SF Chronicle: A national disgrace

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/03/EDG4PDMVO81.DTL

THE AGONIZINGLY slow emergency response to the human suffering left by Hurricane Katrina is nothing less than a national disgrace. Despite the knowledge that New Orleans was extraordinarily vulnerable to a major storm, government officials failed miserably in their efforts to aid victims of the disaster, which is one of the worst natural catastrophes in the nation's history.

It took four days after Katrina smashed down on the Gulf Coast for emergency crews to get anything close to adequate supplies to the huddled masses in the flooded city, who were left without food and water. The horrific sight of corpses rotting in the streets or outside emergency shelters and thousands of angry survivors waiting for promised relief only magnified the sluggish pace of the government's response.

Incredibly, outrageously, thousands of people wilted in hunger and desperation outside the city's convention center waiting for relief efforts that took days to arrive -- even as the misery unfolded, hour by hour, on live television.

For anyone wondering if the billions thrown into the Department of Homeland Security had made the country better equipped to handle destruction from a major earthquake or a terrorist attack, the news was beyond discouraging. Promises from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that help was on the way were obscured by the reality that the government couldn't get basic life-saving supplies to those trapped in the city -- let alone National Guard troops to deal with outbreaks of lawlessness.