Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse in New Orleans

It does.

Robbery, rapes, looting, corpses lying in front of the convention center, even shooting at rescue helicopters seeking to evacuate patients from devastated hospitals, it seems that New Orleans is descending into complete anarchy, with no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. How bad will it get? Can the authorities and the heroic people trying to bring relief to the city make a difference in time to prevent hundreds more deaths?

Here's a sobering thought. Stress people enough, make them desperate enough, and the veneer of civilization falls away far more easily than we would like to admit. Even here in the United States.

Comments

  1. There are even some nuts with sniper rifles firing on the hospital and rescue helicopers. This is just unbelievable.

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  2. And the tragedy is that it never needed to get this bad.

    -Ali

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  3. "Even here in the United States."

    I'm sorry, but the US has an extremely bad record in regards to looting, so there is no "even here" about it - rather it's "especially here".

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  4. http://humidcity.blogspot.com/

    This is interesting. Islands of peace and calm and dry in New Orleans, with land line phone service working?

    ------------

    Good point, Kristjan. :-)

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  5. The chief of security at a company where I used to work said that, statisically, one person in three will steal if they think they can get away with it.

    Based on the reports I'm hearing, that's a mild assessment. It appears that one person in three turns into a complete jackass if there isn't an authority prepared to punish bad behavior.

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  6. Here's what I don't get:

    Does anybody remember reports of snipers firing at rescuers or invading hospitals to steal drugs when the tsunami hit Southeast Asia? when there were earthquakes in China, Japan, or Iraq? This didn't happen in the '06 San Francisco earthquake.

    What's different about New Orleans in 2005?

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  7. What's different about New Orleans? Availability of guns for one thing. I doubt there are that many guns just hanging around in people's homes in Japan. Other people can't afford them, and aren't as interested in them.

    I seriously wonder if the people who shot at the helicopters were psychotic. Think aobut it. There are actually alot of pscyhotic people and they would probably be the most likely to get left behind or chose to stay behind in a crisis like that.

    I wondered if the ones shooting might have thought the helicopters were a threat.

    Personally, I hate guns. My son has hunting rifles, smallish ones, and I hate them, too.

    The situation in New Orleans probably was complicated by the number of people who could easily get their hands on guns.

    I'll bet they are confiscating weapons before people get on those buses.

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  8. For once I'll do a bit of spamming (I hope that's ok Orac).

    Pipelining Diabetes Supplies to Katrina Victims

    "For Your Diabetes Life, a multimedia resource for the 18.2 million people in the United States living with diabetes, is starting a drive to collect donated diabetes supplies to help victims of Hurricane Katrina who are stranded without the medicine and supplies they need to manage their potentially deadly disease. The drive began when the dLife office responded to a caller who saw a need on a news report on TV showing someone stranded on the roof of a building holding a sign pleading for diabetes supplies. Information on how to help can be found at www.dlife.com, by calling 1-866-dLifeNow or sending supplies to dLife Relief 101 Franklin Street, West Port CT 06880. After the dLife office spoke to the Governor's office in Louisiana; an action plan was laid out for those who need help and those who want to help."

    No insulin though, Novo Nordisk and Lilly is donating that.

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  9. That's hardly spamming. For one thing, I know who you are. For another, it sounds like a good cause.

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