The BBC reports that a shot fired at a rescue helicopter attending the Superdome stadium has led to the suspension of air ambulance rescues from there. Yesterday, Doug Miller wrote: 'Aside from the wide-spread destruction Katrina wreaked on the cities and towns of the central Gulf Coast, we've lost a major metropolitan area. I'm not sure this has sunk in yet, but New Orleans is gone. The ruins are having to be abandoned until the situation improves. The people left in the city mostly can't leave on their own, and are having to fend for themselves. It's anarchy in there, and not of the educated, political sort.' Doug cites Ken MacLeod:
Excuse me, but did part of America just fall off and drop into the Third World?
Maybe I'm missing something, but from here there seems to be a gulf between the news reports and the framing of them. What it looks like is an ever-expanding disaster that could eventually have a body count in the thousands. Lack of clean water and electricity could do that on their own. The rescue efforts look awfully piecemeal, brave though each one is. In New Orleans the water is still rising. Thousands are still stranded. Tens or hundreds of thousands in the Gulf coast states are homeless and without electricity or communications. The news networks are maintaining a remarkable calm. The reporters sound stressed, the anchors sombre but unfazed. It's unreal.
To stop this from turning into major national catastrophe would seem to require a massive mobilization of ... oh, never mind.
Today, Dave Winer has posted this:
Good morning. I'm watching the continuing television coverage of the Katrina aftermath (which needs a new name, some have suggested diaspora). Already nearby cities are turning away refugees. You have to wonder how far the refugees will travel. Will the problem spread throughout the South? Beyond? And what about mercy for the people, where are they going to go? How would you feel if you were a refugee? A woman on the I-10 says angrily that she's a taxpayer, but no one is trying to save her life. These are Americans! Meanwhile, sports events continue. The Director of Homeland Security preaches preparedness. Ads on TV urge us to buy huge recreation vehicles and to attend home decoration shows. Buy a new deodorant, switch to a new cola. Americans are dying, right now. Nothing like this happened in the aftermath of 9/11 and that disaster was much smaller than this one. A small part of a big city was destroyed. In this event a large US city is being ravaged. The disaster is continuing. The national response is wholly inappropriate. I think we have to get ready to welcome the refugees into our homes, to absorb the population of New Orleans and the surrounding area into the rest of the country. It's clear that's where we're headed.
Meanwhile, Lloyd Shepherd (on his personal blog) writes about the city's 'unique confluence of black, Cajun and Creole cultures' and concludes, 'In July we celebrated London multiculturalism in the face of brutal human attack. Let's hope we can find the same celebration in the face of nature's assault on Cajun country'.
Distinctive in its contribution to culture in so many ways — city of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, central to the development of jazz, blues, rock and roll, celebrated for its food …
