amper,
sorry about that. i should have re-read the post. i have to agree with you that (at the very least) a mulit-day kit would be essential in a situation like this. apparently there are still some communities relief efforts haven't even gotten to. its almost unbelievable that this situation could go on this long in cities with modest populations. one can only imagine if this happened in a city with millions. i guess its a good reminder to be prepared and not expect outside assistance for a while if something major where to happen. thats actually a sobering realization.

the USN is sending several ships including a hospital ship to LO. The nice thing about big ships are their onboard water distillation capabilities. I was on one of the last boiler powered cutters. When we decommissioned the BATF actually regulated the scrap auction. Boilers make excellent liquor distillaries.

I'm very much like you. Live alone and tend to eat out a lot. When I eat at home I favor fresh stuff so there's rarely more than a couple of days worth of food in the kitchen.

That said, my "emergency closet" is full of canned and boxed stuff for an emergency. Once a year I replace it all and give last year's stuff to a charity that can make good use of it. Also, 10 gallons of drinking water and additional containers which can be filled quickly as needed.

I see... BATF stands for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms right?

Frankie

I feel for the survivors, but I am hopeful that it will wake up some people that living below sea level is probably not smart.

My choctaw relatives in Pitcher keep the memory of Mississippi alive in folklore- when they're not dodging twisters. We live on a very active and sometimes violent planet. It's that stirring that made the soup of life. I just walked my place doing a earthquake prep inspection. If people outside the affected area get to hubris old whats his name may start another 40 days of rain and put a run on cubits of marine plywood.

Well Susan, at least you have a plan and you have the forethought to understand the possiblities! I think many of us are rethinking our lives and situations in more ways than one! I know I am trying to just cut costs for one thing. If I want to get to work everyday, I am going to have to cut costs so I can afford gasoline!
Anyway, I surely never intended to rile you up Susan! I am glad you are ready to deal with an emergency! I think we all need to work out some new plans! One of my friends often talks about being in a situation where he needs to protect family and property. I always thought he was over doing it, maybe not!! Take care!

I also posted most of this edited response to amper's ETS v. Long Term Survival thread, but wanted to share here also.

I don't want to sound too critical, as I believe many in NOLA are strapped for resources in the best times and any of us might be the victim of bad decision-making, bad info or bad luck but...

Seeing how the events have been playing out near the Gulf, my observations and thoughts have been on:
-- how Totally unprepared many of these unfortunate individuals are
-- how people refused to leave
-- how people seem unwilling to take responsibility for preparing for their own well-being
-- how the local, state and federal governments apparently didn't provide a means of evacuation for those who didn't have the resources or were too ill to leave BEFORE the storm
-- how the local, state and federal governments apparently didn't put enough forethought into responding to a disaster of this size and scope (and let’s face it, from a US geographical perspective, this is a relatively localized event – imagine the repercussions of a significant terrorist attack or natural disaster on two or three US cities at once)
-- how the local, state and federal governments were apparently not prepared to secure the safety of people and property immediately after the severe storm threat had passed (even though with an event like a hurricane they had several days to prepare and now must respond, not to mention the years ahead of time they should have been planning).
-- how even with all our government agencies, that we fund, there seems to be a total lack of coordination and leadership
-- how difficult it seems to be for people to remain calm after the events
-- how uninformed many of these victims seem to be (expressing dissatisfaction that the power is out, as opposed to understanding the dangers of electrocution if it were just turned back on)
-- how I’ll bet that many will be surprised that there are more repercussions yet to come – health issues as disease starts to spread, injuries that may arise from local critters (snakes, gators and crocs, etc)
-- how many of these unfortunate individuals seem to have some expectation that their lives should be able to return to “normal” overnight.
-- how incredulous the victims seem to be that it's difficult to provide food, water and shelter for tens of thousands of victims
-- how mean, violent and uncooperative people appear to be when being sheltered (even as I write this news channels are reporting about the shootings, fire-settings, muggings and rapes inside the Superdome, the lootings (not referring to food and water) and the shootings at rescuers in helicopters and boats outside the Superdome and in the remains of the city).
-- how even as uncomfortable as I’m sure life inside the Superdome is -- probably beyond my ability to comprehend -- many people are complaining about the taste of MREs, and leaks in the roof – as opposed to expressing any thankfulness that they are 1) alive, 2) being given food, water and shelter that they and others are paying for and 3) being given potential relocation to even better accommodations
-- how I can’t help but feeling that (in my uninformed opinion), it is likely that some small percentage of individuals who stayed behind, may have done so just to have the opportunity to loot, pillage and plunder.
-- how the rest of us will likely be paying indirectly through increases in taxes (or reduction in services), insurance premiums, gasoline prices, building materials, etc. for quite some time.
-- how, as other have said, people can be surprised when common sense and analysis have indicated that when one lives below sea-level, next to large bodies of water, this exact result was just a matter of when, not if

For those that believe, please join me in praying that the suffering will be minimized, but also that many will at least learn from the misfortune, for if they don't learn, then all the suffering may really be in vain.

I could go on and on ……and I’m sure many others could too. Just some initial thoughts that I felt the need to express.

Michael

This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:

Aug. 31, 2005

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them.

All under police excort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems.

Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of clichi way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuid will take. And the horror of so many dead people.

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH.

Greg Henderson

Michael,

Dead on observations. Many good lessons there.

My observations --

-listen to the evacuation recomendations. Get out. 29 times out of 30 it will be unnecessary. Get out anyway

-a 72 hour kit may not be enough. 7 days may not be enough.
Food and water are cheap & plentiful -- BEFORE an event.

-Plan for security.

-The goverment is a huge, slow beast. New Orleans will become the wild west for a few days, then troops will assault the city.

--Plan for no fuel and power outages

and that's just the start,

Teacher RO