Thoughts on Hurricane Katrina
I'm really at a loss here. I've been reading the news and listening to the reports out of New Orleans, and finding myself in the same disbelieving stupor that washed over me in the hours and days following the terrorist attacks, nearly four years ago. Like most people, I can scarcely believe that a disaster of this magnitude can come to pass in this nation - not that the weather could lash out at us, but that so many people could be left for so long without any help at all.
The most painful part? Despite what the President has said, this was not an unexpected event at all. Scientists and engineers have predicted with scary precision almost every last detail of this horror for years - the New Orleans newspaper even published an award-winning series on just such a scenario a few years back. Everyone (except the president) seems to have known that a storm like this could - and WOULD - happen someday, and that the effects we're seeing would be a likely outcome. Why on earth wasn't anyone ready, then?
One thing that has really cheesed me off in all this (and it is admittedly a small thing) is how obscenely long it's taken George Bush to get his presidential butt down to the scene of the disaster. I really want to know - what the hell was he doing these four days that was more important than him being present to those people? He needs to say, and he needs to say in a hurry. Was he working like a fiend, burning the midnight oil to cash in every possible politcal chip, in an all-out effort to bring aid to the stricken cities? We'd all feel better knowing that if it's true. I really hate to be negative, but a 35-minute fly-over in Air Force One is an insufficient response by the president in the early hours of this catastrophe. The man was on vacation in the next state over, for God's sake!
I don't care for George Bush (does it show?), but the fact is that the President of the United States is a powerful symbol, and his presence at the scene of a disaster is a desperately needed ray of hope for the victims. It's a sign that their plight is known right up to the highest powers in the land, and that help is on the way. It's a human connection in a moment when every rescue and relief operation seems to be fouled by confusion and bureaocratic red tape. In moments of calamity, the president's greatest power isn't to wrangle congresspeople - it's to be a visible sign of hope. Think of Rudy Giuliani in the days after September 11, and you'll know I'm right. This president hasn't shown any of the courage or strength of leadership that Giuliani did. He should have been on the ground in New Orleans on Monday, and appearing in public as frequently as possible after that.
More hopeful is the response of Americans to the needs. Although I don't believe we have been roused to deliver the kind of aid we sent in the wake of the Asian tsunami yet, it is encouraging to see organizations like Thrivent offering gift-matching programs. At HurricaneHousing.org, Americans have offered more than 78,000 beds in their homes, free of charge, to refugees who are in need of shelter. Within 100 miles of Litchville, I count available beds for more than 100 people - including three here in my parsonage. Whether anyone will come this far north I can't say, but it encourages me to know that there are many people willing to provide shelter if only we can get the people of New Orleans and other stricken areas out.
Bishop Rick Foss informed the pastors in this synod that a fund has been begun by the bishop of the synod that includes New Orleans. It is intended to provide aid to clergy, whose ministries will be direly needed, but who will face weeks or months with no income. A similar fund was established in our synod in 1997, following the massive flooding on the Red River and overland. Eventually Rick expects that there will be "mission trips" organized to provide assistance, but clearly those efforts will need to wait until it is safe and helpful for volunteers to be present.
I plan on talking about aid for victims Sunday morning at both churches, and to provide forms for our parishioners to join Thrivent. A $10 membership means a 50% increase in any gift they give to one of four Lutheran disaster relief organizations - it is a generous offer, and we need to make sure it's maxed out.
This has been a hard week, and I doubt that there will be any easy ones for some time to come. Even being about as far removed from the disaster as one can be without leaving the United States, I feel as though the wind has been knocked out of me every time I read about the chaos down south. Please continue in your prayers for the victims of this disaster, and give generously at every opportunity you have.
The most painful part? Despite what the President has said, this was not an unexpected event at all. Scientists and engineers have predicted with scary precision almost every last detail of this horror for years - the New Orleans newspaper even published an award-winning series on just such a scenario a few years back. Everyone (except the president) seems to have known that a storm like this could - and WOULD - happen someday, and that the effects we're seeing would be a likely outcome. Why on earth wasn't anyone ready, then?
One thing that has really cheesed me off in all this (and it is admittedly a small thing) is how obscenely long it's taken George Bush to get his presidential butt down to the scene of the disaster. I really want to know - what the hell was he doing these four days that was more important than him being present to those people? He needs to say, and he needs to say in a hurry. Was he working like a fiend, burning the midnight oil to cash in every possible politcal chip, in an all-out effort to bring aid to the stricken cities? We'd all feel better knowing that if it's true. I really hate to be negative, but a 35-minute fly-over in Air Force One is an insufficient response by the president in the early hours of this catastrophe. The man was on vacation in the next state over, for God's sake!
