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The Forum > Article Comments > Hurricane Katrina - 'Brownie, you're doing a helluva job'! > Comments

Hurricane Katrina - 'Brownie, you're doing a helluva job'! : Comments

By Nicholas Gruen, published 13/9/2005

Nicholas Gruen argues disaster planning in the US is better suited to the wealthy.

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This piece is very timely and the similarities between Katrina (for which a great deal has been said) and Canberra bushfire (lessons largely ignored) are apt.

As an ex Canberra person I find the Canberra Bushfire was similar in some ways to Katrina. In Canberra disaster-evacuation planning seemed to be scanty - even though the fire had been creeping around 10kms per day for 4 days towards Canberra. A family I know in Duffy (the suburb hardest hit) said there was no evacuation announcement until the flames were raging at the side of the suburb – they had less than 5 minutes to evacuate and couldn’t even collect their wallets. Their house was burned to the ground.

It appears that no-one in the ACT government wished make a timely announcement - because this would be an admission that they'd failed to slow down the fire (and admissions of failure are career limiting).

NSW Fire Units publicly stated that while the fire approached, their men with fire appliances were turned around at the ACT-NSW border by the ACT Government because the ACT Government insisted that it had things under control.

I'd spoken 6 months before the fire to 2 former members of bushfire teams employed by the ACT's plantation forestry section (these forests were the main reason that the fire became difficult to control). They explained that both Liberal and Labor governments in the ACT had steadily been running down forest firefighter (staff and appliance) resources because funding wasn't high on the political agenda. The 2 had therefore been made redundant and were cleaning windows instead.

Immediately after the fire the ACT Government quickly started to turn criticism of its evacuation plan failure into "are you criticising the heroic efforts of our firies?"

This spin doctoring masks the rundown of (fire) infrastructure in the years leading up to the fire and buck passing on evacuation planning. Hence parallels with New Orleans.
Posted by plantagenet, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 12:32:34 PM
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I don't see any reason why civilised people need turn feral as soon as they find themselves without police. How in the world did Australia's early settlers manage to survive without slaughtering one another when they arrived in boats equipped with the most basic of supplies? I guess to some it all gets linked back to Bush some way or another, bugger personal responsibility.

If the worst I had to put up with was hunger for a few days after a natural disaster of that scale I'd think myself lucky. Wait peacefully, help where you can, move on (notice no "snipe rescue teams, rape etc").

Please read the response from "Jeanne Stevens" over here for a comprehensive discussion of the matter.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16574186%255E25717,00.html
Posted by HarryC, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 1:51:04 PM
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HarryC

Thanks for that link. I read all of the postings - very interesting. And of course, Jeanne's was spot on.

Cheers
Kay
Posted by kalweb, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 5:46:09 PM
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Harry, your comment: If the worst I had to put up with was hunger for a few days after a natural disaster of that scale I'd think myself lucky. Wait peacefully, help where you can, move on (notice no "snipe rescue teams, rape etc").

I would wonder how any of us would react after the fright of a severe hurricane, being stuck in a crowded building with no fresh air,stifling heat, not only no food but no water. The human body starts to suffer immensley without water and people often become disoriented and more. With little or no contact with the people who could help them, many would have despaired. Stealing food and water would be the first thing most would do. To those with medical conditions, there would have only been a futile hope of rescue. These people were and felt abandoned. Many were helping others. Have a heart. I wonder how we would cope with hearing those little children crying for a drink
Posted by tinkerbell1952, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:32:30 PM
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YES Tinkerbell I agree with you.

The sense of "disorientation and abandonment" felt by those within New Orleans, are very real experiences, especially in such a predictable - natural crisis.

Can you imagine yourself suddenly homeless, standing, swimming, sitting, and trying to stay calm, for so many days in the middle of this furious dirty mess - geographically, with so many others?

For "gods sake", we saw 100 million lives or more, totally washed - out.

We saw a total reduction.

We saw one of the worlds most powerful government resource systems exposed - right OFF THE MARK!

A Western system almost frozen on its feet, off-guard, unable to respond to people in "fear", "shock", in "trauma", to many people genuinely vulnerable, and some very......confused?

We watched a "typical" - mainstream - system - resort to PANIC - its Armed forces utilised as a high end strategic option over - immediate human care, food and medical supplies.

We heard the accounts of soldiers, at their own discomfort, to this particular order of response?

We observed passively, each weighting-up the situation, attentively, stunned, with empathy. We each identified key areas, of apparent non "common sense"?

Can we say that what we saw, was a major Western system unable to relate to civilians at ground level, in a way, that I believe, after so many years of human civilisation... should by intelligence, be automatic and mandatory?

What is wrong?

We have opportunity now to use what we know, to make fresh the awareness, to make a shift in human terms, to demand from governments, a renewal in standards of civilian engagement.

We might identify through the people of New Orleans, with what we know about people living vulnerable everywhere; ie: India, Africa, Asia, Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Timor, South America. Of the numbers of people, who live in total subsistence.

At least now, once again, we have yet another chance, to identify with others, in a way that we more often forget.

Linking you to news on the World Summit : http://www.miacat.com
Posted by miacat, Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:32:34 AM
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