems in our response capability" came as the White House stepped up efforts to repair his public standing. Bush will address the nation at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) on Thursday from hard-hit Louisiana, his fourth visit to the disaster zone since Katrina struck."

(more)

Google's new Katrina search tool

2005-09-13T15:19:00.000-04:00

Google has just set up a new search engine for finding missing persons.
It claims to aggregate data from a variety of missing persons databases.

http://www.google.com/katrina.html

Victims have no one to blame but themselves

2005-09-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

> > I am disgusted with the ignorance of people complaining of a slow response to a crisis. The state and local officials of New Orleans have been warned for many years of the possibility that a natural disaster of this magnitude could occur. This was no surprise folks. People were warned for days to leave. There was a mandatory evacuation ordered two days before the storm. FREE transportation and shelter was offered. The remaining citizens are the ones to blame for the situation they are in. They did not evacuate when told to do so. They ignored all the warnings, did nothing to protect themselves and are now complaining that officials are not doing enough. These very same folks are DEMANDING help. With a crisis of this magnitude it is impossible to get an immediate response. Planning, preparation and action take some time. These people made a choice to stay. Why didn’t they also choose to stock up on food and water? Contrary to popular belief, the National Guard is not sitting around playing cards waiting for a disaster to strike! It is understood that people are desperate and require basic human needs. This does not justify criminal behavior. This is a NATURAL disaster. No one planned it and no one can predict the outcome. But, as usual, when citizens do not want to accept responsibility………….they play the “race” card. GIVE ME A BREAK.

Special PULSE Program for Katrina Victims

2005-09-13T12:17:00.000-04:00

In response to the destruction and pain caused by Hurricane Katrina, we are
organizing today from 2-3 pm Central Time - a forum via video conference
linking youth from New Orleans living in the Houston Astrodome to three
schools in Maize KS, Magnolia, TX and Passaic Valley High School, NJ.

This special PULSE program will give students the opportunity to speak
directly with the victims of Hurricane Katrina and listen to their stories.

Schools interested in viewing a webcast of this dialogue can dial in for
free at the following location:
http://www.glowpointwebcasting.com/channeldoc/mask.aspx?N9DPGHNLNI

Additionally, all high schools within the US with access to video
conferencing technology are invited to dial in to this event for free using
the following ISDN numbers:

(310) 426-1846
(310) 426-1844
(310) 426-1845
(310) 426-1847
(310) 426-1848

(In case your connection is unsuccesful, please call Glowpoint at 1 (866)
456-9764, press option 4)

When: Tuesday, September 13th between 2 and 3 P.M Central Time (14 :00 15
:00 CT)

We hope you¹ll join us for this very special event.

This is a joint program of Global Nomads Group, Polycom, Inc., Glowpoint,
Inc., and IDSolutions.

After the Flood (This American Life from WBEZ Chicago)

2005-09-13T11:53:00.000-04:00

Surprising stories from survivors in New Orleans. We give people who were in the storm more time than daily news coverage can to tell their stories and talk about what they're thinking. This leads to a number of ideas that haven't made it into the regular news coverage.
http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/296.html

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Emergency Katrina Info Center - Live Streaming Media (IWA)

2005-09-13T10:55:00.000-04:00

WEBCASTERS OFFER EMERGENCY KATRINA INFO CENTER THROUGH LIVE STREAMING
MEDIA ON THIS SITE

LOCAL GULF COAST LIVE RADIO, TV STATIONS & PROGRAMS
HURRICANCE RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO PROGRAMS AROUND THE WORLD

The International Webcasting Association (IWA) is the largest worldwide
non-profit trade organization dedicated to the growth and development of
webcasting and streaming media over the Internet and other networks. The
IWA serves as a forum for the ideas, people and issues shaping the future
of the webcasting industry. IWA represents webcasters, streaming media
companies, entrepreneurs, individuals and academics throughout the United
States, Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia
http://www.webcasters.org/

[via the CARR-L listserv]
--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

How Bush Blew It

2005-09-13T08:50:00.000-04:00

Bureaucratic timidity. Bad phone lines. And a failure of imagination. Why the government was so slow to respond to catastrophe. By Evan Thomas of Newsweek. (More)

New Song for Download - New Orleans

2005-09-12T19:36:00.000-04:00

Internationally acclaimed activist/singer/songwriter/blogger David Rovics announces the online release of his new tune, “New Orleans”. The song was recorded today in Ramallah, a Palestinian city of approximately 57,000 residents, located about 15 kilometers ( 9 miles ) north-west of Jerusalem.

The MP3 music file is now available as a free download for use in Hurricane Katrina photo slide shows and video compilations.

Lyrics (excerpt)

Everybody knew that it could happen
The likelihood was clear
The future was coming
And now it’s here
They had to fix the levees
Because otherwise they’d break
On one side was the city
Above it was the lake
It was in the daily papers
In bold letters was the writ
What would happen
When the Big One hit
But every year they cut the funding
Just a little more
So they could give it to the Army
To fight their oil war

Another Tough Day

2005-09-12T18:43:00.000-04:00

[Note: I’ve changed the names of the friends mentioned in this email, to
preserve their privacy and because I’m living in such a terribly
homophobic culture. I know many of you are sharing these emails with
friends, too, so I wanted to make sure you could continue to do so.]

Dear family and friends,

No email last night. I was too tired, after waking at 4am and then
having a very tough day.

After getting up so early, I managed to get a fair section of my article
on using technology in times of disaster written for the Herald. Helen
and Maureen and Maryann had gone off to mass, while Lillie was up north
in Tallulah visiting her sister Jane, who has been lent a house there
for a short time.

