I live in CA, and I'm lucky enough to have had contact from my friends and relatives from New Orleans since Katrina struck. Many others, though, have not been so lucky. Tens of thousands are stranded. Many are not receiving any sort of aid, and have been without food and water for more than 3 days now. Those who prepared by gathering emergency supplies have, for the most part, long since either used them up or lost them to flood water or looters.
The news tells you some of what's going on there, but not all. They're overlooking some of the uglier stuff.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
This site is a blog from ground zero. It talks about people being rebuffed by police and military, and threatened at gunpoint when they try to get more information. It talks about communities where dead bodies are being put into what few working freezers they can manage to try to minimize disease.
There's more than just that, though. There are thawed-out frozen chickens floating around the city, spreading salmonella. Malaria and typhoid are expected to start appearing on an epidemic scale. FEMA (federal emergency management agency) and the CDC (centers for disease control) are working past capacity, even with amazing amounts of volunteer help. Temporary hospitals have been set up in stadiums, basketball forums, schools and churches, but they don't have the supplies or beds to meet demand. My friend is in charge of a 250-bed makeshift hospital in a basketball arena in downtown New Orleans. His team moved in with enough supplies for 5 days, but after treating over 2000 people in two days, they were nearly depleted. Many areas of the city are inaccessible by bus, and rumors are spreading among the thousands of people with little or no outside contact that they've been abandoned, and that no aid is coming.
Many different organizations are doing everything they can to gather money, food, and supplies to send down there. I'm posting to ask that, if you're able, you donate a little bit.
Many organizations are just accepting money. If you give to one of them, make sure it's a reputable one. There are a lot of people out there creating scam web sites and fake paypal names. Look into it a little bit.
http://www.redcross.org/
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.ob.org/
The red cross has already raised over $26 million for disaster relief. That's fantastic, but they still need more. The costs of buying medicine, food, water, medical and cleaning supplies, and transporting everything is absolutely stupendous.
The united methodist committee on relief has a set of kits you can put together and mail to their centers for distribution:
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/
Seriously, if you have a few minutes and a few bucks to spare, drop by your local target or walmart and pick up a few things. You can use that list, or you cna ask someone at a local Salvation Army branch or church.
Or skip a night of eating out. Or two, or three. Send a few bucks to the aid group of your choice. Instead of buying gourmet coffee this week, make your own or drink a coke, or water. Send that four bucks a day to help the people who are starving, parched, and stranded without shelter.
The news tells you some of what's going on there, but not all. They're overlooking some of the uglier stuff.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
This site is a blog from ground zero. It talks about people being rebuffed by police and military, and threatened at gunpoint when they try to get more information. It talks about communities where dead bodies are being put into what few working freezers they can manage to try to minimize disease.
There's more than just that, though. There are thawed-out frozen chickens floating around the city, spreading salmonella. Malaria and typhoid are expected to start appearing on an epidemic scale. FEMA (federal emergency management agency) and the CDC (centers for disease control) are working past capacity, even with amazing amounts of volunteer help. Temporary hospitals have been set up in stadiums, basketball forums, schools and churches, but they don't have the supplies or beds to meet demand. My friend is in charge of a 250-bed makeshift hospital in a basketball arena in downtown New Orleans. His team moved in with enough supplies for 5 days, but after treating over 2000 people in two days, they were nearly depleted. Many areas of the city are inaccessible by bus, and rumors are spreading among the thousands of people with little or no outside contact that they've been abandoned, and that no aid is coming.
Many different organizations are doing everything they can to gather money, food, and supplies to send down there. I'm posting to ask that, if you're able, you donate a little bit.
Many organizations are just accepting money. If you give to one of them, make sure it's a reputable one. There are a lot of people out there creating scam web sites and fake paypal names. Look into it a little bit.
http://www.redcross.org/
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.ob.org/
The red cross has already raised over $26 million for disaster relief. That's fantastic, but they still need more. The costs of buying medicine, food, water, medical and cleaning supplies, and transporting everything is absolutely stupendous.
The united methodist committee on relief has a set of kits you can put together and mail to their centers for distribution:
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/print/kits/
Seriously, if you have a few minutes and a few bucks to spare, drop by your local target or walmart and pick up a few things. You can use that list, or you cna ask someone at a local Salvation Army branch or church.
Or skip a night of eating out. Or two, or three. Send a few bucks to the aid group of your choice. Instead of buying gourmet coffee this week, make your own or drink a coke, or water. Send that four bucks a day to help the people who are starving, parched, and stranded without shelter.
My wife has already donated money and I will do the same again today.