Katrina. How can we help?

[KC8YTK]

With all of the talk in the news media about all the communications being down in the area affected by Katrina, I keep wondering, what can we as hams do? Most of us have gel-cell or some kind of long lasting batteries and some kind of portable equipment that we could pick up and head into the disaster area with. To those who are already involved, we're with you, support and respect you. But what can the rest of us do? I think we too can be heros during this time...

[K6BBC]

My kids are baking cookies, selling them, and sending the money to The Red Cross.

K6BBC

[KI4IJQ]

donate money at http://www.redcross.org/ or http://www1.salvationarmy.org/

also if you donate to the salvation army you can specify how you want your donation used (ex. only for hurricane relief supplies)

all these organizations have asked people not volunteer due to the severity of devistation in the affected areas.....

[WZ4I]

http://www.redcross.org/images/disaster/1800helpnow.jpg

[KC8YTK]

I really don't care about sending money, I'm talking about us giving these people what they need right now. Communication.

[N4QX]

Quote[/b] (KC8YTK @ Sep. 01 2005,13:20)]I really don't care about sending money, I'm talking about us giving these people what they need right now. #Communication.
Really, the best and only thing that can be said about this was said by Jim Haynie today.

Letter from Jim on ARRL Web page (http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/09/01/1/?nc=1)

[n3mdq]

What is the plan being developed for use of Ham resources? Develop a master plan, Identify specific activities, work, personnel and equipment placement needed to support the overall communication requirements for response and recovery from this disaster! Creative, out of the box, thinking and planning is needed now!!!

[KC9ECI]

The plan is to sit down, shut up, and wait. If your help is needed, it will be requested. The last thing anyone needs at this point is for a bunch of freelancers showing up, adding to the confusion and possibly creating more victims. Think about it, these people are shooting at the people trying to rescue them. You think your amateur radio license is going to stop a bullet? I'm sure the federal and local agencies involved are aware of the resource provided by amateur radio operators and are using it to the extent that they can.

Remember, you can't save anyone if you become a victim yourself.

[AD5UT]

There is an online database to sign up at, the link is at arrl.org. I guess you sign up there and if they need hams they will contact you.

[KC9ECI]

Quote[/b] (KE5AQG @ Sep. 01 2005,16:42)]There is an online database to sign up at, the link is at arrl.org. I guess you sign up there and if they need hams they will contact you.
Excellent suggestion/idea. This is the link: http://katrina.ab2m.net/

Sir’s,

I read with Great Sadness the following,

The people of New Orleans desperately begged for help as sick and injured disaster victims were dying on the streets.
Refugees demanded food and water as dead bodies piled up in the chaos and rescue crews were nowhere to be seen.
The ravaged area resembled a war zone.
Hundreds lined the streets, some waist deep in filthy water, sobbing, calling out to television cameras and in urgent need of medical attention, food and water.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS''.
He said the New Orleans Convention Centre was "unsanitary and unsafe'' and was running out of supplies for 15,000 to 20,000 people.


He said they did not anticipate enough buses to get everyone out of the area.
Congress was expected to convene an emergency session either Thursday night or Friday to pass a 10 billion dollar spending bill to help the stricken areas.
Politicians are on a month-long summer break and had not been due to return until next Tuesday.
A CNN reporter on the ground made a call for military intervention, saying civilian efforts were just not getting through. #