I’d thought all my friends were okay since Katrina, but we hadn’t been
able to contact our friend Martin. Martin’s a friend from New Orleans
who moved to Mississippi almost two years ago after his partner, Gerald,
died from cancer. I had assumed Martin was okay because he lives in a
trailer just north of Pass Christian in Mississippi and because of his
vulnerable position he has always packed up and evacuated early when a
hurricane approaches. I assumed he’d done so this time.

But we hadn’t heard from him and his contact details were one of the
things I lost in our own evacuation. So I asked around other friends and
although no-one had heard from him, one person had a phone number. He’d
tried several times and got no answer at all.

So I tried the phone number and got the same result, but looking at the
number one of the digits didn’t seem to match my recollection of his
number. So I started substituting digits and although I didn’t get an
answer, one of those numbers clicked in my memory so I sent a text message.

About an hour later I got a call from Martin. He was in dire straits. He
hadn’t evacuated, and as soon as he said so I recalled that last time he
evacuated it had been a nightmare because he has numerous dogs and two
cats and two rabbits and he took them all with him, but then could not
get accommodation because of the animals. So he spent a couple of nights
beside the road in his little pickup with the animals before returning
to his trailer. This time, he just couldn’t face evacuation and by the
time he knew he should have gone, it was too late.

So he was in the direct path of the storm with the eyewall going over
him. One of the dreadful things about hurricanes is that the right front
quadrant of the storm spawns tornadoes. So, on top of 120 mph sustained
winds in Katrina there was terrible danger from 200-300 mph tornadoes.
Two tornadoes went straight through the land where Martin had his
trailer. There’s also a metal barn on the property, so when he realised
the storm was getting really intense, he ferried his dogs and other
animals into the barn, grabbed the jar containing Gerald’s ashes, drove
his pickup into the barn, closed the door and weathered the storm in
there. He said that 45 minutes after he got into the barn, the tornadoes
had passed through and his trailer wasn’t demolished, it was completely
blown away. He found it later about 14 country blocks distant wrapped
around a tree.

Martin has had a really hard time since Gerald died. He used to own a
business and live in one of New Orleans’ characterful old
neighbourhoods. After Gerald died, he was left in bad financial straits
and, being gay, received no benefits or assistance. He sold his house,
bought the trailer and moved to Mississippi. He is himself not well, is
on a disability benefit and unable to work, so his world has become
increasingly narrower over the past two years.

When he rang, he was suicidal. Not only had he lost almost everything he
possessed but he’d also seen a person’s body hanging in a tree as well
as numerous dead animals in the trees after the storm had passed.

I talked with him for a long time, gave him some contact numbers for
support organisations (he rang while I was researching my article on how
the Internet helps in times of disaster and I had the National Suicide
Prevention Service’s web page open in front of me when his call came in)
and said I’d get some cash to him as soon as I could get to the bank.
When he hung up, he sounded a little calmer.

Helen and Maureen arrived home from mass shortly after and as soon as I
told Helen, she said let’s pack up the car and take him some supplies.
So that’s what we did. We collected water, juice and canned food for him
(most of it the supplies Lillie and I brought with us from New Orleans),
pooled together our cash, and then grabbed a bunch of other stuff from
the house: clothes from Charlie, a hurricane lamp Lillie and I had
evacuated with, batteries, blankets and towels. We put together an ice
chest and a pot of Maryann’s gumbo and French bread so he could have
some real food. I texted him that we were coming and to hold on. Finally
got a call back from him and we agreed to meet just past the
Louisiana/Mississippi border on I10 (Interstate Route 10).

The trip over took about 90 minutes. The roads are open all the way
through to Mississippi, but not heading south from I10 to New Orleans.
The further east we got, the worse the devastation. Whole swathes of
large trees were snapped in two. Pine trees were simply bowled over by
the dozen. Massive power and lighting towers were lying beside the road.

We met Martin at a truck parking stop about 10 miles across the border.
I think just the knowledge we were coming had calmed him. We transferred
all the stuff over into his truck. It was boiling hot and no shade, so
we followed him down the road looking for a place where we could sit and
talk out of the sun. At one point, we turned off I10 southwards, and
then suddenly realised we were on the road to Waveland, a town totally
obliterated by Katrina’s storm surge. There were a bunch of service
stations just near the turnoff and they were crumpled flat. At first I
thought the concrete on their driveways had been ripped up, but then
realised it was mud all over the ground. The storm surge had carried it
inland five miles to this point.

We got back on I10 and eventually stopped at a closed rest area, walked
around the barricades and sat down amidst the rubble in a shelter.
Martin couldn’t stay long because there’s a 5pm curfew in his county, so
he had to get back home before then.

It was heartbreaking to be with someone who already had so very little
before Katrina came, and then lost it all. And he was so upset about our
house. He kept saying “You and Lillie. Your poor beautiful house. I’ve
lost so little in comparison.” It’s awful seeing someone in so much need
who feels his loss is less because it’s not the same in monetary terms.
And his devotion to his animals makes him more vulnerable, as does his
being gay. All his medical needs were being met in New Orleans, which
doesn’t share Mississippi’s general homophobia. So he’s now without a
doctor and a clinic.

We left him in a more hopeful mood. We’re working to organise some good
connections for him in Baton Rouge, so he can plug into a community, and
we’ll get an alternative source for his medications. And Helen is
getting her fundraising connections on the boil trying to get the money
for a replacement trailer (FEMA told him they’d give him $1000 for the
loss of his trailer!).

