(actually it is only 9/5 - but that's not really the point)
Much of the din on the radio and TV has been comparing the response to the devastation in New Orleans to the response on 9/11. Many people have spent the last little bit lauding Rudy and stepping on the neck of whatever politician they happen to have handy. I have to say that I have come to the opinion that although tragic, the poor response to the disaster last week really shouldn't be laid at the feet of anyone specific for a decision they did or did not make in the moment as it was happening. Could they (we) have been better prepared? Certainly. Were poor decisions made? Of course. Did we have a right to expect any better? I don't know.
I do know that it is not comparable to 9/11.
What was 9/11? Something like 100 square blocks of Manhattan? Was it even that much? I haven't checked, but I would not be surprised to find out that the Katrina devastation covers over 10,000 square miles. Maybe something on the order of 100 times the size of the earlier events.
For the most part 9/11 didn't really cross jurisdictions. Yes, the Port Authority is a joint jurisdictional group, but all things being equal the events at the World Trade Center fell squarely to the jurisdiction of New York City - hence its take charge mayor. The problems on the gulf coast involve the governments of three states, countless counties and cities, oh, and the federal government. That's a few conversations that had to happen that never had to happen to get things rolling 9/11.
Speaking of conversations. Although overloaded phones were the norm. On 9/11 the phones weren't lost, neither was power which means cell phones and cellular radio stayed up as well. Communications all over the southeast are still out today. Those annoying news reporters are all broadcasting direct to satellite. Your average fire department and police department do not have that capability. So many of the conversation and coordination things that had to happen were reduced to courier.
Firemen and Policemen on 9/11 were doing their job, and their job was pretty clear from the start: rescue the people. Many firemen and policemen in New Orleans were doing that same job, rescuing the people. The fact that many of the people that didn't need rescuing took the opportunity to do some discount shopping really can't be blamed on the guys trying to pull 98 year old grandmothers up to their neck in water in their attics into a boat to safety. The more coordinated and tighter access to lower Manhattan helps prevent any wide spread looting. Down south they didn't have that going for them. Another dimension to this same issue is that in all likelihood the first responders in NYC did not live in the damage area. Many first responders in LA broke ranks and looked to their own before attempting to do their job. This is unfortunate, but I think somewhat understandable, and again, not something Rudy had to contend with.
The exigency of 9/11 lasted only a few hours. After that it moved very quickly to a very tightly controlled excavation. Almost a week later the event is still happening in New Orleans. The water (the sewage) is still there. It is still flooded and peoples lives are still in jeopardy as I write this. Although 9/11 was scary, and a literal domino effect did continue in lower Manhattan for a day or two, things did dissipate of their own accord comparatively quickly.
If on the order of 10,000 people were directly effected by 9/11, and we can up that to include everyone that needed to travel for days later, and everyone at the Pentagon, and everyone in Shanksville, and some commuting public that used the PATH and the Subway - so what maybe 150,000 people. We're looking at a disturbance to millions of people in one 24 hour period here. Its just not comparable.
A closer comparison would have been the day of the NE blackout. If all the bridges and tunnels had crimped such that only one car could use them at a time, and if the entire island of Manhattan below say 98th street were 4 feet under water. How many good samaritans do you think would have been directing traffic at 56th and Broadway had they needed to be treading water?
How many Duane Reeds do you think would have been pillaged for diapers if nobody could get out of the city and they had been without power or plumbing for more than 48 hours?
The aftermath of Katrina has been terrible, and the response questionable, and the behavior of many citizens and politicians alike just dismal. But there have been amazing achievements as well, and I am sure the good samaritan stories are there, they just haven't spread because they don't compete. But all of that aside, when people analyze and criticize the effort, it doesn't do anyone any good to talk about it in terms of what happened on 9/11 (even though that response was great) because it really is kiwis and watermelons.
Monday, September 05, 2005
It's not 9/11
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4 comments:
You are so right. And I mean no disrespect to the dead when I say that. Katrina completely dwarfs 9/11, in its scope and its aftereffects, and the comparisons need to stop, because they're not productive (although I imagine they help to fill all that airtime between those commercials).
Thoughtful post DB. Actually I was going to leave it at that but I'll take a minute to say -- your posts are usually thought-full in that way. I am so much more of a knee-jerk post-er; I wonder how long your posts sit in "draft" form before you hit the post button. Oftentimes mine are still hot and could probably use some time to cool and re-read.
"but all things being equal the events at the World Trade Center fell squarely to the jurisdiction of New York City - hence its take charge mayor. The problems on the gulf coast involve the governments of three states, countless counties and cities, oh, and the federal government."
A small nitpick: being an act of terrorism, the events of 9-11 also were unquestionably federal jurisdiction as well. And the planes didn't just fall in NYC. You have to add in the Pensylvania State Police, the Virginia State Police and the Department of Defense into the 9-11 jurisdictional mix.
"Although overloaded phones were the norm. On 9/11 the phones weren't lost, neither was power which means cell phones and cellular radio stayed up as well."
Not true. The main cell phone transmitter in NYC was the huge antenna on the north tower of the WTC. When that building went, cell phone service in all five boroughs was disrupted and what was left was instantly overwhelmed by everyone in the city trying to use it. However, service was restored much quicker (about a day or so) in NYC than it has been down along the Gulf. I just came back from working the POTUS visits in Louisiana and Mississippi and my cell didn't work the entire six days I was down there and still wasn't working when our choppers lifted off this morning.
"Your average fire department and police department do not have that capability."
No, but they do have their radios which don't depend on the telecom infrastructure to function. The only thing that hinders them is lack of power (and as long as the cars have gas, that's not an issue) or electromagnetic interference (sunspots and the like).
"the behavior of many citizens and politicians alike just dismal."
You don't know the half of it. What happened in that Superdome is like something out of a Stephen King novel. Actually, it's worse than that. Most of it has either not hit the media or they're choosing not to report it. A few examples: a 14-year-old girl was found raped to death in one of the stadium bathrooms; a group of British tourists were set upon because they were white and they had to literally circle the wagons: building a circular barricade with the seats, the men inside it, protecting the women and children in the center; roving gangs of thugs moving through the facility telling people that they couldn't leave and if rescue buses came, they would kill everyone before they let them go.
To say the behavior was dismal is a significant understatement. Animalistic would be a better word, but even animals rarely turn on their own kind with such viciousness and gleeful abandon.
There would have been unfolding juristiction, yes? FAA, NTSB, NY State Police (there was a governor's office in the towers I think - for that matter FBI too, yes? Some federal service, I don't remember) I guess my point is that it was somewhat locallized - even if you consider three sites.
I remember there being reports around 9/11 that even though cell service was out that first responders still had their communications. That, I guess, was the point I was awkwardly making.
The stuff at the Superdome, I will chalk that up to rights & responsibility to hear about. Truth be told, even with your access I think we still haven't even discovered close to the half of it. I guess given the opportunity, some people get downright ugly. Too bad, but also too true.
"(there was a governor's office in the towers I think - for that matter FBI too, yes? Some federal service, I don't remember)"
The FBI offices are in the Javits Federal Center along with the US Attorneys and the federal courts so they were unaffected.
However, many other federal agencies had their offices in the WTC, including our own. It was the thousands of rounds of ammunition from our weapons vault cooking off in the fires after the collapse that made those firemen who miraculously survived inside the stairwell think they were being fired upon by a sniper as they made their way through the debris to safety. Amazingly, not one of those rounds hit anyone. Thank god for small favors.
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