CNN.com - Leadership vacuum stymied aid offers - Sep 15, 2005
CNN.com - Leadership vacuum stymied aid offers - Sep 15, 2005: "(CNN) -- As violence, death and misery gripped New Orleans and the surrounding parishes in the days after Hurricane Katrina, a leadership vacuum, bureaucratic red tape and a defensive culture paralyzed volunteers' attempts to help.
Doctors eager to help sick and injured evacuees were handed mops by federal officials who expressed concern about legal liability. Even as violence and looting slowed rescues, police from other states were turned back while officials squabbled over who should take charge of restoring the peace.
Warehouses in New Orleans burned while firefighters were diverted to Atlanta for Federal Emergency Management Agency training sessions on community relations and sexual harassment. Water trucks languished for days at FEMA's staging area because the drivers lacked the proper paperwork.
Consider the stories of these frustrated volunteers:
# Dr. Bong Mui and his staff, evacuated with 300 patients after three hellish days at Chalmette Medical Center, arrived at the New Orleans airport, and were amazed to see hundreds of sick people. They offered to help. But, the doctor told CNN, FEMA officials said they were worried about legal liability. 'They told us that, you know, you could help us by mopping the floor.' And so they mopped, while people died around them. 'I started crying,' he recalled. 'We felt like we could help, and were not allowed to do anything.' (Watch the video of hundreds languishing sick at the airport -- 4:16)"
Doctors eager to help sick and injured evacuees were handed mops by federal officials who expressed concern about legal liability. Even as violence and looting slowed rescues, police from other states were turned back while officials squabbled over who should take charge of restoring the peace.
Warehouses in New Orleans burned while firefighters were diverted to Atlanta for Federal Emergency Management Agency training sessions on community relations and sexual harassment. Water trucks languished for days at FEMA's staging area because the drivers lacked the proper paperwork.
Consider the stories of these frustrated volunteers:
# Dr. Bong Mui and his staff, evacuated with 300 patients after three hellish days at Chalmette Medical Center, arrived at the New Orleans airport, and were amazed to see hundreds of sick people. They offered to help. But, the doctor told CNN, FEMA officials said they were worried about legal liability. 'They told us that, you know, you could help us by mopping the floor.' And so they mopped, while people died around them. 'I started crying,' he recalled. 'We felt like we could help, and were not allowed to do anything.' (Watch the video of hundreds languishing sick at the airport -- 4:16)"
posted by Blackgold at 7:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home