When we got back to Baton Rouge, Helen started putting out feelers to
people who can hopefully offer him help. That’s one of her many, many
strengths. If something needs doing, she gets it done.

I phoned Martin again today (Monday) because it is the second
anniversary of Gerald’s death and I wanted to make sure he didn’t feel
completely alone. Helen was going to phone him, too, and we’d organised
another friend to call him. He sounded much better. He said that because
of us today was not hard, and that going through all the boxes of things
we’d delivered to him had made the previous evening like Christmas. He’d
been so pleased to meet Helen and Maureen and the gumbo had been his
first decent food since Katrina.

Today I’ve been doing work for the Death Penalty Discourse Center,
trying to get their new email and Internet arrangements working
adequately before I leave on Wednesday. Helen has left on another
speaking tour, and so I may not see her for a long time. Maureen and I
took her to the airport this morning and it wasn’t until I hugged her
goodbye that I realised this was the first of many partings from people
who are normally in my everyday circle. It is so hard to be moving away
from friends and family at a time we most need them.

Thanks for all your emails and phone calls and support. I know it’s hard
to get through to me on the phone; hopefully that will be a little
easier when we get to Houston. And I love to hear how you’re doing, even
if I don’t reply to emails promptly.

Love,

Rose

FEMA's Mike Brown Resigns

2005-09-12T15:11:00.000-04:00

Mike Brown says he has resigned as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, CNN reports.

Open House Project

2005-09-12T08:27:00.000-04:00

The concept of The Open House Project is simply to provide a meeting place for people who have extra space in their homes (or rental properties) who are also able to lend that space to those in need during a time of crisis, such as Hurricane Katrina. In adding, we want to foster economic re-development by freely assisting the small businesses that were affected by the hurricane.

Q: What's the difference between you and the other housing projects ?
A: Our site is keeps your information private. We think that letting someone come and live in your home is a very, very big deal, and at the same time we don't think that everyone should be plastering their names, phone numbers, and addresses all over the internet and gulf coast. It's a somewhat difficult issue, because on one hand everyone really wants to open their homes, yet on the other hand, they want to be a little selective of who they are letting live with them. At this point, we are asking people who don't mind sharing all of their personal information to sign up at the larger housing sites as they have a little more open distribution of lists. However, the open house project seems to be the only one that introduces a one-way privacy approach and you should use this site if you want to initiate contact instead of people initiating contact with you.

(more...)

http://www.theopenhouseproject.org/index.php
--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Hurricane Katrina Aid Request

2005-09-12T08:26:00.000-04:00

My name is David M. Chavers, and I am the Director of Choirs for the Pass Christian Public School District of Harrison Co., Mississippi. Our district suffered almost complete destruction by Katrina. Three of the four campuses in our district have been deemed unusable or totally destroyed. The choir, musical theater, drama and instrumental music programs lost every piece of equipment, instrument, script and octavo.

I am currently attempting to explore every avenue of aid for the coastal schools, most of whom are as badly damaged as we are. Do you have tips, grants and advice on how our booster clubs and schools may apply for assistance? If so, please contact me via email, telephone, or at my temporary postal address. I can be reached at:

David M. Chavers
C/O Tom Chavers
5791 Ryals St.
Satsuma, AL 36572
(228) 669-4745 (Cell)
(251) 675-1806 (Temporary Housing)
dmchavers2001@yahoo.com

The Mississippi coastal choirs website is at:
http://www.mississippicoastalchoirs.org/

There, we are gathering information from our area groups that have been affected, and you'll see a "Katrina Aftermath" report. In addition, there's a contact form for people who are interested in helping us.

Thank you so much for your assistance.

Sincerely,

David M. Chavers,
Pass Christian Public Schools Director of Choirs
Mississippi Music Educators Association - Eighth District, Jr. High Division Chairman
Trinity Episcopal Church Choir Master

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Help Schools Impacted By Hurricane Katrina (NetDay)

2005-09-12T08:25:00.000-04:00

NetDay wishes to offer the support of our network of schools and organizations to the efforts of schools impacted by hurricane Katrina.

Schools in the Gulf Coast region are struggling to enroll displaced students and as much as possible move towards normalcy in school operations. Schools are in need of supplies ranging from backpacks to notebooks to pencils to textbooks and we know there are students and schools around the country who are eager to help out.

If you are interested in organizing a local effort to help schools in need, please review the resources and requests posted here. We will be updating this site with more school-related needs in the coming days and weeks.

Sites for Information

Hurricane Katrina: The School Impact
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/hurricane-katrina/index.html
The school year for the 70,000-student New Orleans district has been decimated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Follow this constantly updated Education Week series as they cover the effects on schools, districts, and states affected by the resulting floods.

Bringing Hurricane Katrina Into the Classroom: Media Literacy Lessons
http://www.amlainfo.org/hurricane/
For educators who want to help students analyze, understand, and cope with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the AMLA offers this basic set of media literacy activities and suggestions.

Youth Service America
http://www.YSA.org
Youth Service America has published a list of organizations that are mobilizing to support the relief effort. They also offer project planning guides for students organizing relief efforts.

Requests for Support, Supplies, and Donations

U.S. Department of Education: Hurricane Help for Schools
http://www.ed.gov/news/hurricane/index.html
At the Hurricane Help for Schools web site, schools are able to post their contact information and the supplies the students need. Companies and organizations are able to view these needs and contact the schools to meet them, or, on another part of the site, they may post what supplies or resources they can offer.

