a catastrophe on this scale
CHERTOFF: Do we want to make sure we are feeding, sheltering, housing and educating those who are distressed, or do we want to begin the process of finger-pointing?
Aaron Broussard, President Jefferson Parish:
Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area
We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, “Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. “FEMA says don’t give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line ...
...And I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I’m in, emergency management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, “Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you. Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
I can believe the part about the fuel. . . I have my doubts about the comm lines. As to the story of the man’s mother, did someone eat her dead body too?
Posted by on 09/06/05 at 03:19 PM
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