New Orleans

[marathoner452]

They just found another body in New Orleans.  9 months later.

That brings the death toll from Katrina to 1,578, which includes the 281 added after the out-of-state after-the-fact death toll came in.  Most of those were people who survived the storm but died of medical complications afterwards because of all the stress.  

According to FEMA there are still 226 people missing.  According to the LA Department of Health and Hospitals, there are still 481 people missing.

I'm still in shock.  I've been in shock since I first saw it March 4th almost 3 months ago.  That's why I'm going back in July.  I can't not go back.

Hurricane Season 2006 starts in 4 days.  We will be commemorating that with hurricanes to drink and hoping that the next time we visit the gulf coast it's under much better circumstances.

~Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

That's just criminal. A body found 9 months later, and that many people still missing. I knew it was bad, but I can only imagine how bad it will be once I see it for myself.

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

They find a couple people every month or so. In March, they found a six year old girl and her grandmother in the Lower Ninth Ward.

This is the same area that the politicians at the state and FEMA levels wanted to bulldoze right away, ...even before the cadaver dogs were allowed out.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Now that's a crime on a whole different level--a crime against humanity and a corruption of justice.

I'll be going down there with Bethany in July for the trip she's going on (if you haven't figured it out from the comments I leave, I'm her boyfriend), and I know I'll never be the same again once I see it.

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

*shakes your hand* Nice to meetcha.

I've got family down in Louisiana, (although my heart is in New York City), and the devastation is beyond words. And the "official response" to the needs of the Lower Ninth Ward by major government organizations, has been nothing less than criminal. Thank goodness for people who continue to come help, because it is desperately needed.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Glad to meet you too.

As Bethany would say (or at least agree), I'm ready to help out however I can. You all deserve better than what you've been getting down there. Nobody should have to deal with hearing about bodies being removed from destroyed homes or buildings 9 months after any kind of disaster.

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

They had originally stopped using cadaver dogs around Dec. 10th, (once they had finished the white, and middle class areas, coincidentally), they said they'd run out of money for it. They were ready to bulldoze, and only after alot of outrage did they ever bring back the cadaver dogs. That's why it's taken so many months for these bodies to be found.

There are alot of issues around race and class down there, so be prepared for that.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I've been doing a lot of prep since Bethany came home from NOLA in March, but I think once I get there, it'll be like a nuclear bomb exploding behind a sheet of paper. I know I won't hold, but I've been doing a lot of reading and studying into the situation down there, so I at least know, intellectually, what to expect.

And as for the racial and class issues, I've read and heard more than enough of that. Like she and I both say, the more we think things have changed, the more wrong we realize we are. Hearing and seeing things like that make me physically ill, and I'm out to stop it.

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

Hearing and seeing things like that make me physically ill, and I'm out to stop it.

Lemme just say that you two are totally awesome.

May I add you to my friends list?

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

We're just a pair of people who love other people and tire of seeing people suffer at, as I've said in numerous places, the hands of the powers that be and the devices that just don't care. And you're just as awesome for living through the crap you've had to live through.

And absolutely. May I add you?

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

And you're just as awesome for living through the crap you've had to live through.

My family is there, but I'm in the Northeast. We hosted some other folks up north here right when everything was so terrible. And of course, I've been back to the family since, but I'm personally in no particular material difficulty up here. Needless to say, that's not true for a good portion of my family though.

You're added. :)

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

That'd explain your comment about your heart being in NYC. And though your family was in the middle of it, it's still hard to deal with. That storm impacted us all, and not in a positive way, either, though it has brought people together in new ways.

And you're added as well. :-)

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* As Bethany can tell you, I'm in crazy locations. I'm a Manhattanite by birth, (family lived walking distance from World Trade...so that was fun...NOT), and I have family that's lived in Mississippi and Louisiana for over 100 years. I also have work in RI and Maine.

[ratkrycek.livejournal.com]

Oooh, where in Maine? I have spent a lot of time in Maine, in and around Penobscot Bay. :)

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

The hands of the powers that be and the devices of those who just don't care, I mean. Been one of those days. :-P

~Adam

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

The hands of the powers that be and the devices of those who just don't care, I mean. Been one of those days.

Totally understood.

And feel free to add back. It's okay by me!

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

They found that pair when I was down there in March. From what I heard the girl was wearing a backpack.

I just hope that they weren't found by college spring breakers. That would really mess you up, seeing something like that.

It's just wrong what's happened down there. Very very wrong. If another VISTA year at my chapter (Frederick County, MD) doesn't work out (see my entries last Tuesday and Wednesday), I've got half a mind to head down to the gulf coast for a VISTA term working on rebuilding.

~Bethany

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

Make that Wednesday and Thursday. I just found out about that last Wednesday at 10:30.

~Bethany

[loquacis.livejournal.com]

I just hope that they weren't found by college spring breakers. That would really mess you up, seeing something like that.

It's the politicians in Washington who need to come see it.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on that--they have no clue what's happening down there because they haven't really been there. The people who appropriate the funds need to see the situation first. Especially in this case.

~Adam

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

You aren't the only one who wants to get down there and help, though you've known that for a while.

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I know I'm not, but this is my journal entry. :-)

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. Sorry.

~Adam

[ratkrycek.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[drunah.livejournal.com]

one dead body on my street yesterday, but not from the flood. I'm still trying to find out WTF.