what can i say. it's horrible. i wish bush would be less apathetic and actually do something useful about it -- flying over louisiana in air force one is pretty far from useful. or give someone the resources and the authority to take the situation under control, which is what ray nagin is asking for. i think it's very respect-worthy that he said he didn't care if they didn't give him full authority to get things moving, so long as they gave authority to someone, to get the job done and save people.

india and bangladesh deal with floods practically on a daily basis and they're able to deal with them far more efficiently. ok, so practice makes perfect and all that but america also should have a lot more funding, a lot more efficient infrastructure. or so we are led to believe -- "superpower" etc, with all that cash to spare on iraq and afghanistan and everywhere. but the truth is that bush diverted resources that were meant for flood control projects in the south, to go work in iraq. and it's not like they had no idea about the danger. this article says that local authorities and engineers had even war-gamed hurricane scenarios and issued warnings about the vulnerability of the levees. bush, days before katrina hit, had even declared the area a natural disaster area, and yet the day after it did hit, he spent the day at an event in arizona and then flew to another event in san diego, and it was another 4 days before anything was done.

and what disturbs me is the sort of things i'm reading on some americans' blogs. things like -- "It is an absolute disgrace that people continue to suffer and die in the streets in 21st-century America." and "Never in my lifetime would I have thought I would see American refugees. This is something that happens in the Third World, not in a country as prosperous as the United States." i absolutely agree, it's disgraceful that more is not being done - or that more cannot be done, whichever is the case. but these statements sound more like people feel wronged that such disaster can happen, that they believe america to be perfect enough that floods and death and waterborne diseases should not be a threat. i may be interpreting these statements totally wrong; maybe it's more of a response to what should and isn't being done. but somehow the whole situation seems infected with some sort of belief that america should be immune to all this. i mean, evidently bush feels that america is so perfect that it has the right to go around fixing up the rest of the world.

and another thing is - i was astounded when i saw some UN guy (someone important in some human rights thing, i cannot remember his name or designation) being grilled by CNN, being asked what the UN is planning to do about it. and he kept saying that the UN can't come in and do anything about it unless they're asked to come in and help. apparently the US government hasn't directly asked them to help, but has asked them to submit a report about what they can do, and now the report is being reviewed, after which the government will deign to inform the UN whether their services are required or not. it's so high-handed it's unbelievable.

and the looting. people stealing money to go play slot machines. gang rapes. my dad was telling me that when the monsoon hit in mumbai, the looting actually decreased because many of the gangs decided not to make it even worse for the people in the slums who were worst affected. sort of an honour among thieves thing, maybe? or maybe it's because many of the gangs are robin hood types anyway, so they wouldn't want to make the situation worse for the people they try to help. it's a pretty huge contrast. oh this is amusing -- ray nagin says a "small majority" of people are looting. what does "small majority" mean?? but i like ray nagin. he says things like "doggone" and "lickety-quick".

and so many people in houston and other less-affected areas that are now experiencing an influx of refugees, are saying the refugees make them nervous, tensions are high, the police are all busy, they're afraid to let the refugees stay in their homes, ray nagin's pleading with people who've still got their homes, to let the refugees stay with them if possible but it doesn't seem to be working.

in some sense it seems to go beyond the failures of the government and it just seems to say alot about the american culture. a lack of trust, so much selfishness that civil order's just flown out the window. whereas during the tsunamis and all, to some extent you saw people helping each other, trying to make the situation a little better. it probably doesn't help that a third of the national guard from the affected states are in afghanistan and iraq.

i did mention the mink eyelashes etc at the VMAs right? that was also right after katrina hit, and eva longoria went on stage in a really weird-looking bathing suit and said "i'm not going to let a little hurricane prevent me from wearing my bathing suit!" she seems to have a knack for saying/doing rather insensitive things. like wearing a t-shirt that say "I'll have your babies, Brad!" or something like that, and pictures of her in that tee were splashed all over the tabloids, after which she sent a written apology to jennifer aniston for her insensitivity.

it's depressing to watch/listen to the news. when it isn't millions of people whose homes have been blown away/flooded/destroyed, it's a thousand people dying in a mosque because there was a suicide bomb scare and an ensuing stampede. it's the reporters in beslan, on the anniversary of the bloodbath that killed 300 people including more than a 100 children. when people already can't get enough of killing each other, nature comes in to do it's thang, and people barely have the compassion to help each other. ugh. i don't know what to think.

oh and here is ray nagin's interview. also rather depressing.