Absolute & Total Anarchy
Why aren't we helping these people?!? My brain is refusing to wrap itself around this... it's a goddamned fucking tragedy and NO ONE IS HELPING THEM.
[From RUETERS: "A man holding a baby uncovers the body of a dead man, suspected to have been sitting there for two days, outside the New Orleans Convention Center September 1, 2005. Several people among the thousands of stranded hurricane evacuees have died while waiting outside the building, with no sign of imminent help on the way."]
From Washington Post:
Armored military vehicles and National Guard troops started moving into New Orleans Thursday morning amid continuing reports of violence and chaos, including shots fired at the Superdome that interfered with an evacuation there after only a few hundred people had been moved out to Houston.
At the same time, thousands of refugees from locations other than the Superdome --including downtown New Orleans hotels -- tried to join the exodus, significantly increasing the numbers who need to be transported. Some non-Superdome refugees turned up on their own at Houston's Astrodome but were initially turned away.
At the Superdome, long lines of people waited for evacuation buses as helicopters buzzed through the sky, and thousands more people gathered at the convention center and lined highways hoping for a ride out of the city -- or even some information about what to do.
Some frustrated residents complained that no one seemed to be in charge.
"We've been trying to get out," said Cornelius Washington as he walked along a highway overpass near the Superdome. "No one is giving the who, what, where, why and when. When they give us information, it's about what they're not going to do."
From CNN:
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans' Charity Hospital halted efforts to evacuate its patients after it came under sniper fire, according to Dr. Tyler Curiel, who witnessed the incidents.
The attack came as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued "a desperate SOS" for the thousands of people stranded in an around the city's convention center with no food or water and fading hope.
Curiel and his National Guard escorts, were returning to the hospital after dropping off patients at nearby Tulane Medical Center, when someone started shooting at their convoy of Humvees.
"We were coming in from a parking deck at Tulane Medical Center, and a guy in a white shirt started firing at us," Curiel said. "The National Guard (troops), wearing flak jackets, tried to get a bead on this guy. "
The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET). About an hour later, another gunman opened fire at the back of Charity Hospital.
"We got back to Charity Hospital with with food from Tulane and we said, 'OK the snipers are behind us, let's move on,'" Curiel said. "We started loading patients (for transport) and 20 minutes later, shots rang out."
The National Guard soldiers told staff to get away from the windows, and evacuations were halted.
Charity Hospital has no electricity, no water and the only food available is couple of cans of vegetables and graham crackers.
Evacuations by boat were halted after armed looters threatened medics, and overturned one of their boats.
The sniper attacks were the latest incidents of violence that have disrupted efforts to help people in the flooded city.
'Desperate SOS' for New Orleans
CNN's Chris Lawrence described "many, many" bodies, inside and outside the facility on New Orleans' Riverwalk.
"There are multiple people dying at the convention center," Lawrence said. "There was an old woman, dead in a wheelchair with a blanket draped over her, pushed up against a wall. Horrible, horrible conditions.
"We saw a man who went into a seizure, literally dying right in front of us."
In a statement Thursday, Nagin said that "the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for (15,000 to 20,000) people."
He said the city would allow people to march up the Crescent City Connection to the Westbank Expressway in an effort to find help.
People were "being forced to live like animals," Lawrence said, surrounded by piles of trash and feces.
He said thousands of people were just laying in the ground outside the building -- many old, or sick, or caring for infants and small children.
There are some 50,000 people stuck out next to the Superdome right now, waiting for help.
Why aren't we helping them?
[From RUETERS: "A man holding a baby uncovers the body of a dead man, suspected to have been sitting there for two days, outside the New Orleans Convention Center September 1, 2005. Several people among the thousands of stranded hurricane evacuees have died while waiting outside the building, with no sign of imminent help on the way."]
From Washington Post:
Armored military vehicles and National Guard troops started moving into New Orleans Thursday morning amid continuing reports of violence and chaos, including shots fired at the Superdome that interfered with an evacuation there after only a few hundred people had been moved out to Houston.
At the same time, thousands of refugees from locations other than the Superdome --including downtown New Orleans hotels -- tried to join the exodus, significantly increasing the numbers who need to be transported. Some non-Superdome refugees turned up on their own at Houston's Astrodome but were initially turned away.
At the Superdome, long lines of people waited for evacuation buses as helicopters buzzed through the sky, and thousands more people gathered at the convention center and lined highways hoping for a ride out of the city -- or even some information about what to do.
Some frustrated residents complained that no one seemed to be in charge.
"We've been trying to get out," said Cornelius Washington as he walked along a highway overpass near the Superdome. "No one is giving the who, what, where, why and when. When they give us information, it's about what they're not going to do."
From CNN:
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans' Charity Hospital halted efforts to evacuate its patients after it came under sniper fire, according to Dr. Tyler Curiel, who witnessed the incidents.
The attack came as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued "a desperate SOS" for the thousands of people stranded in an around the city's convention center with no food or water and fading hope.
Curiel and his National Guard escorts, were returning to the hospital after dropping off patients at nearby Tulane Medical Center, when someone started shooting at their convoy of Humvees.
"We were coming in from a parking deck at Tulane Medical Center, and a guy in a white shirt started firing at us," Curiel said. "The National Guard (troops), wearing flak jackets, tried to get a bead on this guy. "
The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET). About an hour later, another gunman opened fire at the back of Charity Hospital.
"We got back to Charity Hospital with with food from Tulane and we said, 'OK the snipers are behind us, let's move on,'" Curiel said. "We started loading patients (for transport) and 20 minutes later, shots rang out."
The National Guard soldiers told staff to get away from the windows, and evacuations were halted.
Charity Hospital has no electricity, no water and the only food available is couple of cans of vegetables and graham crackers.
Evacuations by boat were halted after armed looters threatened medics, and overturned one of their boats.
The sniper attacks were the latest incidents of violence that have disrupted efforts to help people in the flooded city.
'Desperate SOS' for New Orleans
CNN's Chris Lawrence described "many, many" bodies, inside and outside the facility on New Orleans' Riverwalk.
"There are multiple people dying at the convention center," Lawrence said. "There was an old woman, dead in a wheelchair with a blanket draped over her, pushed up against a wall. Horrible, horrible conditions.
"We saw a man who went into a seizure, literally dying right in front of us."
In a statement Thursday, Nagin said that "the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for (15,000 to 20,000) people."
He said the city would allow people to march up the Crescent City Connection to the Westbank Expressway in an effort to find help.
People were "being forced to live like animals," Lawrence said, surrounded by piles of trash and feces.
He said thousands of people were just laying in the ground outside the building -- many old, or sick, or caring for infants and small children.
There are some 50,000 people stuck out next to the Superdome right now, waiting for help.
Why aren't we helping them?