The Blog of Hans Eisenman

See New Orleans From Above

Google Maps has updated its images so you can now see post-Katrina shots of the area, including the top of the Superdome.  The image contrast is not as high as one might be used to with other Google satellite imagery, but it is still pretty vivid.   

Link: Google Maps - New Orleans.

Media Getting It Wrong

Here's a first-hand account from a person on the ground in New Orleans who is seeing a big difference between the story the media is telling and what he's actually seeing there. 

Link: interdictor: Robert LeBlanc.

"Some of what is being portrayed among the media is happening and is terrible, but it is among a very small group of people, not the majority. They make it seem like New Orleans has somehow taken the atmosphere of the mobs in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," which is making volunteers (including us) more hesitant and rescue attempts more difficult. As a result, people are dying."

One Step At A Time, New Orleans Coming Back Online

Link: Bush Is Briefed on Recovery Effort at Start of Second Visit - New York Times.

"The airport formally reopened for cargo traffic on Sunday. By Tuesday, the airport hopes to have 30 daily departures and arrivals of passenger flights - down from 174 before the storm - and 60 each day by the end of October.

"The Port of New Orleans planned to reopen its container terminal on Wednesday. The port has 12 damaged wharfs and one wharf that is inaccessible because of flooding.

Floodwaters have slowly receded, speeding recovery but also exposing the breadth of the devastation.

"At the 17th Street Canal, where the eastern levee wall partly collapsed after the storm, flooding most of the city, heavy equipment rolled across the concrete and stone that sealed the sandbags temporarily plugging the 300-foot breach. Six of the 15 pumps at Pumping Station No. 6, which is at the canal and is one of the city's largest pumps, were working on Sunday."

Wireless Networks Give Voice To Evacuees

Here's a creative use of technology to help storm evacuees connect up even though phone systems are still down.

Link: Wireless Networks Give Voice To Evacuees.

"If the Butlers manage to reunite this weekend, as they hope, it will be because of a band of volunteer techies who are stitching together wireless networks at shelters across northeastern Louisiana using radio transmitters mounted on such items as a grain silo and a water tower.

"With few reliable communications systems in place, people and companies from around the country are converging on the region to create improvised networks that give survivors and emergency personnel ways to talk and coordinate efforts."

While Others Talk, Volunteer Ministers Get It Done

The recurring question evacuees from New Orleans have been asking is "where's the relief?!" 

I read one story last night written by a tourist who got trapped in a hotel during the storm along with several other visiting people from other countries.   Once Katrina passed, the hotel evicted all "guests" and from there it only got worse.  [read on for more and photos]

No Quarter from Katrina

This from my friend Brad who made a trip into New Orlean's French Quarter district as part of the volunteer minister program he's working with:

We spent the day doing re-con missions thoroughout the french quarter.  Lots of people decided to stay so we went out in a single car dropping off MRE [Meal, Ready to Eat] and other supplies as requested.  Even the firefighters and EMTs request deliveries of fresh clothes and toiletries as they have been working non-stop or have no more home.

The city itself is a mess.  Much much worse than I thought.   Many roads have yet to be cleared of debris, trees and down power lines.  There are still fires raging.  Man, [a] sight to behold. 

He has another 200 pictures he has taken.  Check back and I'll post some of them here once he's made them available to me.

Katrina Refugees Coming To Your Town

Link: CBC News: Katrina refugees to be scattered across 28 states.

Doing Something About It

My friend is in Louisiana and sent me some pictures. 

It's pretty hard to imagine the depth of just how badly these areas have been wiped out. 

Here's another image where you can see behind the American flag--only the foundations of the homes there remain.  Nothing else. 

My friend Brad is there helping along with many others (500 are on their way) as part of the Volunteer Minister program of the Church of Scientology.  These volunteer ministers help in a variety of ways, whether it's handing out water, food, clothing or comforting a survivor.

They also administer what are known as "assists". 

Assists help a person confront (face) an injury on a more spiritual level as it has been proven that this can greatly aid a person's recovery from that illness or injury.  [more information here]

Animals Need Help Too

These fine folks are making sure los animales aren't forgotten in all the confusion, either getting them newly adopted or (hopefully) reuniting them with their original families.  Go MutShack!

Link: MuttShack Foundation.

Live From Louisiana

One of my friends has just arrived in Baton Rouge, driving from mid-state Florida all night with two other friends to get there.  He had this to say:

We drove all night and took a detour through Waveland, MS.  I have never seen anything like it.  I was in NYC a few weeks after 9/11 and this makes that look like nothing.  The whole town turned into sticks!  Cars and boats in trees.  Tent cities in the parking lot of a destroyed Walmart.  The pics don't do it justice. 

We gotto BR about 10am and went right to work deliver donated goods from FL to 8000 refugees at the River Center.  We are unloading now but it is being slowed by imminent arrival of Governor.

More as it develops.

BK

I'll be posting more updates here from Brad and any other friends who are there on the scene.