I don't care for George Bush (does it show?), but the fact is that the President of the United States is a powerful symbol, and his presence at the scene of a disaster is a desperately needed ray of hope for the victims. It's a sign that their plight is known right up to the highest powers in the land, and that help is on the way. It's a human connection in a moment when every rescue and relief operation seems to be fouled by confusion and bureaocratic red tape. In moments of calamity, the president's greatest power isn't to wrangle congresspeople - it's to be a visible sign of hope. Think of Rudy Giuliani in the days after September 11, and you'll know I'm right. This president hasn't shown any of the courage or strength of leadership that Giuliani did. He should have been on the ground in New Orleans on Monday, and appearing in public as frequently as possible after that.
More hopeful is the response of Americans to the needs. Although I don't believe we have been roused to deliver the kind of aid we sent in the wake of the Asian tsunami yet, it is encouraging to see organizations like Thrivent offering gift-matching programs. At HurricaneHousing.org, Americans have offered more than 78,000 beds in their homes, free of charge, to refugees who are in need of shelter. Within 100 miles of Litchville, I count available beds for more than 100 people - including three here in my parsonage. Whether anyone will come this far north I can't say, but it encourages me to know that there are many people willing to provide shelter if only we can get the people of New Orleans and other stricken areas out.
Bishop Rick Foss informed the pastors in this synod that a fund has been begun by the bishop of the synod that includes New Orleans. It is intended to provide aid to clergy, whose ministries will be direly needed, but who will face weeks or months with no income. A similar fund was established in our synod in 1997, following the massive flooding on the Red River and overland. Eventually Rick expects that there will be "mission trips" organized to provide assistance, but clearly those efforts will need to wait until it is safe and helpful for volunteers to be present.
I plan on talking about aid for victims Sunday morning at both churches, and to provide forms for our parishioners to join Thrivent. A $10 membership means a 50% increase in any gift they give to one of four Lutheran disaster relief organizations - it is a generous offer, and we need to make sure it's maxed out.
This has been a hard week, and I doubt that there will be any easy ones for some time to come. Even being about as far removed from the disaster as one can be without leaving the United States, I feel as though the wind has been knocked out of me every time I read about the chaos down south. Please continue in your prayers for the victims of this disaster, and give generously at every opportunity you have.
posted by Bob at
12:26 AM
3 Comments:
How about a response from God's perspective from the pages of Scripture, read my reflections at:
http://lansebaptist.com/page.cfm?id=14
By
Pastor Jerry Bishop, at 3:38 PM
Bush, if he had gotten down there earlier, would have slowed rescue efforts down. Airspace would have had to have been cleared and they needed the space. Say what you will of Bush, I live in LA. The fault rests at the feet of our own state government.
By
The Pastor, at 3:17 PM
I'm not persuaded by the airspace argument. Fact is, Air Force One was taking a low pass over the disaster zone - 35 minutes worth. If the airspace needed to be cleared for the president's plane, it would have been done for that flyover. He could have just as easily taken Marine Corps One - a helicopter - and put down anyplace he chose. It would have been no more disruptive to the airspace than the jetliner flyover was, and it would have been an important moment of hope for the victims that perhaps their plight had been noticed and help was on the way.
As for where the fault for the New Orleans debacle lies, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Clearly, Mayor Nagin's police force and other first responders were not up to the task of evacuating and then securing the city. Then again, in a city of half a million, how many forces would be? I think that's a fair question to ask. And yes, Army Corps of Engineers funds that might have been used to help prevent this flooding were instead funneled to popular, pork-flavored projects - we have local and state politicians, as well as their Washington patrons, to thank for that "little" oversight.
But I think everyone understands that this was a disaster beyond the ability of any city or state to handle. That's exactly why there is a Federal Emergency Management Agency - because there are some catastrophes so huge that only the practically unlimited resources and power of the federal government can address them sufficiently. And on Bush's watch, FEMA has been crippled by unqualified political lackeys being appointed by the president to its highest positions. It's had funds cut, and has been marginalized in the nationwide freak-out over "homeland security" from terrorists. And Bush, as far as we know, has not invested any great effort at all in rallying Americans to support victims of Katrina - he hasn't asked us to make any sacrifices for them, hasn't given us any direction for how we can help... hasn't, in other words, shown any kind of leadership in the matter. It's like he's just along for the ride.
The local and state governments did indeed botch this crisis. But they were also inundated by it, with much of their capacity to respond destroyed by the very crisis they were trying to combat. The federal government has no such excuse.
By
Bob, at 8:56 PM
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