[Rob Instigator]

This is a re-post of something I wrote last year after going to the astrodome at 1:30 in the morning to see what I could do to help the Katrina survivors that were being bused into Houston Texas.

To The Editor:

Thursday night/Friday morning at the Astrodome

After watching the coverage of the insanity and incredible mismanagement of the Astrodome situation by the federal agencies, my wife and I put together two bags of clothing, one of men's and one of women's and we headed to the astrodome to drop it off. This was around 1:15am.
We get to the dome and they had already let in all the buses to the parking lot, after the fire marshall tried to send over 120 buses (official estimates were 40+, far short) away saying there was a fire hazard with so many people in the dome, even though there was just under 8000 at the time. The mayor had communicated to the fire marshall's office that this was no time to consider regulations, so the buses were assured of emptying there. It looked like cops were turning away people who tried to drive in, so my wife and I parked outside the dome and walked in with our bags of clothes. There was no official anything on the way in. Very few cops, no federal oversight whatsoever. We walked to the dome and asked around about where to take these clothes only to be told by cops that they were not accepting donations. I could not believe that, not when I could already look down the ramp to the floor of the Dome just teeming with people who needed any clothing, warm clothing. I could feel the blasting A/C. The administrators and politicians kept saying they did not need anything that they had enough of food and clothes, but anytime the reporters managed to talk to any volunteers or doctors or red cross people, all they could say was "we need EVERYTHING" and "whoever is telling you that there are adequate or suficient supplies of ANYTHING, from food to manpower, is delusional."
I found a red cross worker and asked and she said if we took it into the dome someone would definitely use it, whispering because the 8 officers were still nearby. We walked down the east ramp, into the saddest, most surreal scene I have ever witnessed in my life. We found a volunteer who took the clothes we brought and told us how much they were appreciated and we went over and signed up to volunteer. First of all, the Red Cross is the ONLY organization doing anything remotely organized. They had NO federal help. NO national guards, NO military personnel, Nothing at all. They are stretched to the limit in every possible way. It was chaos, but a slightly controlled chaos, and while it was indeed heart wrenching to see those people, the babies, the SMELL (not B.O. It was the smell of sewage from these people's clothes. The ones who had not yet gotten to the showers were wearing the same clothes they have had on for 4 days.) the sight of the babies, the little children, the elderly,....

Yet it was also uplifting because there were literally hundreds of regular Joe Houstonians, regular people fortunate enough to be awake and watching the news seeing and hearing how desperate it all was for the first time, who showed up to help. (Channel 13 should be commended, for two hours of coverage and Dave Ward's honesty and integrity in focusing on the word from people inside the Dome.) This all started happening between 11:00 pm and 1:30 am when most people are asleep and not watching television. That made it better, and yes, while it was rough in there, the conditions were a MILLION times better than where these people had come from, and let me tell you, to a person, they were grateful and appreciative and humbled, many in obvious shock still.

We got a badge and a wristband from a makeshift Red Cross sign up area. Orange wristbands designated volunteers. My wife and I looked for someone to help or someway to help. We were told that they needed assistance in the Reliant Arena, that they were setting it up as shelter and as a medical facility to aid those ill getting off the bus and those ill in the dome. I was told by a desperate looking Red Cross worker too try and notifiy the firemen and paramedics at Reliant Arena that they needed to find more transport to carry the ill and sick. They had just two of those small handicapped-accessible Metro buses ferrying people to the arena to get treatment. It was not enough by far. My wife and I walked over there and it was just crazy. New Orleans residents everywhere. Firemen milling around with no idea what exactly to do to help, police officers who were waiting for the masses to arrive. Evacuees starting to gather around the Arena. Somehow the command center for Red Cross had managed to set up tables and computers to get medical info on these people, and they had set up a large area with beds, essentially a makeshift MASH unit.

There was very little to no oversight over there. Volunteers showing up were just jumping in and helping where they could. I spent an hour unloading 3 18-wheelers full of cots and blankets and stuff like that, Red Cross stuff. The volunteers were incredible. Just regular people, just dudes and ladies. My wife spent that time in another area setting up hundreds if not thousands of cots with a small group of very slowly growing volunteers (around 30-40), and keep in mind most of these volunteers showed up after midnight, having seen and heard the news. I got word that 3:30am was the deadline for then they would open the doors and start letting evacuees in. We unloaded the trucks (heavy heavy pallettes) and everyone got to setting up cots and tables and places for them to sit and wait.

