The Blame Game

This afternoon I spent some time searching through old posts to a pets board that I frequent just to pass the time. I ran across a lot of posts from the time when we were cut off from the rest of the world immediately following Katrina -- and specifically some old posts from that time about Katrina itself. I have made some good friends through that website -- and, truly, my view of the average Canadian has been even further elevated by the warmth and friendliness of those I have met there. I was disappointed, however, to see that a couple of my American counterparts who also frequent the site became bull-headedly defensive about our government and its policies when it was suggested that the government response to Katrina was flawed.

I voted for George W. Bush. As a matter of fact - I urged everyone I knew to vote for George W. Bush. I'm a republican. I'm a conservative. I think they (whoever they may be) would call me a right-wing zealot, actually. But I can tell you honestly that if George W. Bush stood before me this afternoon I would feel obliged to kick him squarely in the teeth. After 9/11, this president stood on the smouldering ruins of the World Trade Center. Smouldering ruins...

But where was he when this hurricane totally devastated the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico? Oh that's right.. he was busy having his picture taken with John McCain and his birthday cake. The most powerful man in the world has to have his priorities, right?

President George W. Bush and Laura Bush are greeted by Arizona Senator John McCain after arriving Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later addressed 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club, highlighting benefits of the new Medicare Prescription Drug coverage. White House photo by Paul Morse

What upsets me much more than quibbling about Dubya and his slow and inadequate response is the "these people were warned" arguments. First, I just have to ask -- is the implication that help would have come quicker had no one been warned of a hurricane? Is someone suggesting that aide and rescue have an obligation to drag their figurative feet simply because there were hurricane warnings issued before the storm hit? This may come as a shock to some - but there has been a hurricane warning system for quite some time... and that never stopped people from being rescued from rising flood waters or delayed food drops to devastated areas by a week or month or more.

Let's look a little closer at what these warnings mean, as well. What were people warned about, specifically? Generally, several Gulf Coast counties were placed under a hurricane warning. And what does this mean? According to the official American Red Cross website (www.redcross.org) this is "What to do when a Hurricane Warning is issued":

• Listen to the advice of local officials, and leave if they tell you to do so.
• Complete preparation activities.
• If you are not advised to evacuate, stay indoors, away from windows.
• Be aware that the calm "eye" is deceptive; the storm is not over. The worst part of the storm will happen once the eye passes over and the winds blow from the opposite direction. Trees, shrubs, buildings, and other objects damaged by the first winds can be broken or destroyed by the second winds.
• Be alert for tornadoes. Tornadoes can happen during a hurricane and after it passes over. Remain indoors, in the center of your home, in a closet or bathroom without windows.
• Stay away from flood waters. If you come upon a flooded road, turn around and go another way. If you are caught on a flooded road and waters are rising rapidly around you, get out of the car and climb to higher ground.

Now would be a good time to point out that my area - my neighborhood - was not part of a mandatory evacuation. An evacuation was extended for those in 'low-lying areas' and in mobile homes. We live in neither. The area of my mother's house near the Singing River was evacuated -- and so she came here to stay with us. We stayed, along with most of our neighbors (and with their relatives who evacuated as well) -- not in defiance or out of ignorance... We followed the advice of local officials. Three months later I am still reading sweeping generalizations about mandatory evacuations in news reports from around the world.

Considering that our local officials did not advise us to leave (had they have done this we would have done so) - we moved on to the next step: Complete preparation activities. We gathered 16 gallon jugs of fresh drinking water, 48 twenty ounce bottles of fresh drinking water, added eighteen cans of soup or pasta to our canned good supply, bought an extra weeks worth of baby formula and baby food, purchased 24 each size D, C, and 9 volt batteries and 48 size AA batteries. We tested our flashlights and electric lanterns, topped off the gas tanks in every vehicle, filled three six gallon jugs with extra gasoline and filled the generator tank as well. We removed absolutely everything that didn't have roots from the yard and brought it into the garage - staked down all of our small trees in four directions with rebar and tow rope - and covered every window and door of our home with pre-cut 3/4" plywood using latches and plyloks. We then went out and bought extra bread and snack type food along with sodas, filled 1 gallon bags with water and froze them to pack into the freezer and refrigerator and declared the refrigerator off limits until after the storm. We drove to the bank and withdrew cash to have with us and then gathered up our official documents such as birth certificates and insurance policies and put them in a lock box to keep with us.

Yes. We (also referred to as "these people") were warned. And we heeded those warnings.

I should make one thing very clear -- I am not implying that we were inadequately warned. I am not trying to imply that we should have been advised to evacuate. I think everyone was simply working with the information they were provided. We have no idea what these storms are going to do -- none of us. We all take a chance when we stay. We take a chance when we go. We take a chance when we drive to the grocery store in the afternoon, for that matter.

Now I should make another thing very clear -- we are not in New Orleans. The New Orleans evacuation was an entirely different scenario. There's a big difference between 'a nearby landfalling hurricane may cause hurricane conditions in your area' and 'the city is going to flood and there is no way out once it starts'. Unfortunately it seems that the average reader out there has a very limited knowledge of basic US geography. The Gulf Coast of Mississippi is NOT simply part of the 'surrounding area of New Orleans'. (And, while I'm clarifying, Pascagoula, Mississippi is not actually part of the area of Gulf Shores, Alabama.)

I hope that I have effectively established that my family did not make a stupid drunken decision to stay in our home in the face of impending doom against the best advice of well-meaning sheriff's deputies and as a result suffer a catastrophic loss of property and our way of life.

But what if we had left? Would that have meant our house would not have flooded? Would we have not lost almost everything we owned had we evacuated? Would we be in less need of help had we done this? Is there a suggestion out there that we were punished for being here in the first place? Then explain what has happened to the hundreds of thousands of evacuees -- still displaced.. still living in hotel rooms with the same awful situation as ours awaiting them when they come home.

Before anyone enters the debate about government response and government responsibility in the wake of disaster -- I suggest that they spend over 72 hours in a sweltering and sewage soaked building eating stale crackers and ravioli out of a rusted can telling their children repeatedly "It's okay - somebody will come to help us soon. They'll come - they know we're here." Then listen to their young children chime in "That's right! They sent helicopters and hospital ships and all sorts of things when the tsunami hit in Asia... Remember we sent boxes of toys to the little kids there? Will they send us boxes of toys too?" Now explain to them why no one came. If you can do this -- then you've earned the right to join the debate.

Oh and, Mr. Bush - the next time you come to my hometown to make sure the oil refinery survived in the wake of a catastrophe, could you please stop by our house? My children have some questions for you.