OT: Foreign Aid For USA

The **repetitious** photos and reporting on US TV indicates to me that there are *TOO MANY* fat cats educated beyond their intelligence sitting in their air conditioned offices pondering rescue decisions (my apologies to kitties). It is not easy to mobilize massive amounts of help at the snap of the fingers and survivors should not be expecting immediate relief, but so far what I have seen is a National Disgrace. I suspect that conditions in the southern slave auction barns yars ago were much better because the humanity effected were considered more valuable.

Yo better start complaining to congress because if the rescue effort is this dismal when less than a million people are effected think of what it will be like when a major city is hit - and it will happen - it is just a matter of time.

Fred

't backstitch to emailjust stitchit. If you are on thin ice you might as well dance!

A bigger item they're going to have to deal with sooner than termites is mold. Especially with the temps down there, the mold is going to grow very quickly and even more people are going to be sick. Heck, our flood was in April when it was 40-50 degrees and it didn't take long for the mold to develop. At 90 degrees it's going to take a lot less time.

Joan

I can proudly say that we too send help , mainly medical people and experts in saving people from bad situations .. Hopeful they can help save as many as possible mirjam

You're right, mould can make one very sick.

***Still, Bush told ABC-TV: "I'm not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn't asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country's going to rise up and take care of it."

"You know," he said, "we would love help, but we're going to take care of our own business as well, and there's no doubt in my mind we'll succeed. And there's no doubt in my mind, as I sit here talking to you, that New Orleans is going to rise up again as a great city."***

I have to say, Tia Mary, that saying "first we will do as much as we can for ourselves" is hardly a gracious way to treat friends and allies when they offer to help.

I can tell you that Russia offered to send search and rescue teams and was turned down. So far, I haven't heard of any offers for space heaters and down comforters, though I did read that Sri Lanka donated cash through the American Red Cross.

Elizabeth

One thing the Red Cross was very clear about was that they will not set up shelters in areas that are in danger of being flooded--you cannot offer people a place of safety or security if you are likely to have to move them again in a matter of hours. They wold not have used the New Orleans stadium. These are the people who have experience in every kind of disaster, and perhaps their expertise might have been better used. Dawne

Almost seems that someone doesn't want the help because, (a) The area is going to be written off, or (b) The aid is going to effect someone's bottom line.

On the news last night; Russia offered to ship 100,000 temporary shelters - offer declined. Venezuela offered fuel at $35 US a barrel - offer declined. Iran offered 1 Billion US $$$ and millions of barrels of crude at $35 US a barrel - offered refused.

Go figure!

Fred

't backstitch to emailjust stitchit. If you are on thin ice you might as well dance!

In 3 months winter will be in full ,, in fact in end October it will tturn colder ,,,, And all the people will need shelters ,,,, We hope somebody is organizing this .. Rescue in this magnitude needs , fast sulotions now and Extremely well organized ideas for later .. mirjam

Speaking from the experiernce of the East Coast (UK) floods of 1953, Heaters in some form are totally necessary even at this time of year to dry out houses (those still standing, obviously) as fast as possible. Generators too, of course.

Pat P

It's doubtful that they will have electricity for several months, and gas is prohibitively expensive, so how can you run the heaters?

Lucille>

According to the AP the items offered from various countries have been rescue teams, medical teams, cash, boats, aircraft (including Chinook helicopters), tents, blankets, generators, fuel, field hospitals, equipment for temporary housing, and "humanitarian aid". None of that sounds ridiculous. The Russian offer (stated by Elizabeth) is the only one I've heard that was specifically turned down.

While I'm sure the people in shelters are hankering for some fresh produce and a good home-cooked meal, the logistics just aren't in place yet to handle perishables. As much as I dislike some aspects of corporate America, Anheuser-Busch (spelling?) and Wal*Mart (and possibly others) have been sending water, food, and very necessary supplies directly to the people in need since day one--in some cases totally bypassing the government. The lack of access into New Orleans has been one of the biggest problems.

As for the I-10 repairs, > All of which is RIDICULOUS! Space heaters (if they were offered as

Sheena, are you being obtuse on purpose? The offer is NOT declined it is just on hold until routing, docking, etc. info can be firmed up. Declined means saying NO -- we don't want your stuff. I doubt if anyone has said that -- just asked that the stuff not be sent until it can be adequately dealt with. What good does it do to have loads of stuff arrive and not have (as was pointed out by another poster) the infrastructure to deal with it properly and in a timely manner??? VBS -- one does wonder about the rationale and contemplation of your points of discussion!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Two navy ships and a coast guard ship leave here Tuesday. No probs about 'where are they going to tie up?" there are helos aboard that will take the supplies etc ashore to wherever they are needed.

That does seem to be some progress. It was not possible sooner because our navy was going to take it and the US does not allow our navy to do things like that. Sounds like stupid, bureaucratic procrastination at the worst of times.

You know that personally of course ??? The offer was declined because our navy was bringing the goods - you know - 'foreign troops'

- where they would land is not a problem, they will heave to offshore and fly the supplies in. Really !

But Elizabeth, if we didn't try to take care of as much stuff as possible before letting others take care of it for us, we would be accused of being lazy, greedy, self-serving and a whole host of other not so nice attributes! The ungraciousness is not in declining the help but in HOW the help is declined. One thing most of us don't think about is that when other countries

-- like Russia -- offer to send rescue people, we have to find some place to hose the people and then we have to provide them with food, water, sanitary facilities, etc. That could be one of the reasons why the help has been declined. WHERE are we going to put the incoming people? Until the flood waters have receded, we might not be able to utilize all that additional help. Here again, all we hear from the media is what THEY want us to hear. I want to know the circumstances surrounding the refusal of aid before I go condemning people. I also wonder how many of us would do a better job, given the circumstances? I also wonder just HOW one level of government can open up a refugee center and NOT tell the other level of government that there are people who need food & water??? I just keep telling myself that these people are likely good examples of the Peter Principle and have been appointed to their positions of authority -- heaven help us!!! One wonders what all of the disaster training we hear about has been for?!?!?!?!? CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Here's the rub -- you CAN get into New Orleans where the SuperDome and the Convention Center are located!!! There is NO FLOODING anywhere near the Convention Center but you have to take a very round about route to get around the flooding that is outside of those areas! Having I-10 closed is a real problem! Me thinks that Wally World and the Beer guys have more brains than some of the FEMA yahoos! At least they know enough to make an end run around all of the bureaucracy -- than k heavens for corporate America!!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Not sure if anyone else posted this - Australia (via Prime Minister JOhn Howard) offered to help (natural disaster recovery being something we have got rather good at over the years), but the assistance was declined (by GWB heself).

JOanne in gloriously sunny Perth