Rescuers grappled to deal with the horror and the makeshift refugee centre at the Superdome descended into chaos.
Police struggled to restore order as violence escalated and the coastguard was forced to avoid areas where there was gunfire.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said conditions had become too dangerous to continue with certain boat rescues.
Television crews proved the only communication channels in the worst-hit areas.
Reporters demanded to know why they were not seeing rescue crews moving into the cities.
CNN anchor Kyra Phillips said: "Where are the resources? We are not seeing these individuals in action. People are dying, we are seeing pictures of people dying and bodies on the streets.''
Military analyst Brigadier General James Marks insisted a joint task force was in control and that recovery operations were up and running.
"Clearly this has not been quick enough in the areas most devastated,'' he told the network. "But these are citizens that have been cut off and you literally can't being vehicles in.
An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people converged at the Superdome hoping to escape the hellish city as word spread about the bus convoys to Texas.
Fights broke out and fires raged. Shots were fired at a military helicopter, temporarily suspending progress.
Thousands of people jammed the entrances, desperate to escape the squalid conditions where bodies lay out in the open, there was no light or air conditioning.
One report said thousands of people were being forced to live like animals. Several were going into seizure and dying before helpless onlookers.
At the New Orleans Convention Centre, bodies were propped in wheelchairs, covered with blankets and just lined up against the wall.
Hundreds of aid workers were on standby, loaded with food, clothing and water, but had no direction about where to go.
Several thousands refugees were safely dropped at the Houston Astrodome, which has been converted into a mini city.
Houston offered to house 25,000 people in the Astrodome and San Antonio agreed to take in 25,000 refugees.
State officials contacted major cruise liners to discuss the feasibility of transferring thousands of homeless onto a ship.
Desperate people, shivering and starving, were still stranded on top of buildings, waving clothing as flags.
Urgent calls for help were scrawled on banners and rooftops Battle raged between ruthless looters armed with guns and thousands of police brought in to restore order.

OFFICIALS SAID "COMMUNICATION WAS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sir’s, I emplore you to do All that can be done to Help,

My heart goes out to you All,
73s de Samantha 2e1dau.

[K8YS]

First, SAM!!! KILL THE PINK INK! it sucketh.

YTK.

You can pack your bags, show up at the EC, knock on the door and demand to be allowed in....

After you are released from JAIL, you will receive the same lecture that some of us give out every time there is an "emergency".

1) I hope that you had been prepared and "made yourself known to the emergency agency in your area". If you do not do this, you will not be allowed in to play.

2) sit down, take a deep breath, the emergency will still be there when you settle down.

3) contact your local Red Cross or Salvation Army and VOLUNTEER. The SA is not inclined to send workers outside the territory, and many SA corps are not all that into technical issues, such as RADIO. This leaves the ARC. They do operate nationally, but you need to be a member of the DSHR first.

4) after you have done the above, now you need to sit back and wait for them to call you.

In the mean time, send MONEY. They can all use CASH.

If you show up uninvited, there may not be any room at the inn, no food for you, no bed, no bath, no clean sheets. If you are not welcome, you are only in the way, and gives the other guys a black eye. Perhaps you may have heard about problems in Hawaii after Iniki and the Virgin Islands after Hugo. But that is another story for another time.

[K6BBC]

We are sending money.

[KC5SAS]

Don't come here to Baton Rouge. #We appreciate the help but unless you are dispatched by FEMA or the Red Cross and they have already made arraingements for feeding and lodging you while here you are going to be in trouble. #There are NO HOTEL ROOMS HERE. All of the official vehicles are using much of the fuel at our gas stations causing shortages. Tens of thousands of displaced persons are here looking for somewhere to stay, work, eat and live. FEMA is bringing in responders and putting them in a tent city built just to house all of these search and rescue and recovery employees. Hams aren't getting alot of use here. #The Ascension Amatuer Radio Club ceased all RACES operations at the Ascension Parish EOC and the Lamar Dixon Center Shelter. We are no longer needed. #FEMA and American Red Cross have flown in hundreds of IT guys and radio techs and are setting up their own comms. I'm the RACES coordinator for Iberville Parish and have not had any request for any services from Hams from the Iberville Parish EOC since the hurricane hit.
Yes, comms have been a problem but for the most part, Hams are being put on the back burner. #Stay home. #Stay safe. #Donate to the Red Cross. #Take care.
Steve, KC5SAS

[k9cn]

Sit down, shut up, do as you're told and leave everything to the trained professionals. And oh yeah, send money, lots of it -- as if cash is the first thing on the mind of someone dying of thirst.

Sorry, I'm not buying that line.

The professionals ARE in charge. So why is it that after three days, people are still in water up to their armpits while dry land is but a few miles away? Why is it that private citizens with boats have been threatened with arrest -- or worse -- if they try to effect rescues?

