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Jewish World Review Sept. 7, 2005 / 3 Elul, 5765 The finger of blame is being pointed in the wrong direction By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Catastrophe brings out the best in good people, and the worst in bad people.
We've seen plenty of both among the victims of Hurricane Katrina and their
rescuers, and in the news coverage of the disaster.
An area the size of Idaho has been devastated. Shelter must be found for
more than a million people. The death toll may approach the nearly 8,000
killed by the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. Economic damage
figures to be north of $100 billion.
Katrina was a natural disaster, a reminder that environmentalists have their
principal thesis backwards. They fear we humans will destroy the planet.
Katrina showed yet again how easily the planet can destroy us.
Perhaps because pointing the finger at someone makes us feel more in control
than in fact we are, perhaps because it is hard for trial lawyers to sue
Mother Nature, there is a natural tendency to find some human villain to
blame. This is compounded by political opportunists who — like looters —
seek to profit from the misery of others.
There were two tragedies wrought by Katrina. The first was the devastation
the hurricane caused — mostly on Mississippi's Gulf Coast — when it came
ashore. There was nothing any mortal could have done to prevent this.
The second tragedy was the failure of the levees protecting New Orleans to
hold back the storm surge. There is no way a levee 15 feet high can protect
against a 22-foot storm surge.
If the levees had been higher and stronger, the damage Katrina inflicted on
New Orleans could have been minimized. Given that there were several CAT-IV
hurricanes in the Gulf in the early 20th Century, and the damage that would
be inflicted on New Orleans if it were hit by a storm like Katrina had long
been predicted, this is apparently a case of negligence. But since no
federal administration from the time of Franklin Roosevelt on has sought to
build levees strong enough to withstand a Katrina force hurricane,
finger-pointing is pointless.
It took nearly four days before meaningful help arrived for thousands who
gathered for shelter in New Orleans' Superdome, prompting many in the news
media to describe the federal relief effort as a "shame" and a "national
disgrace."
This says more about the ignorance and bias of journalists than it does
about the federal relief effort. Because the fundamental fact — unreported
by any major media outlet — is that the federal response to Katrina has
been much more swift than to any previous natural disaster, despite far
greater challenges.
Katrina made landfall at 6:10 a.m. Central time last Monday. The main levee
protecting New Orleans breached around 1:00 a.m. Tuesday. By Friday,
hundreds of tons of relief supplies were pouring into the area, despite the
fact that many of the roads and airports were covered with water or strewn
with debris.
The rapid federal response was made possible because President Bush declared
federal emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi the Friday before Katrina
struck, permitting relief supplies to be prepositioned.
Much suffering might have been alleviated if authorities in Louisiana had
acted as promptly. Bush asked Friday that a mandatory evacuation be
ordered, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco took a day to think about it, and refused
Bush's request to put the Louisiana National Guard under federal control.
Mayor Ray Nagin didn't order a mandatory evacuation until Sunday morning.
New Orleans had a plan to use the city's buses to evacuate those who did not
have automobiles, but no effort was made to implement it.
Looting began shortly after the levee was breached early Tuesday, but Gov.
Blanco didn't authorize the National Guard to help enforce the law, or ask
for help from National Guard troops outside Louisiana until Wednesday.
Order broke down mostly because two thirds of the New Orleans police force
was AWOL, and some cops were among the looters. It's hard to see how this
is President Bush's fault. But Blanco and Nagin are blaming Bush for their
own shortcomings, and the news media are trumpeting their charges without
examining them.
Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are working 18-20 hours a day to help
Katrina's victims. More than 100,000 have been provided with food and
shelter.
Not all are as grateful as they might be. Jervis Bergeron complained that
he wasn't told he was being evacuated to Utah. Jervis has a future in
Democratic politics, or in journalism.
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© 2005, Jack Kelly |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
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