Text 696, 139 rader
Skriven 2007-08-21 20:08:58 av Thom LaCosta (1:261/1352.0)
    Kommentar till text 691 av Richard Webb (1:116/901.0)
Ärende: emergency comms, was welcome to grammar school, was ...
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Richard Webb wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:

 RW> Thom LaCosta wrote in a message to Richard Webb:

TL> Richard Webb wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:


 RW> Agreed, however I still think since this was a large scale disaster
 RW> a lot of what was needed still would have been arranged for on hf.

TL> Sure...and the bulk of that only becase of the incompetence you the
TL> local government.

 RW> I'm just a civilian, but had you used "of" instead of "you in that
 RW> last paragraph I'd agree with that.

I apologize for the typo...the correct phrase was incompetence of the local
government.

 RW> IF you said sitting in a parking lot getting filled with water
 RW> you'd be right on the money.

TL> Oh like the other busses that could have used to evacuate people? 

 RW> Amen brother!  YEt a lot of those people I worked with had to stay
 RW> where they were, there were patients in that hospital, and they
 RW> needed people to care for them until they could be gotten to
 RW> somewhere adequate.

OK...but if the local government could have effectively evacuated people, that
need would not have existed.


 RW> had any gas money" to GOd only knows what. IF it hadn't been so
 RW> stupid and sad after all the homeland security money spent to play
 RW> terror alert I'd be laughing behind my sleeve.

TL> I can't offer my personal thoughts on that....I would be taken to
TL> task for saying unkind things.

 RW> Hey I've been saying 'em.  I've always hoped my lack of faith in
 RW> the native intelligence of bureaucracies would prove to be overly
 RW> pessimistic, but Katrina showed me otherwise.

It's not only the gubmint....I saw the same things 40 plus years ago...if "Than
Man" said to evacuate, that was good enough reason to disobey him.

We had a critique after the hurricane to determine what we did right, and
wrongh and what be could do better.  Several complaints came in from some of
the urban, social service industries that we had been slow in repsonding to
their clients needs....That whining stopped when I played the tape of some
chopper guys trying to dodge bullets while they resscued folks from roofs..

 RW> I scared off a guy from the Discovery channel who called me on the
 RW> phone to interview me for some doccumentary they were doing.
 RW> Besides saying some not so flattering things about my government he
 RW> also got his feelings hurt.  THe conversation went something like
 RW> this:

 RW> INterviewer:  YOu mean you just couldn't go home at night and get
 RW> away from it? 

 RW> Me:  tHe hospital was surrounded by 17 feet of water.  DIdn't you
 RW> see any of the news coverage, or are you just dense?

Ha Ha Ha!

 RW> traffic.  

TL> I wasn't there....but I'll bet ya a cup of coffee that a lot of non
TL> local stuff might have been lessened in there was a local comm
TL> system in place. 


 RW> Yep, and that's part of what super bus was supposed to do.

We had two active busses 40 years ago, and a reserver unit at the PD and one at
the FD.....and even had a backup command place out in the "country".

 RW> I'm a strong believer in the premise that my government will screw
 RW> anything up given half a chance, and citizens just have to fend for
 RW> themselves when the stuff hits the fan 


TL> Cleaverly, we had built into the program an esclation
TL> cluase of sorts....

 RW> Yep, saw that with a whole little town in western Illinois along
 RW> the MIssissippi river after the '93 flood. 


 RW> THe
 RW> local moved inland away from the potential flood danger, whole
 RW> town, lock stock and barrel. 

What??? They didn;t clamor and holdup the Feds for money to rebuild the town on
the edge of the water?  Shame on them.

TL> Of course that logic would be a little hard to apply to a city that
TL> is below sea level.

 RW> YEs, and that's why they need a coherent evacuation plan.  Because
 RW> NEw ORleans is both a seaport and a popular destination for
 RW> tourists wanting to sample the cultural heritage etc. 

Tel ya what....when NO floods again, there are going to be thosands of folks
who tell their elected reps NOT to approve rebuilding it again below sealevel.
Might be better to move the residential areas up above sea level and design the
port as a port.


TL> From what I read about things down where you are....you might need a
TL> LOT of radios to backstop the 'gubmint'.

 RW> I'm near Memphis Tn. these days, and we're right on the NEw Madrid
 RW> fault line. 

Sounds like from frying pan to fire, to me.


TL> You just need new government.


 RW> THat we do.  MEanwhile I help out the folks doing mission work and
 RW> the occasional medical missionary with a phone patch occasionally. 

Rest assured, the bulk of the population won't do anything before the
fact...and when the media tugs on their heart strings, no one will really ask
what could have been done differently....we'll just open up the national cash
register and mis-manage the funds to let people move back again.

But wait....some numbskull will get a huge grant to build and underwater city
as a way to preserve the residential areas without moving inland.

73,
thom - k3hrn
http://www.zerobeat.net/ 
--- GEcho 1.20/Pro
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