perfidy

As I type this, the umpteenth bus has entered my adopted home town of Houston, headed for the Astrodome to drop off refugees plucked from New Orleans' now-fetid Superdome. We'll have something like 25,000 of these unfortunate New Orleans victims before the weekend, along with as-yet uncounted victims from elsewhere to my east. My hope, in common, I'm sure, with that of the city officials from Houston, New Orleans, and the other affected areas, is that the absence of complete natural disaster on the south side of Houston will make the Astrodome a more friendly place of refuge than the Superdome turned out to be, and that we've got enough other housing to provide for the victims' needs.

"Mind-boggling" only begins to describe the devastation along the gulf coast east of Houston. You've seen the same TV shows I've seen, and the pictures of dead bodies, to say nothing of the looters and dreadfully forlorn people who've literally lost everything but their lives and the clothes on their backs are at once heart-rending and overwhelming. We don't know yet how many thousands have died or when the destroyed cities (because it's not just New Orleans, lest we forget) will again be habitable.

I had a call last night from a good friend in Baton Rouge, 80 miles or so northeast of New Orleans, and it seems that the 25,000 heading to the Astrodome are peanuts, relatively speaking. Baton Rouge, a city of 440,000 or so folk, is expecting 500,000 people before the weekend's over. It goes without saying that the infrastructure there is ill suited to a 115% increase in population, but there, I just said it. The ripple effect isn't going to help Baton Rouge or any of the other cities which experience significant influx of desperate homeless folk.

Dr. Mike Crouch, my Baton Rouge correspondent, also informed me of several other interesting bits about the state of things in the Big Easy, some troubling, some less so. Businesses, overall, appear to have been ill-prepared for the catastrophe. Mike's well plugged in to the goings on in the region, and heard repeated anecdotal evidence of untested disaster recovery plans, even though this is "the big one" New Orleans has been scared of for the last century. Many professional services firms are likely to be starting from scratch once this is over. Given the fact the municipal infrastructure is "totaled", a case could be made they were going to start from scratch anyway, but it's hard to overstate the economic ripple impact likely to emanate from this physical disaster, even without reckoning New Orleans itself as a complete write-off for the time being.

Mike also tells me that Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, is putting on a performance worthy of Rudy Giuliani's September 2001 efforts, and that the city couldn't be in better hands, so they've got that going for them. Peggy Noonan informs us that Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor, is likewise acquitting himself well, and that Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's governor can still get in the game:

She can turn this around. The waters may have peaked; a comeback will at some point commence. She showed anguish and now she can show fortitude, like a fighter made hungry by pain. Go, Kathleen, your state needs you. People will take their cues from you. Butch up, punch back, wade in. Literally. Be there.

So at least I'm not alone in temporarily being overwhelmed by this disaster, which is only a small relief.

I'll hazard a guess (wild-ass speculation, more like) that ten years from now, the area might have recovered some semblance of its past glory and gaudiness. If we're lucky, that is. The indirectly or less seriously affected areas, such as Baton Rouge, Houston, and any other temporary refuges, will likely end up thinking they've got legitimate complaints. At which point, I hope they just shut up and tough it out, because there's no way, absent new acts of a vengeful or random Mother Nature, the comparison will be apt.

It's that bad.

And the enormity of the disaster is such that, when I think about the ongoing attempts to help, they all seem so initially trivial as to be of almost no ultimate help. Witness this, just in from the club where I work out:

The WestLake Club would like to help support the community and the hurricane refugees displaced in Houston. We have compiled a list of ways the Members and Employee Partners of the WestLake Club can help by donating their time, money, or materials to those in need.

Help pay for Hotel Rooms - Help provide shelter at a local hotel with your monetary donations.
Cash Donation in your desired amount or a check made out to Studio 6, $40 will pay for a family to stay one night
**If every Member would donate $10, what a difference we could make. (Actually a $11,500 difference, to be exact).

Donate Material Items (WestLake will donate these items to the American Red Cross)

Paper goods such as plates and cups; Cleaning supplies, such as bleach, Top Job, Mr. Clean; Bottled water (no glass containers); Single serving snacks such as Pop-Tarts and cereal bars; MREs (Meals Ready to Eat); Sheets, pillows and blankets; Disposable diapers; Baby formula; Toilet paper and wipes; Peanut butter; Personal hygiene products; Clothing; Games and toys; Dog and Cat Food (Donated to the SPCA); Gift Cards for gas, groceries, or Wal-Mart

Volunteer your Time (In the upcoming days, the WestLake Club will have a posting of locations around town)
Volunteer Houston, 281-564-6669
American Red Cross, 800-HELP-NOW
American Red Cross Shelters in Houston, 713-313-5480
Houston Food Bank, 713-223-3700

Donate Blood

I'm struck by the "if only" near the top - if every member at the club donated $10, there'd be enough money to provide one night's housing for less than 300 families. And that pretends the hotel in question even has rooms available. While I know it's not a waste of time, this seems to be a task akin to decomposing Mt. Everest using a nail file.

But the folks of the Gulf Coast, in Houston and elsewhere, as well as the broader nation, will surely surprise me with what they're capable of to help those in need.

Keep a good thought, please, for those who've lost so much. And in the meantime, let's butch up.

[wik] Several addenda, based on later information that might, in some cases, even be true. If I could get hold of Mike Crouch, I'd ask him whether Ray Nagin has just gone insane, or whether he really is the antithesis of Rudy Giuliani, contrary to Mike's original declaration.

First, see this bit from Ray Nagin's radio interview.

And then, have a look at this comment on a post over at Donald Sensing's site, One Hand Clapping.

After you do, if you're anything like me, you'll think less well of Ray Nagin than Mike does. Or used to - he may have changed his mind by now.

Perhaps I'm more credulous than I should be, but I'm utterly unmoved by complaints that the Feds are doing less than they could be doing. They appear to be doing a whole lot more than Nagin, and at least they're not complaining profanely while laying the blame at someone else's doorstep.