(Untitled)

[kelley779]

there has been a noticable difference in the responses between the katrina disaster and the california fires

Comments

[luvjones4nate]

It's because they're rich, and mediacentric.

It actually made me angry last night considering the fact the response to SoCali is so swift due to their celebrity, and I was only feeding into it by watching it all on unfold on CNN.

difference

[timspleen]

Maybe not so much rich v poor or black v white but rather this could be different cos it's California.

While more of the wealth is out on the coast I think They tend to do things their own way. Still, I don't see the fires as a disaster on the same level as Katrina but that could just be me.

Re: difference

[skirmishgirl]

In 2003 they had fires much like this year, and things moved MUCH slower, according to people who lived there then and now. So perhaps Katrina did have something to do with the changes made this time around.

The problem with comparing the fires to Katrina is that the Katrina damage occurred pretty much all at once. Within a day or two, everything that was going to be wiped out was. The fire, on the other hand, are fast but slow. The damage they will create is evolving and growing over the course of days, rather than hours, and places that were spared the first time around run a good chance of getting burned to the ground a day or two later, when local fires reignite. This difference will also reduce the number of dead/wounded, as people have had the time to get out, and the fires are effecting areas where the folks have the money to get out, too. Were this a fire in Watts, I think the storyline would be vastly different.

[westheoperative]

the biggest difference is money...people in NOLA, by far, are much less affluent than the SD folks. when you consider the median income in NOLA is 8k a year it's easy to see the disparity.

[placeslost]

George W Bush doesn't care about black people.

[subapooh]

that seems to be said as if bushy cares about people, atall! :P

[placeslost]

Damn, I guess I was wrong...so was Kanye West though, and his wrongness is much more public then mine.

[_comeundone]

I think it has to do with the fact that the fires are actually physical and posing a threat. The damage didn't start until Katrina actally hit land. People didn't realize how bad it was going to be until it was on top of them. Fire is a different danger because it's right there and it's tangible. (I hope that makes sense...)

[kelley779]

it does, and that sort of follows my thought process. people didn't realize how bad katrina was going to be until it was THERE. but then again, a lot of the wealthier people got out of town ahead of time. it was the poor people that stayed around and waited for someone to come help them because they refused initial evacuations.

[_comeundone]

And I hope that people took that tradegy and learned from it. Natural disasters are not one to fuck around with and we honestly can't predict how bad the ending will be until it's right on top of us. I hope to god that people learned that it's better to be safe than sorry!