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This morning my friends list had a bit of a theme: people cannot depend on "official" help.
"Katrina, in addition to stripping my hometown of life, unmasked the pretenses of government as savior."
"...every town and every household has to be ready to look after itself. Because by the time the "official" help arrives -- if it does arrive -- it's going to be too late." (One of the comments on this entry says to go check out your local CERT [Community Emergency Response Team]. "Official help" often gets things under control in a matter of days; CERT is meant to deal with things before that.)
There are also several entries mentioning how our government (Federal) has failed New Orleans. No matter what they do from this moment on, that assessment will still stand in the eyes of some.
What can we learn from this? I figure the first thing we can learn is the very thing everyone is observing: official help isn't enough. We can complain about that, we can think about whether it can be changed, but for now, it's like gravity: if you can see that it's true you better take it into account as a fact. We as individuals and as communities need to be ready.
I'm no preparedness guru, but I do have the basic supplies for the obvious disaster scenario where I live. It's not only for my own sake, although it certainly is that. If I'm in good shape the Red Cross can go help someone else instead of helping me, I might be able to help a neighbor, I can volunteer somewhere, or maybe I can just get the hell out of the way. I could do even more if I were better trained and equipped; I need to think hard about that.
Someone else on my friends list (I apologize: I can't find the link in order to provide proper attribution) said that if Katrina has any silver lining it might be this. People are planning more, and that might save lives in the future.
Preparedness is suddenly fashionable again.
The challenge, of course, will be to follow through.
"Katrina, in addition to stripping my hometown of life, unmasked the pretenses of government as savior."
"...every town and every household has to be ready to look after itself. Because by the time the "official" help arrives -- if it does arrive -- it's going to be too late." (One of the comments on this entry says to go check out your local CERT [Community Emergency Response Team]. "Official help" often gets things under control in a matter of days; CERT is meant to deal with things before that.)
There are also several entries mentioning how our government (Federal) has failed New Orleans. No matter what they do from this moment on, that assessment will still stand in the eyes of some.
What can we learn from this? I figure the first thing we can learn is the very thing everyone is observing: official help isn't enough. We can complain about that, we can think about whether it can be changed, but for now, it's like gravity: if you can see that it's true you better take it into account as a fact. We as individuals and as communities need to be ready.
I'm no preparedness guru, but I do have the basic supplies for the obvious disaster scenario where I live. It's not only for my own sake, although it certainly is that. If I'm in good shape the Red Cross can go help someone else instead of helping me, I might be able to help a neighbor, I can volunteer somewhere, or maybe I can just get the hell out of the way. I could do even more if I were better trained and equipped; I need to think hard about that.
Someone else on my friends list (I apologize: I can't find the link in order to provide proper attribution) said that if Katrina has any silver lining it might be this. People are planning more, and that might save lives in the future.
Preparedness is suddenly fashionable again.
The challenge, of course, will be to follow through.
