Are You Ready? The Lessons of Katrina

Scenes from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are making us heartsick.  First in sympathy and sadness at the pictures of a city devastated, then for the hundreds on the rooftops, for the tens of thousands now without jobs, for the hundreds of thousands homeless, for the more than two million without power.   

Rescuers are pushing aside the dead to find and rescue survivors in this America’s tsunami.  Hospitals are flooded.  Shelters are being evacuated as the water continues to rise.

In the days and weeks to come, we will hear heart-rending stories of tragedy and loss as well as tales of great heroism and survival.   I am afraid the death toll will be far higher than we can bear to think about today.  

The total breakdown of a modern American industrialized city is unprecedented.   Will there be a breakdown of the social order as well?  

With police and emergency personnel focused on search and rescue,  wide-spread looting, even in private homes, is going unchecked.   But then reports of goodness rise.  For Ruvella Casmere, an evacuee from New Orleans, her dealings with the American Red Cross have renewed her faith in people.

 "I just never knew people were so sweet, so loving," says Casmere. "Because every time you see on the news it's bad, it's bad, it's bad, it's bad. And then you get to thinking, well, there's just no good. No it's not. No, they got people in this world got a heart as big as Texas."

These angels, as Casmere calls them, are a sign of hope -- a signal that they can bounce back. "I never seen such love, such help, never. I'm 62 years old and I'm full. I just don't know how to say thank you. I really don't. And we most probably don't have anything at home. But as long as I live, I will never forget you all."

How can we help?   Pray of course.  What can we  do?   Most of us are too far away to volunteer.

We can donate generously to the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army or Catholic Charities, all of whom have sterling records in disaster relief.    A full list of charities to donate to can be found at Instapundit.  If your employer matches your donations, donate at work.
 
What else can we do?  

We can learn the lessons of  Katrina. 

We can get ready ourselves should disaster strike.      None of us are completely safe from natural or technological disasters, but we can be better prepared to deal with them if we prepare for disasters AHEAD of  time.  There is a limit to what emergency services can do.   People who could have, but didn't evacuate, place additional burdens on rescuers.  If ordered to evacuate, do so.

If you were forced to evacuate,  what would you take with you?  You could be forced to survive in place for days without power.  Would you know what to do?

Every one must be prepared to protect themselves and their families for at least three days following a natural or technological disaster.    It will take that long for disaster relief teams to assemble and begin distributing food and water.   No one else can do this for you.  It is your responsibility.

Are You Ready?, an in-depth guide to preparing for all sorts of disasters, is the product of both the the American Red Cross and the Federal Management Authority, our two best authorities on surviving disasters.

You can order one free copy of Are You Ready? by calling the FEMA publiction warehouse at 800-480-2520.  You can also view Are You Ready? online.

Basically, you should

1.    Get informed – Your copy of Are you Ready will do that
2.    Develop an Emergency Plan with your family.  Make sure everyone has vital numbers including at least one out-of-state contact.  
3.    Collect and Assemble a Disaster Supplies kit – to take with you or to survive in place.   Aside from food and water, the most important thing you can put together is a Master List of what and where everything is.   Bring account numbers, insurance policy numbers and contacts, a household inventory (better yet a video), and original  or copies of important family documents and photos.
4.    Learn where your community shelters and the evacuation routes are.

If not now, when are you are going to do this?   Learn the lessons of Katrina -what people didn't do and didn't take - to make you and your family safer and better prepared to deal with the stresses of any disaster and its aftermath.

Remember Noah didn’t wait for the rain before he started building his Ark.  

Expect the best, prepare for the worst and take what comes.