VSKOOL.ORG: Virtual Schooling Opportunities
http://www.vskool.org/
VSKOOL is a consortium of online learning organizations, virtual schools, education institutions, technology companies, corporate and non-profit organizations, and foundations working together to provide online K-12 classes and tutoring for victims of Hurricane Katrina. VSKOOL will serve as a clearinghouse of hurricane related offerings of education technology products and services to affected students, teachers, and families.

We've Got Your Back
http://www.dosomething.org/
The "We've Got Your Back" campaign invites kids to collect backpacks filled with new pens, pencils, notebooks and new personal items - like a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste - for the many children and young people displaced by Hurricane Katrin

Lafayette Parish School System
The Lafayette Parish School System in Louisiana has registered over 3,000 new students to an already strapped school system. Items needed include tablets, loose-leaf paper, pens, pencils, rulers, markers, binders, calculators, crayons, scissors, construction paper, backpacks, socks, underwear and undershirts.

Please contact the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce about sending donations.

804 East Saint Mary Blvd.
Lafayette LA 70503
Ph: 337-233-2705
Fax: 337-234-8671

EMCED (Educational service agency serving 22 school districts in east Mississippi)
In an effort to assist students who have lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina and the thousands of refugee students enrolling in our schools, EMCED is collecting school supplies. Items needed include book bags, paper, pencils, colors, scissors, glue, notebooks, etc. For those who wish to make monetary contributions, funds will be used to purchase school uniforms, socks, shoes, etc., for students. Please send items or checks to:

EMCED, Inc.-Hurricane Katrina Assistance
1000 Highway 19 North
Meridian, MS 39307-5799
601.484.0301 (voice)
601.484.0372 (fax)

Louisiana State Libraries
"To all--we are in desperate need of computers/printers. We are being inundated with evacuees needing to file FEMA applications, unemployment, search for loved ones, etc. and are coming into our public libraries to use the computers. Our libraries have greatly extended their hours to accommodate the people but they need additional computers and printers. If you can please put the word out that if anyone wants to help immediately, this is our greatest need." -- Louisiana State Librarian, Rebecca Hamilton. The specs for the computers: Pentium 3, Windows 2000, prefer XP, Laser printers if you can still get toner for them. If you are able to send computers, please contact Rebecca by email:

Rebecca Hamilton
rhamilton@crt.state.la.us
State Library of Louisiana
701 North 4th Street
Baton Rouge, La.
70802-5232

Public Education Network
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/kids/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=901
The Public Education Network As is responding by helping their colleagues in the region—the Greater New Orleans Education Foundation, the Mobile Area Education Foundation, the Academic Distinction Fund (Baton Rouge, LA), the Orchard Foundation (Alexandria, LA), Area Education Foundation (Hattiesburg, MS), and Association for Excellence in Education (Laurel, MS). They need our support to help families rebuild their lives, communities, and schools. To make a contribution online, please click on the link above.

ISTE - TCEA
ISTE's Affiliate in Texas (TCEA--Texas Computer Education Association), where most of the victims are being evacuated, is volunteering to lend long-term support in the way of manpower and technical assistance once schools re-open in the devastated regions. TCEA is preparing a Tech Task Force that includes support from members and corporate partners. If you have recommendations or wish to be involved in the TCEA Tech Task Force, please e-mail Ron Cravey, TCEA Executive Director, at cravey@tcea.org or visit the TCEA website (www.tcea.org) for more information.
NetDay's mission is to connect every child to a brighter future by helping educators meet educational goals through the effective use of technology.

URL: http://www.netday.org/katrina_help.htm

--

Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

CIRAjobs.com: Restaurant Jobs for hurricane Katrina victims

2005-09-12T08:24:00.000-04:00

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Katrina. As part of our efforts to help, we are working with CIRA Chapter Members to find jobs for displaced restaurant employees, transportation to those chapter cities, and housing once they get there.

CIRA is pleased to work with other restaurant groups and restaurants to provide jobs for Gulf Coast restaurant employees displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

For more information about CIRA, The Council of Independent Restaurants of America , please visit our website at www.DineOriginals.com or email CIRAPresident@aol.com .

http://www.cirajobs.com/

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Pfizer Inc to Supply Emergency Prescriptions to Hurricane Evacuees

2005-09-11T22:12:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Katrina Survivors: Visit a nearby pharmacy to receive an emergency supply of your Pfizer medicines.

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos

2005-09-11T16:16:00.000-04:00

An excellent feature story by the Washington Post detailing a day-by-day account of what local and national government officials did over the course of the Katrina disaster.

Katrina PeopleFinder Project Update

2005-09-11T15:54:00.000-04:00

Volunteers surf and scrub the web to help reconnect family and friends
separated by Hurricane Katrina

FOR MEDIA ONLY
Contact: Sue Cline: Volunteer : Katrinalist.net : Communications &
Media Phone: (804) 230-3456

Contact: Marty Kearns: Volunteer : Katrinalist.net : Communications &
Media (C ) 202-487-1887

Contact: Zack Rosen: Volunteer : Katrinalist.net : Technical and
Engineering Lead (C) (724)612-7641

WASHINGTON,Friday, September 09, 2005 — The largest collection of data
on the web about evacuees and survivors has been pulled together by
volunteers and programmers working long hours for the last week. The
http://www.katrinalist.net is a collection of survivor information
from across dozens of sites.The project was launched to provide
information on survivors to family and friends across the web. The
http://www.katrinalist.net site forms a needed complement to a pending
launch of newer efforts to organize data by the Red Cross, FEMA and
the Department of Homeland Security.

