How would we deal with Disaster ?

[cowman]

Watching the situation unfold in the southern states and the horrible aftermath of Katrina makes me wonder how well equipped we are to deal with anything of that magnitiude in this province or country for that matter. We saw that various agencies were asleep at the switch with the Wabumun disaster, and last year a huge portion of the Enoch First Nation were evacuated needlessly according to recent reports by the EUB.
Each municipality is supposed to have an Emergency Response Plan in place to deal with disasters such as fires etc., but the routine evcuation and relocation of citizens is to the nearest large urban centre, so what to do if that centre is in a crisis of its own ?
Lots of finger pointing in the US about the lack of immediate response etc., but the sheer magnitude of what is facing all agencies must be overwhelming to say the least.

[cowman]

All the planning in the world can't really prepare anyone for something as large as this. The fact is in any disaster the people get their act together and do what they can?
First of all I don't believe we would ever have the chaos and animal behavior we saw with Katrina! Not to say I think we have people who aren't capable of acting like that, but I doubt we would have the numbers of outright criminal activity that went on?
Maybe I am naive but I still believe we have a population that generally obeys the laws and has some empathy for their fellow man?
It is hard to understand the situation down there? Were these the dregs of society...and yet there were kids, old people, dragging stuff out of the stores? In all the footage of looters I saw...I never saw one white person? What does that say?

[cowman]

It certainly did bring out the worst in some folks, and I am sure that if there were a major disaster such as a tornado, explosion etc., we would see some of that behaviour in this country although I agree with you that the majority of people are law abiding. I am sure that is the case in New Orleans too. The population is almost the same as Calgary and vicinity .

[farmers_son]

We had one of North America’s deadliest tornadoes in Edmonton and I do not think there was any problems with looting, shooting and so on.

The United States has some serious societal problems, there is no doubt about it. There were obviously large numbers of very poor black people in the city who could not afford to evacuate. As one Canadian interviewed on TV this morning said those people had nothing before and they have lost it all.

It is my impression that the same level of poverty does not exist here as is being uncovered in New Orleans. Partly because our climate just does not lend itself to large scale homelessness. It is also my impression that Canadians are more self reliant.

Police shot 5 people this morning who opened fire at some construction workers. Unbelievable.

Hurricanes happen every year in the United States. The lack of an organized response lays bare the veneer of a U.S. superpower that cannot look after its own. One cannot help but think that if the U.S. spent less money on the military, over $200 billion per year, that they could do a better job of looking after things at home.

[farmers_son]

It certainly does show the vulnerablity of the US even though it is a superpower. Unfortunately the fingerpointing between officials of the cities and state governments does nothing to assist in the rescue efforts or help build morale.

When you compare our population with that of the US, it isn't surprising that they seems to have a higher level of crime. I would never want to give anyone the impression that we are a country without our share of the criminal element as well. All you have to do is read the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald daily to see reports of activities that certainly aren't anything we can be proud of.

I agree that there is a large poor black population in the areas hit hardest by Katrina, I would assume that some of the looting was in desparation not because of a real criminal intent.

[farmers_son]

The mayor of New Orleans mentioned that drug addicts were at least part of the problem.

[farmers_son]

I have been impressed by the Mayor of New Orleans he isn't pulling any punches, and its obvious that he has his finger on the pulse of everything that is going on.

[cakadu]

I haven't been able to catch that much of the news, but I have seen some of the devastation down there.

I would like to think that we would be above what is happening down there, but until we've walked a mile in their shoes, I don't know if we can say without a doubt that we wouldn't. We definitely do not have the societal problems that are apparent down in the US and I'm sure we cannot even fathom how deep some of that goes. Put into the situation down there - for more than just a couple of days - and I wouldn't want to bet how we would act.

I can't for the life of me imagine what that must do to you emotionally and mentally. Yes, the tornado in Edmonton was bad and so was Pine Lake and we saw the best in people come out. Some of the news bites in the US have been of good people helping one another out as well. The media, as is par for the course, focuses on the negative and the headline grabbers.

Like it or not, we have some of that same thing beginning to happen here. When you live within a community that has nothing, then you don't really feel the effects of having nothing. Put into a situation where you don't have anything in amongst those who seem to have it all and conflict is sure to raise it's head.

One of the most telling statements that came out of Bush's mouth at the start of last week was "we can't fight the war on terror and fight this at home." Hmm, something tells me he should look at his own backyard first.

