September 16, 2005

"Planners Didn't Anticipate Gun Problem After Katrina:"

More evidence of official naiveté about the New Orleans population (via Modern Tribalist) from an AP news story:

Disaster Official At N.Y. Symposium: Planners Didn't Anticipate Gun Problem After Katrina

POSTED: 8:48 am EDT September 13, 2005

NEW YORK -- Emergency officials who prepared Louisiana's plan for responding to a major hurricane never guessed that one of their duties would be to protect aid workers from gunmen, one of the state's senior disaster officials said Monday.

Speaking at a symposium in New York, Arthur Jones, chief of disaster recovery for Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said he was caught off guard by the violence in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

No disaster planner, he said, predicted that people would loot gun stores after the storm and shoot at police, rescue officials and helicopters.

Jones said the flow of aid to the city was delayed because officials were not able to guarantee the safety of American Red Cross workers and other volunteers.

"That's never been in any plan," Jones said in an interview following his speech to the emergency response officials at the symposium. "Unfortunately, in the future, it will have a place at the table."


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

No comments: