The Gulf Coast Disaster

I haven't done much the past few days other than read and watch media reports about the disaster in the Gulf Coast area. I grew up in that general area and lived there for periods as an adult. The magnitude of what's happening there is unbelievable, and it feels very personal.

On Monday we thought New Orleans had dodged the bullet, as it has many other times. We knew the coastal areas of Mississippi and Alabama might get hit fairly hard, but in general people were more upbeat than they were as the hurricane approached. This optimism was led by the professional meteorologists. Then all hell broke loose. New Orleans flooded in the aftermath of the hurricane, and the damage in other coastal areas turned out to be massive.

Aside from a few individuals and a limited number of military and civil first-responders, the early response to this disaster has been disappointing. That's because of the almost unprecedented severity of the situation and perhaps because of inadequate planning and preparation by government at all levels. Once the emergency is over, we need to take a close look at what happened and how we can better manage future disasters.

What we don't need now is the constant refrain of accusations spewing from the media. CNN, for example, is absolutely obsessed with blaming government, and particularly the federal government, for failures of every imaginable kind.

Anderson Cooper, CNN superstar, often appears to be in tears and nearly hysterical as he makes his reports. As just one example, he berated Senator Mary Landrieu in an interview, almost demanding that the federal government apologize. This pampered dilettante from limoland has never been responsible for leading large numbers of people or managing a large enterprise under stress. He doesn't know what he's talking about, and he has no idea who should apologize to whom for what. Senator Landrieu, to her great credit, has been doing a good job of helping organize relief efforts and injecting a much-needed sense of calm into public discussion. She kept her cool during Cooper's tirade, tried to calm him down, and assured him there would be plenty of time later to assess blame.

As one more example of many, CNN's Miles O'Brien similarly berated Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, repeatedly interrupting him and trying to get him to say that there aren't enough National Guard troops to respond to this disaster because of Iraq. This liberal talking point has been a standard refrain at CNN. Governor Barbour finally said that he didn't know whether he was involved in an interview or an argument but that he wasn't going to be forced to say something that isn't true.

I checked a few liberal blogs, and they're also obsessed with criticizing the government, even though they, like much of the media, don't know what they're talking about. You don't need to waste time reading them--you can get the same line from media reports.

Another issue being distorted and misrepresented by some in the media and others is the looting, mostly in New Orleans. The fact is, the looters fall into two groups. One is people who are hungry and otherwise distressed and have broken into stores to take food and survival supplies. As political leaders have noted, what they're doing is understandable and no one blames them for it.

The other looters are stealing high-value items like electronics equipment, clothing, drugs--and guns. These are the same scum who are shooting at police and rescue helicopters and brutalizing and raping their fellow citizens. These are the same thugs who would have been committing violent crimes on the streets if there had been no hurricane. And you can be sure that those who survive will be committing violent crimes in the city once it recovers. Governor Barbour of Mississippi and Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana have both taken an appropriately hard line against these criminal looters.

Finally, and perhaps most disappointing, some in the media, some bloggers, and a few politicians are trying to inject race as a principal issue. That is beyond despicable.

In reality, there is no adequate response in the immediate aftermath of major disasters. No matter what resources may be available, there are practical limits to how much assistance can be pushed into an area where the infrastructure has been destroyed.

Consider the situation we'll face when there is a devastating earthquake in a major population center. We know that one is coming, too. In the first few days after the earthquake, the response will be inadequate in terms of the magnitude of the disaster. And critics in the media and others who have no responsibility and who lack the knowledge to even understand the situation will point fingers of blame again long before anyone knows who, if anyone, is at fault. Perhaps the saddest fact is that the nature and content of this criticism will be determined to some extent by which political party is in power.

There are only a few useful things those of us on the sidelines can do. Those so inclined can pray--it might even help. We can send a contribution to the Red Cross. Then we can resist the temptation to add more uninformed opinion to an already confused discussion.