[cakadu]

Linda, the problem is that most of us are working day and night to make a living and don't really have a clue how many people are living in poverty . I spent some time living in Calgary and it was a wake up call for a country gal I can tell you. Street people begging for money is something I had never been exposed to before. Sure they likely are homeless due to lifestyle etc., but it exists here and so does crime.
I do think that the US deals with criminals in a more direct fashion than we do, if we had people being shot at on a bridge like they did yesterday, my bet is that we would have arrested them and given them a slap on the wrist !!!

[cakadu]

There are many things that we "see but don't see". If you are someone who is employed and/or volunteers to work with the homeless, otherwise known as street people, you do get a totally different view of what life is like for some. There are different rules and norms on the street.

I have been told that certain buildings in Calgary allow homeless in to clean up early in the morning. Everyone wants to be treated with dignity and respect and some are there through no fault of their own.

Even in Red Deer there is a growing number of homeless and those that are using shelters as a means to keep off the street.

I believe it is hard for most of us to imagine living in poverty and deplorable conditions. Think of what it must do to you to live in it day in and day out, year after year, with no hope of ever seeing better. There are growing numbers of people even in Alberta/Canada that are living just one or two paycheques from the street. The gap between rich and poor is just getting wider and wider and it isn't necessarily because some are spending more than others, all of our costs are going up i.e. gas, natural gas, electricity - you name it, it just keeps going up and wages certainly are not keeping up with the rising costs.

There but for the grace of God.

[farmers_son]

There but for the grace of God overlooks how poverty is an institution in the U.S. The economy is built on the back of poor black and Hispanic workers which allows the U.S. to compete labour wise with countries such as Canada. It is not just New Orleans.

On the subject of the hurricane…Government officials at all levels knew the levees would not withstand a category 4 hurricane. I am also reminded of this springs floods and how Drumheller and other towns worked around the clock to take preventative measures or Drumheller would be flooded just like New Orleans. I would think New Orleans had more notice. Also Winnipeg took preventative flood control measures just in time to prevent a bad flood a few years ago.

What we are seeing in New Orleans is a situation that could have been prevented had the money been available to upgrade the levees and dikes. The various levels of government did not act and in effect rolled the dice with the lives of their citizens. Our system of government has a different approach to these kind of problems in this country and I think it is a better approach.

[cakadu]

There are people from the Drumheller area who are prepared to sue because they feel that the dam wasn't operated adequately. There are also people who are very unhappy with the amounts they have gotten in terms of compensation, despite the fact that they built in a flood plain. Had that log jam not occured on the little Red Deer, it is hard to say just how much worse the damage would have been.

What parts of our system do you see as being better? Didn't Wabamun show just how ill-prepared we were for an unexpected emergency?

[cowman]

The idea that the USA exploits blacks and hispanics for cheap labor is probably partly true, but what keeps them poor?
There are lots of successful Hispanics and blacks that pulled themselves out of poverty and became very successful. I would suggest a good part of the problem is government handouts that keep them living in poverty?
The government really needs to consider the philosophy of a hand up...not a hand out? Unfortunately that is not the case here or the USA? Welfare is a totally demeaning thing where the person is designated as basically a worthless thing that can't contribute anything.
I will also note most of the criminals in Canadian cities are either aboriginals or asians...now why is that? Once again there are some very successful asians and natives!
But you must never say things like that in Canada! You will be labelled a rascist or a bigot, just like the police chief in Toronto? He was asked how come it seemed the police were arresting so many black people...his answer "Because the blacks are the ones doing the crimes!" He was villified by every paper and Liberal politician in the land, although he was just stating the truth! The biggest crime in Canada is not being politically correct.

[madcow]

Cowman said "It is hard to understand the situation down there? Were these the dregs of society...and yet there were kids, old people, dragging stuff out of the stores? In all the footage of looters I saw...I never saw one white person? What does that say? "I heard some talk of that too. I think it's more than likely selective use of the camera or editing before airing. There's no shortage of people here to carry things away that aren't bolted down /too hot or too heavy.And they are NOT black.

[cowman]

I don't know. Is FOX rascist? Do you think they just used film where only black people were involved?
Bill Oreilly(sp?) did a little editorial about the looting and violence where he said the people involved had no intention of leaving the city before the storm...not because they couldn't but because they saw it as an opportunity to steal! Like they did after every hurricane! Now was that a true statement?
Now I don't know if OReilly is a rascist or what but I am pretty sure he couldn't get away with those kind of comments up here, in the land of the "free"? In Canada they either wouldn't show the footage, or else they would do their darndest to find some white looters or maybe even hire some white kids to throw a few rocks through some windows while they ran the camera!