The Aftermath

United States, world share grief in wake of Katrina

Johnathon Gagnon GAG01002@BYUI.EDU News Asst. Editor

On the morning of Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina blasted into the southern gulf states destroying cities and coastline, leaving masses of people without homes and many without lives.

The category 5 hurricane flooded the cities cutting electricity, sweeping away roads from floodwaters and limiting the food and water rations available to the survivors of the storm. Officials said the death toll could number in the hundreds of thousands.

During a trip last week to the devastated area of 90,000 square miles, President Bush was greeted with laud and criticism, the latter based on what many have called a sluggish federal effort to provide relief.

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has been a stark critic of the administration’s reaction to Katrina, saying on a local radio station, “they don’t have a clue what’s going on down here.”

President Bush, while walking through the rubble of city blocks and homes with survivors under each arm, offered solace to those affected by promising relief and government help.

“We’ll get on top of this situation. A lot of people are working hard to help those affected. The results right now are unacceptable,” Bush said Friday in a press meeting before visiting the disaster area.

The administration has bolstered efforts and the results have been coming in droves.

Friday morning the first of the convoys arrived in New Orleans, delivering food and water to those evacuees afflicted by the week’s monstrous proceedings. National Guard troops, expected to number in the thousands, arrived to renew order to the almost war-like streets of New Orleans.

In The Big Easy days were riotous and chaotic at best. Gangs roamed the streets, corpses laid by the wayside, looters pillaged stores and rapists ran rampant. The Calvary, in form of National Guard troops, rived in helicopters and trucks, many to be met with gunfire from anarchist citizens.

The soldiers, many of them Iraqi veterans, came with shoot-to-kill orders if unruly citizens pose a threat to rescue orders. “These troops are battle tested,” Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. “They have M-16s and are locked and loaded,” Reuters reported.

To relieve some of the difficulties faced by many in the Gulf Area, evacuees, who some 9,000 were rescued via helicopter, were carted to the Houston Astrodome where medical aid, food, water and cots were available to those arriving.

When the Astrodome reached capacity, the city of Houston opened the doors of the Reliant Arena, duplicating the efforts made by its neighbor, the Astrodome. In addition, Texas has continued to open its arms to evacuees seeking home by allowing some 75,000 evacuees into the cities of Dallas, San Antonio and Huntsville.

Arms continue to open around the world as countries like Japan, Australia, Venezuela and others help to aid the American disaster financially. Even the small tsunami-torn country of Sri Lanka has shown empathy for the United States.

“Having experienced the fury of nature ourselves during the December 26 tsunami, the people of Sri Lanka and I fully empathize with you at this hour of national grief,” said Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a brief to the United States.

The American Red Cross sreported to have received near $200 million in private donations as of Friday. The Salvation Army reported receiving $21 million in private donations.