The "official sites" will be focusing on new more structured data
collected from people in shelters and from those interacting with
government programs and relief organizations.
http://www.Katrinalist.netis the complement to whatever official
collection all the informal datafrom bulletin boards, discussion forms
and sites across the web. Katrinalist.net will provide data to
Katrinasafe.com

Those seeking information on family should first search
www.katrinasafe.com and then www.katrinalist.net. These sites
represent the best collection of data and the best hope for helping
family and friends locate each other.

Evacuees wishing to inform loved ones of their location can register
or post information about survivors at
http://www.katrinasafe.com/WebEntryApplication/entryform.aspx

Report a Missing Person at
http://www.katrinasafe.com/WebEntryApplication/InquiryEntryForm.aspx

These are all voluntary and self-reporting tools. All media outlets
and those hosting discussion boards, search tools and other
information on survivors or offering connections to families are asked
to redirect search traffic and data input to these sites.

Additional Background:
The project was launched as the core team started to realize that too
many sites were collecting data and stories on families looking for or
posting the status of their friends and neighbors. In the moments
leading up to the storm dozens of sites launched services to help
their members, including: New Orleans Newspapers (NOLA.com), TV and
radio sites, Craigslist, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo, Blogs and the Red Cross.
In the hours following the storm companies, college students and
volunteers began to set up databases for people to add and search
information.

On Friday the 9th, The American Red Cross, with support of the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement launched a web site
and hotline to help assist family members who are seeking news about
loved ones living in the path of Hurricane Katrina.

Dozens of message boards have sprung up around the country since
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, promising to throw a
technological lifeline to families that have been ripped apart. At the
same time, the proliferation of registries has also made it
increasingly difficult to figure out where to find information on
missing loved ones.

"If I'm a refugee trying to find my brother, I would have to search 20
databases and 25 online forums," said David Geilhufe, chief executive
of the Social Source Foundation, a charity set up to create
softwarefor other non-profits. "It's a huge problem."

Enter Katrinalist.net. The all volunteer team created a searchable
directory of persons displaced or affected by Hurricane Katrina,
consolidating over 25 different online resources into one central,
searchable repository. PeopleFinder Interchange Format, (called
'PFIF') is a new, standardized data format implemented in XML.

Katrina People Finder (www.katrinalist.net)helps in the organization
of data about people affected by major storms such as Hurricane
Katrina and speeds searches by allowing many organizations to
contribute to a central repository. The interchangeformat of Katrina
People Finder makes automated search and retrieval of data about
people quick and easy. Common data will help automated systems to
connect displaced individuals via automatic categorization and
matching.

The Katrinalist.net PeopleFinder database now contains just barebones
information -- such as name, phone number, last known address and
status. But Dean Robison of Salesforce.com,a San Francisco software
firm that is providing the technology to run the consolidated
database, said it could easily be expanded in thefuture to speed
rescue and relief operations in further disasters.

The Power of Community

The Katrina PeopleFinder Project mobilized hundreds of volunteers over
the Labor Day weekend to make an immediate difference. That immediate
difference is at http://www.katrinalist.net/,a searchable database of
almost 400,000 PeopleFinder Interchange Format-compliant,
volunteer-entered, missing and found persons reports from across the
web. Having a single, searchable resource is critical due to limited
internet access for evacuees and their families. The team plans to
turn its attention to housing and job solutions next, creating a
centralized technology solution that aggregates acomprehensive
resource set from sites all across the web, standardizes them, and
makes them searchable from anywhere.

Project Contributors
CivicSpace Labs (http://www.CivicSpaceLabs.org) is a funded non-profit
organization and community collaborating with the Drupal
(http://www.Drupal.org)project to develop a free/open-source software
platform for onlinecommunity organizing. CivicSpace enables bottom-up
people-powered campaigns to operate on a more level playing field with
more traditional top-down organizations, and, similarly, allows
top-down organizations to leverage the power of grassroots organizing.

Salesforce.com Foundation
(http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/index.html)was officially
launched in July 2000 by Secretary of State, Colin L.Powell. The
launch of the Foundation came less than a year after the launch of the
company with the goal of building philanthropic programs at the very
beginning of the company's existence rather than waiting until the
company had reached a certain level of 'comfortable success'.Our
belief is if emphasis is placed on social programs from a company's
inception, the value of service will be a core cultural value that is
built into the fabric of the company.

Social Source Software (http://www.social-source.com/)creates
world-class software specifically for nonprofit and non-governmental
organizations, usually under an open source license. Social Source
Software works with organizations seeking to create enterprise grade
websites, web applications, and other types of software.

Craigslist (http://www.Craigslist.org) From its humble beginnings as
an e-mail newsletter sent to friends in San Francisco, Craigslist has
grown to be one of the largest online community bulletin boards, with
175 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and 34 countries. Craigslist
was one of the earliest community sites to coordinate hurricane
relief, rescue and reunion for Katrina survivors.

Two Weeks After Evacuation

2005-09-11T07:30:00.000-04:00

Dear family and friends,

Just a quickie tonight, so I can get to bed earlyish.

There was a wonderful story in today’s Baton Rouge Advocate about a
woman whose 49-day-old child, Calli, died in New Orleans Children’s
Hospital from a congenital heart condition before Katrina hit. The
hurricane caused the child’s burial to be delayed until this Wednesday.
Her mother had been unable to face going through Calli’s things, but
when she heard about women in one of the shelters needing nappies and
wipes, she made herself go through all the things and then gathered up
the nappies and some clothes and took them to the shelter.

