This entry was posted by co-blogger Dick, a writer and former squadron mate:
The scale, the magnitude of Katrina is so overwhelming that I can’t find the right adjectives to describe what I’m seeing, much less fully understand what has happened.
I’m told the geographical extent is approximately 90,000 square miles. Okay, I understand that. That’s the size of England. Then I’m told that a couple million people are affected. I can handle that. Chicago, right? Then reliable reports filter in that the infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged. So that means roads, water, electricity, and communications are down. Now that is something I do understand. In a prior life, I ran readiness exercises in the Air Force that tested the ability of my unit to recover from these types of problems and continue with its mission. I could bring any and all operations to a screaming halt by simply exercising out the POL dump and the command post. Piece of cake.
Then the politicians come on TV and say the obvious. Katrina is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States – ever. They demagogue it and roll out the adjectives.
Next in line are the “experts” who proclaim disaster response is a failure. The culprit of the moment seems to be based on their political persuasion, and they’ve got their own special set of adjectives. But what they don’t have is a standard for comparison. What is the measure they are using to evaluate search and rescue and relief efforts?
The reporters also can lay on some adjectives. On Friday morning, I was watching a reporter standing in front of arriving trucks and wordsmithing the hell out of it. “Supplies are finally flowing in after five days of intolerable and unconscionable delays.” Huh? After five days? It would really help if reporters learned how to count before employing their adjectives. Katrina came ashore at ten A.M. Monday, August 29, 2005. For the next eight hours it beat the livin’ bejesus out of New Orleans. The relief pipeline was open by the morning of September 2, 2005. That’s about three and a half days after Katrina had moved on.
I really want to hear what the logisticians (the professionals who actually move supplies and people) have to say about that. I imagine they will have a few of their own adjectives. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone will be listening to theirs.