September 3, 2005

What the mayor could have done

A reader writes:

It might well make sense, under some circumstances, to use the Superdome or Convention Center as emergency shelters. But if you were mayor, wouldn't you do a few other things as well? I mean, if I were evacuating thousands of people to a certain location, I'd make damn sure I had enough cops there to keep things organized and in control, along with somebody sufficiently senior to be in charge. And I'd move paramedics, doctors and nurses. Not to mention medicine which one could predict would be needed: antibiotics and insulin, at a minimum. Finally, I'd ship as much water as I possibly could. Food would be good too, but one can live a few days without resorting to cannibalism.

At a minimum, if none of those preparations were possible, I'd tell those shipped over before the flood began to bring a gallon of water each. And if I didn't have enough water to transport, I'd have some of the cops that I'd sent to the Superdome and Convention Center using the taps at those facilities to fill jugs, bottles, pots, or even buckets with water. I mean, even if FEMA had been maximally efficient, they'd have still taken a couple or three days to get aid to people. The fact that evacuation facilities had no food, water, or medicine at all is clearly attributable to local incompetence.


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

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