After 9/11, the people who "waited for help" as they'd been conditioned died. The ones that had the sense to get out of there regardless of what the "experts" said lived. We've seen all sorts of impressive practice exercises in the past, complete with bandaged-wrapped, ketchup soaked "victims," but as often happens, the real thing is far different from carefully staged exercises. Face it. As with 9/11, this is something that isn't in the books and is something that few people, if any, have real experience in how to handle.

Why not let private volunteers -- if they're willing -- bring people out with anything that floats and carry them to roads to be taken away by anything that moves. Yes, the "authorities" can supervise and coordinate and all that if it makes them feel important, but this macho jockeying for position and emphasis on playing the hero, rather than getting the job done, is getting a bit old and sickening.

[w8cbc]

The best way to help that I can think of is to take refugees into your home for the duration. Wherever you are. Considering what these people have put up with so far, I don't think a bus ride will be that great a hardship if there's a warm, dry place to stay at the end of it.

It gets Worse........................

Britons Tell of Super dome Horror

A Sunderland student caught up in the horror of Hurricane Katrina has spoke of his four days of "hell'' at the New Orleans Super dome shelter.
Jamie Trout, 22, an economics student, told the Daily Mirror he kept a record of his terrifying ordeal in the Super dome.
He wrote: "It was like something out of Lord of the Flies - one minute everything is calm and civil, the next it descends into chaos.''
In one diary entry, he said: "A man has been arrested for raping a seven-year-old in the toilet, this place is hell. I feel sick. The smell is horrendous, there are toilets overflowing and people everywhere.''

Jamie, who had been coaching football to disabled children as part of the Camp America scheme, said people were shouting racial abuse at the Britons because they were white.
He along with three other students described how their place of refuge descended into a scene of terror as people ran amok with knives and guns, used crack cocaine and hurled racial abuse.
At one point, up to 30 British students huddled among the thousands in the squalor were forced to set up a makeshift security cordon to fend off abusive locals.
Zoë Smith, 21, from Hull, told how students set up a security cordon when the power briefly went down in the Super dome amid fears they were going to be attacked.



"All us girls sat in the middle while the boys sat on the outside, with chairs as protection,'' she told the newspaper. Marisa Haigh, 23, from Guildford, and Claire Watkins, 23, from Bradford, were in the Super dome when Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc.
Marisa said: "There was a series of almighty bangs when the roof went off and a panel flew off.
"There was a woman screaming, we’re going to die, we're all going to die.''
Yesterday, many of the students were moved to a nearby basketball arena. The Foreign Office said they would be met by consular staff in Houston who would help with their onward travel.

How Many Days and No Real Help?? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[wa4nms]

what a Dumb-Ass attitude. The pink does suck.

Quote[/b] (wa4nms @ Sep. 02 2005,22:13)]what a Dumb-Ass attitude. #The pink does suck.
Hello Sir,
Point taken!
73s de Samantha 2e1dau

[KI4IJQ]

no you want to read some scary stuff check this out from a FEMA worker...

Quote[/b] ]Three days of hell was what it was. Temps in the high 90's with high humidity. All great intentions where immediately meet with hostility. First day traveling from Baton Rouge to Gulf Port was hard. We where stopped numerous times by people blocking the road and demanding to be brought out of the area. Or asking for food or water. A few rocks where thrown at the convoy in certain areas. The sound of rocks hitting the van just made my dog pissed and the people inside uneasy.


The dead where ramped the people just trying to get to dry areas sat like rats after a storm drain flood on anything they could keep dry on. The roads where real bad and we had to boat it then get picked up by others. What made this an unattainable task was COMMUNICATION. Getting in touch with others without satellite phones where impossible. Seen so much looting that you didn't even take notice after a while. Even if you wanted to you could do nothing about it. There where that many looters.

We came across an apartment building for assisted living adults that had a fire on the upper floors and had to evacuate them. We then had no way of transporting those people. Had to leave them there on the street.

Night fall came and the constant shoots where heard. Some far away Some close. Bravous is trained to turn on to gun fire so it was a sleepless night. We slept outside the trucks to protect ourselves from anything that may have come out of the darkness.


My team was made out of three suburbans, and two 12 pass. vans. We had three sheriffs with small arms and one M-16 for protection. This was not enough for what the nigh had. Fires where seen all over the area at night. Sunrise could not come to early for us. we reported the going ons back to IC and was told it was all isolated incidents. Yeah right. We where in the field they where back in a nice safe area.