There are so many small braveries going on, and so many more, small and
large, which occurred in New Orleans just after Katrina. I think for
every image and report of violence we heard so much about there were
probably several dozen instances of courage and heroism. All those
people who waved the helicopters or boats away from their roofs saying
“Someone down that way needs you more”. Those so-called looters who went
and grabbed food and water out of stores to feed people stranded outside
the Convention Center. Singer Charmaine Neville, a member of a famous
New Orleans singing family, who rounded up a group of her stranded
neighbours, smashed into a store and got them food so “no-one else but
me would be accused of looting” and then broke into a city bus, loaded
it up with her neighbours, and taught herself to drive the bus as she
delivered them out of the city.

Lillie is up in Tallulah tonight, visiting her sister Jane. Helen
Prejean has returned from her latest speaking tour. She raised a lot of
money for the Death Penalty Discourse Center to help us get
reestablished. She talked to public defenders in Florida, and students
and parishioners and a diverse bunch of people in several states. She
sold a lot of copies of her latest book, The Death of Innocents; those
funds are one of the main ways we get money to fund our
anti-death-penalty work. I have no idea how she keeps up her schedule,
especially at time like this. She manages to channel her energy so well
into her work.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that yesterday Lillie and I received our
first snail mail addressed to our new (very temporary) abode. We both
received beautiful cards from our friends Maura and Allen in New
Hampshire. Mine has the most magnificent photo of an hibiscus I’ve ever
seen with a Maya Angelou quote: “I can be change by what happens to me.
I refuse to be reduced by it.”

Maura and Allen offered us a huge gift: they said that, when we are
allowed to return to our house, they would like to fly down from New
Hampshire and accompany us.

The thought of returning home fills me with dread. And I feel
particularly for people like Laurie, one of Lillie’s sisters, who will
return to a house containing dead pets.

The mail, by the way, is in as bad a state as the phone system. We
receive newly posted mail, but nothing that was in the mailstream at the
time of the hurricane. The post office has ceased delivery to a bunch of
zip code areas including ours and a statement on its site says it is
still trying to figure out how on earth to deal with this old mail (not
quite in those words). We keep on thinking of things that are stuck
somewhere in that mail (or perhaps mouldering in the New Orleans Post
Office). A t-shirt I’d ordered; some CDs; an order of bread from
sendbread.com (which I fervently hope they do not manage to deliver to
us after all this time).

Love,

Rose Vines

Please Help!!!!!

2005-09-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

I have been trying since last Tuesday(right after the storm ) to get someone to help me. The Coast Guard, Local Police in New Orleans, missing person reports etc, missing animal reports etc.

My cousin is in a Veterans Hospital , Shreveport, LA, Overtonbrook Veterans Hospital,since two days before Katrina, her name is Lorraine Sherman, age 83. 1-800-863-7441 Hospital # or cell number 504-301-6367 to talk with her.

Her son Scott Sherman age 54, 5ft 10in, brown hair and eyes, no one has heard from him since before the storm on Saturday, he was at her house with his dogs and her dogs and cats, they both have rescued these dogs from streets and such in the past' She is laying in this hospital with no help to find her son and missing beloved pets..

Her address is 4849 Piety Dr, New Orleans, LA, ,,,3rd house on the left from the corner of Mirabeau Ave, in the Gentilly Woods District.
It is a one story house with an flat top art studio on the side, has a brick fence and some wrought Iron gates. She is afraid the animals could not get free from the iron gate.

There are three or four cats, this is all second hand information ,All dogs should have collars on.

Dog one resembles a Cockapoo, color BLACK, Female, name is DAYS-ZA-VOO, small size

Dog two, resembles a Rotwiller ( not sure of spelling ) male, name is HIWAY as he was found on the highway.

Dog three chow and lab mix gold color, female, name is I-TEN ( found there)

Dog 4 and 5 are ZIGGY and ZOO Tan and brown Mutts, not sure of sex.

Dog 6, has bow leg, female , black, name is HOMELESS

Dog 7, Black Lab, male, docked tail, 115 lbs, name is ZORO,

Dog 8 is a female Pekinese, named BABETTE

there is more dogs, not sure, feel free to call Lorraine

Please Please help as no one else has, she said she would pay anyone and pay for their keep.

Juliane Burbach
411 South 54th St
Tacoma, WA 98408
253-474-7466

After The Storm (AmericanRoutes.org)

2005-09-10T12:32:00.000-04:00

Sometime this weekend, you may be able to hear one of the best expressions of New Orleans' role in music and culture available in any mass media. It's American Routes, a weekly show carried on many US public radio affiliates. Programmed and hosted by folklorist and UNO professor of folklore and culture Nick Spitzer, the show normally broadcasts from a studio in the heart of the French Quarter, but has found a temporary home on a Creole/Cajun French/English public radio station in Lafayette. Spitzer told the NYT that he began planning the music for this week's show as he was fleeing the flooding city in his car, playing Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans." This week's show highlights New Orleans' recovery from disasters past, emphasizing the city's role as the greatest single wellspring of American music. The Crescent City, after all, has either birthed or nurtured everything from jazz, R & B, cajun and the related black-influenced zydeco, soul, blues, gospel, and rock and roll.) With an encyclopedic knowledge of American vernacular music, an utterly democratic spirit, and an unmistakeable respect and love for American musical forms and the people who create them, Spitzer has stepped forward several times this week to serve as a compassionate and optimistic spokesman for the irrepressible creative spirit of a suffering city and a culture in diaspora.

