from what i've seen on tv news : nobody seems to be in charge.
when even city and state officials are crying for help and not really getting it, there seems to be something wrong.
i know that some help is getting through, but simply not enough.
the canadian army has a DART(disaster response team) on standby at all times. they can go within 12 hours (including a water purification system that is self-supporting and can turn even sewage into potable water). this team was used to bring potable water to the tsunami victims, so they are quite experienced. last time i checked - about 2 hours ago - they were told by their u.s. counterparts that they are not needed ??? weep and cry ! hbg
cruiseships
this is from wednesday's news - somewhat outdated.
louisiana state officials have apparently contacted the government of british-columbia/canada for help. a search and rescue team should be on the way. a bit puzzling - usually these requests are between federal governments and not state/provincial governments; but the importatnt part is that help is being sent. hbg
...RESCUE TEAM...
Phoenix32890 wrote:Gus- You're the best thing that has come along in the last eight years. I think that you have a great idea.
Quit your Pope job Ratzenhoffer- The US needs you for Prez!!! 
Certainly not to take anything away from Gus, but the U.S. Federal government had already asked Carnival Lines to provide this service back on Wednesday, August 31st. Carnival showed empathy and were looking at it but have not yet done anything.
cruiseships
from today's news.
the canadian navy is readying supply-ships, but apparently no u.s. request for help has been made despite constanr communication between u.s. and canadian military ??? PUZZLING ! hbg
...CANADA READY TO HELP...BUT...
(i'm just posting what i see. perhaps there is a snag somewhere that i'm not aware of.)
One of the posters at another forum I frequent at lives/lived in NOLA.
She resurfaced, posting from Baton Rouge, this morning.
(thank god or whoever/whatever)
As a result of a total fluke, she was on a cruise til Tuesday. They couldn't get the ships back into NOLA to offload (let alone pick people up)- were taken to Galveston and given $150 toward getting wherever they can get to.
She said private citizens are taking small boats into NOLA with water, coffee, fruit - and are going to try and bring a few people out themselves. She doesn't think that they can get people out to ships at this point.
It's an utter disgrace how this crisis is handled, and
for the entire world on display how incompetent the current government officials act.
The Canadian Federal government has offered help. The Manitoba government have offered hydro workers. The Ontario government has offered medical aid. So far, everything has been declined. ????
Canadians have made large donations to the Red Cross.
Celine Dion (not liked by many according to posts in the past) has donated 1 million dollars to the cause.
Help is available....
Thanks for the person-on-the-spot bulletin, ehBeth. Glad she's OK.
I agree with the cruise ships idea - it makes complete sense. Plus, the cruise ships don't have to keep people on board indefinitely. As they travel, they could drop off groups of people along the coast, spreading them among various cities and regions so that the close-by areas are not overwhelmed by an inpouring of refugees needing assistance and running out of their own resources.
i wonder how many cruiselines will be offering up their million-dollar cruiseships for transportation of evacuees. i doubt that the u.s. government will have the financial resources to compensate the cruiselines adequately. we can't expect the cruiselines to offer their ships for free; after all the disaster recovery companies are hoping to make good money from rebuilding (watch the stocks of these companies rise hourly on CNBC). hbg
What the f*ck are they mulling over? What, is it that there aren't enough of their target demographic over there drowning and starving and shooting each other? Are they in negotiations with the government or something? I hope it has to do with logistics and not money...f*cking people are dying while they are mulling...
I don't see why the cruiselines should not offer to help. If it was a case of flying people out, airlines would be expected to step in and assist and they are private carriers with shareholders. They would be reimbursed by the government (not as much as they would ask I'm sure) because the government should know that it is better to rescue and assist than let these people suffer and die, and as a result have class action lawsuits against city, state, government for abandonment or worse - that by not doing something, people continued to sicken and die.
Yes it would be a huge undertaking and loss for the cruiselines but public perception could ruin their industry if they were found to have been asked and refused because of money! When it comes to catastrophes, any request of help being refused will never be forgotten. They might as well close their doors because they will surely suffer far more severe losses in the future than if they just bit the bullet and sacrificed something now. Plus the PR for such an action would make non-sea-loving-travelers view them with a fresh eye. What better advertisement could they come up with?
I don't think it would be unreasonable at all for the cruise ship companies to offer up their services for free......
why not, think of the free publicity they'd have.
what about the marines? I don't know what those boats are called, but those vessels that come up on shore?
Are casks of water being lowered by helicopter?
I'm really worried about all the diseases from the fetid flood waters.
dysentery, e coli etc.
kicky : better read my previous post :
"we can't expect the cruiselines to offer their ships for free; after all the disaster recovery companies are hoping to make good money from rebuilding (watch the stocks of these companies rise hourly on CNBC). "
...and the stocks of those companies are rising as we speak. "make hay while he sun shines" , isn't that what "free enterprise" is all about ? hbg
This is what happens when concepts (money, corporations) become more import than people themselves. Sad ****.
I have to wonder why they would give their services for free when, at this very moment, President Bush is doing a news conference indicating that the government will lend money for people to start to rebuild.
He claims that they started helping immediately by sending helicopters to save "thousands of lives from rooftops" He said that nobody could predict that the levee would break and cause such damage. I heard predictions of New Orleans potentially being 80% under water even before the hurricane hit.
GW spoke of buses but not of ships.
One of the factors for the cruise lines is that they are continuing their cruises. The ships aren't sitting around.
I'd give up my place on a cruise.......