Day two we got into gulf port and the devastation was beyond belief we assisted helio evacs of people and tried to assist any trapped people we came across. I came across an old white man in a second floor room in a house that had diabetes. He was bed ridden. He flipped a little when Bravous went into room when we where checking the house. He threw his bed pan filled with piss at Bravous. Great now I poured my water ration on him and cleaned him with some saline solution. I had to carry the guy down the stairs. He had #### in his pajamas. He cried when they cleaned him up and thanks us and apologized for getting scared when he seen Bravous. He said he though Bravous was a wild dog and came to feed on him. The Coast Guard fly boys picked him up.


We continued on checking debris and houses for trapped people. All the time people asking us for supplies. information we had no answers to. Everyone wanting help. But help they could do themselves. We where there for the ones that can't help themselves. The trapped, sick, or medical attention people. The people that had no physical problems where told to make it out and head north where trucks with supplies could not get in do the flooding. Got back to the trucks just before sunset. AND FOUND MY PERSONAL DOG BAG MISSING. Bitches stole Bravous' supplies and his my personal ####. Lost $1400 bucks in that bag INCLUDING MY CAMERA. Now I have a problem no food for the dog. His water supply his hygiene and medical supplies are gone. This pissed me the **** off and started looking at these people in a whole new light.


That night we had more of the same ####. People coming out of the darkness looking for food and water. I was giving Bravous my food and water so I had nothing to offer. One ******* prick saw me feed Bravous a can of tuna fish and said that animals don't eat before people. I said you want it you take it form him. Just then some gun fire went off real close by. It was DARK. Didn't know who shot or at what. I tackled the guy and Bravous came in for the bite but he was tied up and could reach the guy. One of the Chris one of the sheriff officers came and pulled the guy up and separated us. He was pissed but I didn't know if he was armed and was acting irrational enough to warrant his take down. The sheriff patted him down and sent his on his way as Bravous kept drooling for the bite.


Now it is on. About four something AM Bravous lets out a grumble as I lay slightly asleep against the van wheel. Several black guys two with shot guns the rest had side arms came out of the darkness. The Sheriff gave then some water and toilet paper. They asked what food we had and took three jars of peanut butter. And walked off in the darkness. The sheriffs later said we are not going to get into a fire fight that we could not win. Day light came and they decided things are way out of hand and we report back. On the way back we meet up with four Nation guards in a six wheeler. They said they are going to escort us out. We came across this town that had cars blocking the road. I was in the fourth vehicle looking out at why we stopped. Two of the Guards men got out to move the unoccupied vehicles. No keys so the six wheeler moved them. As we where pulling away shots hit the six wheeler the second vehicle and the last vehicle. Two of the guards men returned fire shooting high in the air as we floored it out of there.



**** THESE PEOPLE. I am sitting here unarmed nothing to do but lay low. We are in FEMA marked vehicles and these ***** are shooting at us. I want to drive but they won't let me. If I was driving I would run most of the ***** in the street down. I am so pissed at the people down there that I hope they all ******* die.


One thing about other disasters I have seen is that people cam together and helped each other. There where isolated acts of kindness but on the most part what I seen was something out of a war scene. Not sure if this si a southern Black thing but I will not go back and help them. As far as I am concerned let the floating corpse feed these *****. Let then drink the disease stagnate water and die a slow death.


Those where not people those where something subhuman form the bellows of the earth. Someone wrote on another thread that these people are Suppressed. Yeah I would suppress them with motor fire. I hope our state guys fire on these ***** and **** them into the swamps where the alligators can eat their asses.


It is going to take me some time to forget what asses those people where. They ****** me and I owe them one.



God bless the militarty boys going in to clean up the rats.

[N6WK]

Quote[/b] (2e1dau @ Sep. 02 2005,22:18)]Quote[/b] (wa4nms @ Sep. 02 2005,22:13)]what a Dumb-Ass attitude. The pink does suck.
Hello Sir,
Point taken!
73s de Samantha 2e1dau
Samantha,
Don't worry about the Color oF your Ink.
It is the message that you brought that Counts.
Good Post!

Gordon
N6WK