[via Metafilter]

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

Journalists & Trauma: Help from Poynter Online

2005-09-10T11:40:00.000-04:00

Journalists involved in the coverage of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast region confront firsthand the traumatic scenes and images that they report to the rest of the world. Poynter Online has compiled a resource to help those journalists deal with the effects of what they've encountered on the job.

Al's Morning Meeting: Covering Trauma Victims

Help for Journalists Under Stress (article, with resources)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Journalists (resources)
Coping with the Stress of Covering Horror (article)
Stress on the Press: Part Two -- going it alone (article)
Stress on the Press: Part Three -- post-trauma stress (article)

Journalists Suffering Trauma: Advice from a Professional (article)

Covering Trauma & Tragedy: What It Takes (article)

Trauma Takes Toll on Journalists Covering Disasters (article)

Tips for Covering Tragedy

Journalists and Trauma: Secondary Victims (article)

Preparing for the Worst: Are You Ready? (article)

Covering Crisis (resource page)

Journalism and Tragedy (article)

Connecting With Your Staff (memos from other newsrooms dealing with trauma)

Journalists & Tragedy: A Passion for Excellence and a Compassion for People (article)

The Meaning of What We Do, Part 2 (article)

ALSO:

The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention: Disaster Mental Health

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=88403
--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

A small ray of hope: Death toll not so dire (NOLA.com)

2005-09-10T10:50:00.000-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/dzvv9

Saturday, September 10, 2005

A small ray of hope: Death toll not so dire
Scorned FEMA chief is sent back to Washington

By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer

Eleven days after Hurricane Katrina plunged New Orleans into agonies of flood, panic and chaotic evacuation, authorities finally began searching house-to-house in once-flooded neighborhoods Friday for those who did not escape.

Early results retrieved far fewer bodies than officials expected.

That led one key official to hope the death toll might be much less than 10,000, Mayor Ray Nagin's early estimate that quickly became an unchallenged benchmark.

That figure was based on the speed with which Hurricane Katrina flooded the Lower 9th Ward and other poor, densely populated neighborhoods as the storm roared past on Aug. 29 with winds of at least 105 mph.

The estimate became more credible as thousands of traumatized refugees slogged into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center during the next two days, bearing nightmarish tales of pushing bloated bodies out of the way or passing them sprawled on rooftops.
But in the first day of organized searching, there seemed some reason for hope.

"I think there's some encouragement in what we found in the initial sweeps that some of the catastrophic death that some people predicted may not, in fact, have occurred," said Terry Ebbert, chief of homeland security for the city. (more...)

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

The River Center

2005-09-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

Dear friends and family,

Today, one of our hosts, Maryann, went down to the River Center. It’s
the largest refugee shelter in Baton Rouge. It started taking evacuees
early on and the numbers seem to keep on increasing. There are around
5000 people there now, making it very crowded.

Maryann had gone there a couple of days ago to offer to bring some
people back here to use our showers and have the chance to relax for a
little while and get cleaned up. She connected with a woman and her four
grandchildren and although they couldn’t do it that day, Maryann
arranged to pick them up today. So off she went in the morning. She was
going to take them to a McDonald’s for some lunch, then bring them here,
but after a few hours she still hadn’t returned. We finally got a call
from her (on the perpetually degrading phone system) saying she was
standing in a line outside the River Center still waiting to get inside.

Evidently the security has been ratcheted up quite considerably in the
past few days. When Maryann was there on Wednesday there were fewer
people being housed there and she had just been able to walk in the door
and talk with people. Today, there was a highly visible military
presence. She said where she was standing there were a couple of guards,
one with his rifle slung over his shoulder, the other with it ready in
his hands.

The overcrowding, the tension, the lack of privacy, the lack of security
for the few belongings people still possess, the unsettling rumour mill,
the fears of unrest after FEMA’s debit card fiasco (did you hear about
that one? the emergency agency gave away $2000 debit cards on a “trial
basis” to refugees at the Astrodome while those in other shelters
waited; then the program was scrapped after the first ones were given
out). All these things have led to increased security.

When people leave the River Center to get a breath of fresh air or,
conversely, to have a smoke, they have to sign out with those in charge.
Then, to get back in again, they have to queue up, in the same line
Maryann found herself in. That means just to go out and have a stretch
may take several hours. And the queueing up is all done in the 94F
degree heat, with the smokers smoking as much as they can in the line
before they get back inside to the no-smoking zone. Meanwhile, you have
to make sure you leave someone looking after your stuff inside or it may
disappear. So, you leave someone waiting rooted to your little bit of
space inside while you take hours to get back in.

Maryann talked to quite a few people there. One older woman was sitting
in the shade. She told Maryann she really wanted to get back inside, but
she had bad knees and so she was trying to rest up before she got on
that long line, hoping it might grow a bit shorter in the meantime.
Maryann said she’d get in line on the woman’s behalf and then get her in
when she reached the head of the queue. And that’s what she did.

In the queue, one of the women behind her, when she realised Maryann
lived in town, started begging her for any accommodation at all that she
knew of. She was saying “I just need a small place to be by myself. I’ll
clean house. I’m a good worker, I’m honest, I have references. I just
need a little space.” Maryann pointed out a woman standing away from the
queue, who had told her earlier she had a boarding house and was taking
names of people for the rooms, and that she might be able to help. But
the woman was too scared to give up her place in the queue to go over to
the boarding house woman. She’d already waited for hours, and the woman
was already taking other people’s names, so even if she left the queue
she might not get a room. It was heartbreaking.

