(no subject)

[sethrak]

Quote from here : "In some cases, it's real easy. They're sitting on the porch with their bags packed," said Joe Youdell of the Kentucky Air National Guard. "But some don't want to leave and we can't force them."

I've seen similar things said in other online articles, on tv news programs, and in print newspaper articles. 'We can't force people to evacuate'.

I fail to grok why.

Before the storm hit, yeah, I can see that without a mandatory evacuation declared by the correct governmental authority, nobody could be forced to leave the expected area of the hurricane's effect.

But now?!

The areas in question have been declared national disaster areas. There's raw sewage and possible decaying human and animal bodies floating in the water surrounding these hold-outs. There's automatic guns shooting in the streets and looting and all kinds of Mad Max-esque things. Once the local power grid has been restored, there will probably be downed wires floating in as-yet-undrained areas or draped over ruined houses and scattered on the ground that will suddenly go live, causing a serious hazard.

Why can't people be forced to leave such a dangerous area? If there was a terror threat, or a train carrying hazardous materials of some type had overturned, people would be forcibly evacuated, right? I've seen it done. Why not now?


(For that matter, why the hell would anyone want to stay?! If you're living on the second or third story, or the *attic* with a crudely sawn out hole in your roof, it's a SIGN, people! Nobody's going to be looting your house unless they stole SCUBA gear from one of the submerged sporting goods stores. And not even Ninja Pizza will be delivering to your door anytime soon. Let the nice National Guardsmen evacuate you, and go file a probably fruitless claim with your insurance agency for your home, or go visit your Aunt Mathilda or Cousin Ray-Ray until you can start a new life. Please.)



Also: Anyone using the non-words "de-water" or "de-watering" in my presence, when there is a perfectly good English word already in existence, "drain", to describe what needs to happen to the city of New Orleans, well, you will be defenestrated from the penthouse level of the nearest high-rise. Survivors will be defenestrated again. ::sends mental bolts of hatred at the language-murdering guy from the Army Corps of Engineers who used the non-word in a live television interview:: >_<

Note to snuggly husband: No, I won't be defenestrating you. ::unsettling smile:: I can think of much much worse things to do to you if you decide to bait me by gratuitous usage of "de-water".

Comments

[frail-obscurity.livejournal.com]

Why can't people be forced to leave such a dangerous area? If there was a terror threat, or a train carrying hazardous materials of some type had overturned, people would be forcibly evacuated, right? I've seen it done. Why not now?

Because we're not talking about a commercially or governmentally owned vehicle, we're talking about peoples homes. This is everything that they have. All of their material possessions that belong to them in name that they legally have rights to.

For that matter, why the hell would anyone want to stay?!

Because people are monumental idiots. Or simply unaware of how grim the situation is in its totality due to lack of information. Or unable to realize that this is not a problem they can ride-out in a few days. Or there is some sort of moral high-ground or belief they're putting on the line. For instance, are you familiar with the Kaiowas tribe from Brazil from a decade or two back? The short-version of the story goes: the government stepped in and said, "Get off your land," and instead of complying or resisting, they committed mass ritual suicide.

If an almighty deity came down to the world and gave us a strict rule of something not to do otherwise they would obliterate us, someone would inevitably throw the kill-switch. That's just human nature. Not everyone is a logical and rational person.

[sethrak.livejournal.com]

We'd still be talking about people's homes if it were one of those situations where a train with hazardous cargo has overturned on the tracks upwind of a residential area, and the fumes from the hazardous materials said train was carrying are potentially lethal. People are forcibly evacuated when that happens.

[frail-obscurity.livejournal.com]

Then I'm really not sure. Er, well, y'know – not that I ever was. ^^; But my only guess is that the scale is so massive it's disorienting to the rescue efforts. There are just so many people scattered and lost that I don't think rescue and evacuation teams want to really waste their time on people who refuse to leave when they could be using their time better to find people who are lost and dying who actually want to leave, you know? But then, I can't say for certain either way.

[will-z.livejournal.com]

Yes, but are those useless posessions as imprtant as the LIVES of the people that won't leave? There's a time and place for everything, and common sense really needs to supercede emotional ties.

Else, who will be left to enjoy ANY of your posessions, Hmm?

I agree with you that they are morons, and the rest, though. It seems in times of aversion, people turn from people with sense, to mindless creatures.

[sethrak.livejournal.com]

Nope. Not familiar with that situation in Brazil. I don't think it quite applies, here.

[frail-obscurity.livejournal.com]

I was using it as a reference of people's will to not to what they're told. I'm sorry you feel that way.

[davner.livejournal.com]

Where are they going to go? What are they going to do? These aren't military people who are used to picking up and leaving every three years. If all I had in the world was the house my family lived in for a hundred years, I'd make my stand there too. If you die, you die. But there are worse things.

[will-z.livejournal.com]

Yes, but seriously... What freaking GOOD would it do them, if they died? Evac now, and pick up the pieces later. You don't stand there staring stupidly as the tidal wave is going to put you and everything in its path 20 feeet under sea level - you get the fuck out. this is not like a war where you need to defend yourself off PRINCIPLE, etc.. this is Nature - you will NEVER WIN.

Leave and return when it is safe is more sane ion the long run... anything else should lead you to a darwin award...

[sethrak.livejournal.com]

Not if I drugged you like B.A. Barakas before a plane ride and stuffed you in the back of our pickup you wouldn't. I can perfectly understand a deep and profound attachment to a home, especially one that's been in the family for years. That's part of my anger against the Supreme Court's eminent domain ruling.

But homes can be rebuilt. Things can be replaced. (Critical things to re-establish identity and acess to assets in a new location can be packed and carried in a small bag.)

Lives cannot be replaced.



I don't know where they're going to go, but anywhere is better than staying put and starving to death, or dying of dysentery, or of massive infections from coming in contact with water that's basically raw sewage. ::shudder:: Or having hoodlums break into your house while you sleep and kill you for the cans of Chef Boy Ardee in the cupboard. It's not like no one is offering to help the refugees find new lives, after all.

Me, I'd pack my title to my home, my personal ID papers, and a toothbrush, and be out of there. It would break my heart to leave a lot of my favorite posessions behind, especially if I were one of those people too poor for renters/homeowner's insurance. But I'd be alive.