October 31, 2005
Tropical Storms
:In the United States, Hurricane Wilma damaged both Florida coasts after quickly moving from Mexico this past week. The storms 125-mph winds killed at least six people and left millions without power. Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of President Bush, stated that aid problems were the faults of the state of Florida and not FEMA. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Alpha, the first time a season has needed a Greek letter as the name, made land fall in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. At least 26 people are dead on the island.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, The Americas, America, Hurricanes, Dominican Republic, Haiti)
October 24, 2005
Hurricane Wilma
:Hurricane Wilma made land fall earlier today in Southwestern Florida. By the day’s end it had cleared the eastern coast. This is after the hurricane hit the Yucatan Coast of Mexico, where winds of more than 110 miles per hour created massive flooding. Most of the hardest hit areas in Mexico are still without supplies to help the residents or the ability to communicate the losses. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Alpha was the record 22nd storm of the season, making it the most active year on record in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, The Americas, America, Hurricanes)
Hurricane Aftermath
:The Red Cross and the federal government announced that they had been significantly over-reporting the number of people still in hotels. Instead of the 600,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors cited last week, 200,000 remain in hotels according to the Red Cross. If it appears that FEMA still does not know what is going on, Congress pointed that out when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff appeared before a House panel. Chertoff claimed that there was not “a lack of urgency� at FEMA, despite him working from his home two days before the storm hit.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Politics, America, Hurricanes)
October 17, 2005
Hurricane Aftermath
:As we move further away from the tragedy, more is coming to light on how federal money was spent in the aftermath of the disaster. Federal officials, in an effort to meet President Bush’s mid-October deadline to move all victims from shelters, have rented 600,000 to hotels at a cost of $11 million a night instead of moving people to cheaper and, for the long-term, more sanitary apartment complexes. Meanwhile, the government has purchased most things at full price, instead of bulk rates that the government could have demanded. This is proceeding the largest cleanup in American history that still most be undertaken to remove 22 million tons of waste from New Orleans.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Politics, America, Hurricanes)
October 10, 2005
Hurricane Aftermath
:On Wednesday, the mayor of New Orleans announced that the city would lay off half of its 6,000 employees because the city did not have the funds to pay their salaries. Meanwhile, R. David Paulison, the acting head of FEMA told a Senate panel on Thursday that all no bid contracts would be reopened for bidding. Four contracts worth $100 million each were awarded to four giant firms with long records of work with the Federal Government and ties to the Bush Administration.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, America, Hurricanes)
Economic News
:Unemployment, which was expected to spike rapidly on the heels of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, only rose modestly in September. Department of Labor statistics revealed that the economy lost 35,000 jobs last month. Job creation across the nation made up for the losses in the Gulf states and many companies have continued to pay displaced New Orleans workers in the aftermath of the disaster.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Economy, Hurricanes)
October 3, 2005
Hurricane Aftermath
:A week and a half after Hurricane Rita appeared to have been a ‘dud’, it has become obvious that while the hurricane missed the major cities along the gulf, it has devastated the rural areas. Entire towns have been erased from the map. Over 100 lives were lost to go along with the over 1,000 lives from Hurricane Katrina. Economically, the hurricanes caused consumer spending plunging at the highest rate since the September 11th terrorist attacks and over 279,000 new claims for unemployment insurance from the hurricanes. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress has began wrestling with the costs of rebuilding the region. The Louisiana delegation has proposed a $250 billion dollar bill to rebuild the region.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Economy)
Hurricane Politics
:With gas prices soaring after the hurricane damage, President Bush proposed that Americans begin to conserve gas. This is in stark contrast to Dick Cheney’s comments in 2001 when he stated that “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy.” Bush singing a different tune this week stated, “We can all pitch in.” Meanwhile, former FEMA Director Michael Brown appeared before the U.S. Congress and blamed local officials for the mistakes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His comments, however, have been questioned, especially by the New York Times that pointed out that his comments contradicted an interview he gave that paper earlier in the month.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration, Politics)
Commentary - Rebuilding the Gulf Coast
:With the President’s announcement that he will seek $200 billion to rebuild the Gulf and the Louisiana delegation’s request for $250 billion, it is time to begin to end simple sympathy and begin to talk about the rebuilding of the Gulf states. It is important to begin this dialogue now, before it is accepted that the government will spend that much money because if Louisiana gets its way, the Federal Government will be contributing $50,000 for every resident in the state. This would be in addition to the billions already spent in rescue in recovery. This is just insane.
To make matters worse, the proposals do not even begin to address the real problems revealed by the storms. It is clear that the Federal and State governments did not pay enough attention to the levy system. Further, nationally, Federal flood insurance has allowed people to build in regions that the private sector will not ensure. When storms happen, millions of dollars of damage must be paid by the Federal Government, which could be dealt with by our private insurance groups. Both of these things are not fully addressed by the Louisiana money grab.
The nation showed great generosity in the aftermath of the two hurricanes that slammed into the coast. It provides an amazing moment for the nation to realign certain priorities and streamline certain regulations and bureaucracy to make for a better emergency response system and a better life for all Americans on the coast. But that opportunity does not include corporate and personal welfare that exceeds any amount of fiscal sanity or necessity. The debate over how much money is spent to rebuild the region should not begin from such an inflated number but instead from how much is actually needed. And that will take some time to identify and figure out.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Commentary, Politics)
September 10, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Aftermath
:Hundreds, maybe thousands are dead as the cleanup and recovery effort begins throughout the Gulf States as nearly a million people have been internally displaced throughout the United States (over a quarter of a million in Texas alone). In New Orleans, police ordered additional evacuations this week and have begun to forcefully remove people as the worry now shifts to waterborne diseases. By week’s end in New Orleans, the water was beginning to recede and be pumped out and the belief now is that the death toll will be less than expected, although hundreds may have died needlessly when they were not immediately withdrawn in the aftermath.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Hurricane Katrina)
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