The people there...the people who showed up to help, just people who live close to the dome, it was nowhere near enough, but we all managed to get it done. The situation was drastic. volunteers will be needed from now on for months, but the first days are the most insane, the most hectic and urgent, and it was crucial that someone show up to help set up reliant arena.
there was a sigma phi epsilon chapter. There were half a dozen or so ROTC kids in uniform. There were dozens of older men, men who were awake late enough to see the news and the need, there were women and burly guys and young dudes, lots of young dudes, college students.
We go the trucks unloaded and I found my wife and helped put up the rest of the cots with the others. Around this time it was 4:40 am and we were spent, and people were starting to fill the astro arena. Our feet hurt so bad. We had been awake for almost 24 hours already, so we headed out. We walked back to the car and saw that there were just a dozen or so buses still to unload their passengers.


Roberto X. Torres-Torres

[HaydenAsche]

What happened? Where?

[king_buzzo]

ok.

[k-krack]

will do. i didn't read that.. sum it up?

[touch me i'm sick]

something that really pissed me off is how long the us has spent broadcasting shit about katrina. i mean i know it was an awful thing and that a lot of people but think about this for a minute. remember the tsunami in asia that wiped out areas in several sifferent countries? that was ten times bigger and worse that hurricane katrina yet it was only on the news for about a week or two. there's proof that the US doesn't really care about what's going on unless it affects them

[k-krack]

i's true. thought that same thought.

[atari 2600]

good point, touch me i'm sick.

wouldn't the amount of coverage time be more effectual & meaningful if it were devoted somewhat more to the hard scientific evidence that has emerged on global warming and, more importantly, the repeated refusals of the U.S. government to get on board with other nations that are addressing the concern?

[touch me i'm sick]

yes it would but of course the US wouldn't broadcaswt something that makes them look bad

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

You're pointing out the obvious though, touch me i'm sick.

[Rob Instigator]

you guys are dense. every single bit of the coverage on Katrina was DAMNING and terrible and made the US government look like the fucking idiot baastards they are. It detailed their support for the rich and their abandonment of the poor. absolutely nothing in this coverage puts the government in a good light. there are over 150THOUSAND new orleans residents living in Houston now. the city of new orleans, one of the oldest i the entire country, is less than half of what it used to be. the government has earmrked BILIONS in relief aid and almost NONE of it has reached the people of new orleans, louisiana, missisipi and al other affected areas. the media has been shedding light on this bullshit.

the tsunami was on the news here for over a fucking MONTH nonstop with varied coverage and that called a lot of people into action, and if I include the many announcements and calls for relief aid for the tsunami it was over half a year. the city of houston alone raised over 3 MILLION dollars from private personal donations, from regular people, for the tsunami relief efforts.

(edited to remove the namecalling. sorry for that)

[Rob Instigator]

and you are deluded if you think that any country in the world is not going to devote extra time to covering the catastrophes that happen in their own nation. !

and please stop posting in threads whne you do not even read what is posted.

(edited to remove the name calling)

[touch me i'm sick]

whatever. the katrina shit has been coverd for over a year, and is sitll being covered. i hardly doubt everyone that survived the tsunami is perfectly happy and back to normal now

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

the tsunami was on the news here for over a fucking MONTH nonstop with varied coverage and that called a lot of people into action, and if I include the many announcements and calls for relief aid for the tsunami it was over half a year.

Right, I remember extensive coverage.

[k-krack]

lets not play the name game here, bobby.

[k-krack]

said tsunami was covered here for approximately a week and a half, with approximately nothing being done about.

[jon boy]

your government fucked up. did anyone expect anything different?

[Rob Instigator]

The tsumani was covered in major and minor media networks for over a month. preisdent clinton and president Bush sr. spent tons of their own oney to create the fund that raised over 10 million dolars to the relief aid. it was all over the news constantly.
I have seen numerous followup reports. Numoerous essays and writing on the tsunami disaster.

[HaydenAsche]

Who is this Katrina bitch?

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Yeah Atari, I agreee with you but.......I now you know that our network news channels (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News) will never, and could not even consider giving coverage to something that's of the most importance.

For example, all last week they seemed to think that John Mark Karr creep was the only story of importance to the country.

They report on bullshit, and have for years. Why would Global Warming change things? I know why it makes sense that it would, but that is just wishful thinking. Maybe it isn't scary enough for them.

This is why I love radio.

[atari 2600]

True, the mass media cares about nothing but putting asses in the seats, so to speak. Who doesn't know that? It's a huge problem. But that problem arises because, as the networks remind us, they are just giving the people what they want & what the uneducated & ignorant masses want is sensationalism & controversy.