When Maryann finally got inside, although she’d had the woman she was to
meet paged, she couldn’t find her anyway. After hours, she gave up and
came home.

And that’s what it’s like in the River Center. Many of the people there
spent days in intolerable conditions in New Orleans after Katrina hit,
so you could say it’s an improvement.

I spent the day researching an article for the Herald on using the
Internet for disaster relief. I find it really hard to concentrate on my
usual writing about computers, so one of my editors has come up with
this story, which is central to my thinking.

Lillie had a really tough day. Now that we are sure we’re moving to
Houston, and moving soon, she’s faced with separation from the rest of
her family. She had hoped to see her dad before we leave Baton Rouge,
but he’s currently on the road to Atlanta with Lillie’s sister Laurie,
going there to pick up his wife, so the chances of seeing him any time
soon are slim. Jane’s in northern Louisiana, staying at a camp (local
word for a cabin in the woods or on a bayou) near Tallulah. Lillie will
make the trip up there tomorrow to see her. I can’t take the time to go
with her, as I have to try to earn some money and need to help out at
the newly reestablished Death Penalty Discourse Center here, before I
abandon them for Texas (I’ll still do the online management for the
Center from Texas, but I won’t be on hand to do computer training and
troubleshooting). Ann and Glenn are still camped with their son,
Stephen, here in Baton Rouge. It’s quite a sight, seeing Ann, Glenn and
Lisa all piled into a household with Stephen and his two flatmates and
assorted girlfriends. We’re hoping to have time with them on Monday
before we leave.

It’s going to be such an enormous wrench for Lillie. Right at the time
she needs to be near them most, she’s going to have to leave her family.
We’re already really missing our friends, so this is going to be
extraordinarily hard.

One thing people who haven’t spent time in the South might not realise
is how important family is. I think this may be even more the case in
New Orleans than for other places in the South. Families stick together.
Lillie’s family all live within a few miles of one another and she and
her three sisters have always talked on the phone almost every day. They
all adore their dad. And the connection is not just immediate family:
they have really strong ties to a very extended network of aunts, uncles
and cousins.

This is the usual way of things in New Orleans. We were talking to a
couple at the refugee gathering last week, and they have family dinner
every single Sunday with 60 people in their home. There families have
lived in Louisiana since the 1700s (they’re African American), and being
separated is beyond comprehension.

That’s one of the great tragedies of this disaster which may not be
visible to those from outside this culture. It has wrenched these
closely-knit families apart, flinging them off in all directions.

With hundreds of thousands of people being forced to do what they don’t
want to do – leave their families and friends, accept unpalatable work,
live in places not of their choosing – I think the depression factor
down the road is going to be enormous. Lillie was certainly feeling it
today.

Love,

Rose

CNN wins ruling on news coverage (AJC.com)

2005-09-10T00:29:00.000-04:00

By SCOTT LEITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/10/05

CNN obtained a temporary restraining order late Friday to prevent government agencies from restricting news coverage as victims are recovered in New Orleans and other areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

A suit that led to the order, filed in Houston, was not immediately available. But CNN said U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison granted the network's request Friday evening.

A hearing has been scheduled for today to determine if the order should be made permanent, CNN said. (more...)

--
Grace E. Lee
URL: http://www.depravedlibrarian.com

The 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will go on

2005-09-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

There will be a Jazzfest. We are committed to putting on the 2006 Jazz and Heritage Festival, whatever that may take, said Quint Davis, producer/director of the springtime musical extravaganza and president of Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans, which produces the festival with AEG Live, the nations second highest-grossing concert promoter.

Details are sketchy at this point.

We dont know when, we dont know where, we dont know what format, Davis said. There will be a Jazzfest in 2006. It will be in Louisiana. It will be as close to New Orleans as we can get it.

The producers would like to hold the event at its customary site at the Fair Grounds Race Course, but if thats not possible they are committed to holding it in Louisiana. Well be starting from the Fair Grounds and working our way out in determining a location, Davis said. More from the Times-Picayune...

Via Hurricane Katrina Live Coverage

Projecting Katrina's Damage on the Midwest and Northeast

2005-09-09T17:45:00.000-04:00

The flood maps on CondoBuzz.com did a good job at showing what the New Orleans flooding would look like in other cities. But what if Katrina's damage zone had happened in the midwest or northeast? I decided to find out.

There are various estimates as to how many square miles have been devastated by Katrina; I've seen 90,000 square miles quoted in various wire reports, so I decided to start with that. Of course, 90,000 square miles equals 300 miles square. So I downloaded a couple of online maps along with their map legend, which happened to be based on a range of 150 miles. That made it easy for me to go into Photoshop and draw a square, 300 miles on each side. It's a rough approximation, but it'll give you an idea of what it would look like if Katrina-sized devastation took place in the midwest and northeast.

First, the midwest:

Essentially, a Katrina-sized swath of damage would stretch from Chicago to Detroit. It would cover Toledo, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, as well as Lexington and Louisville. Nearly all of Indiana would be in the disaster zone.

Now, let's compare it to the northeast corridor. It's not a pretty picture.

Here, we find cities like Boston, New York, Newark and Philadelphia in the disaster zone. Damage would stretch all the way to the Canadian border, cover half of Vermont and New Hampshire, and affect all of Massachusetts (except some lucky folks in Cape Cod), Connecticut and Rhode Island.

If you've never been there, the Gulf Coast may be hard to picture in terms of sheer size. But plotting the swath of destruction on other parts of the US makes it clear how horrific the situation is. -andy