Over the last week since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast it's been the topic of discussion at work. In fact the sales manager walked by production on Friday and asked if everything was alright. Apparently the discussion I was having with my boss was really loud and disruptive. I've spent hours at work talking with him about it. Our conversations probably haven't veered much from the main stream.
Monday 8/29: We had discussion about the "damage" Katrina caused in South Florida. We then watched in amazement as Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
Tuesday 8/30: The horror of seeing the destruction and people being plucked from rooftops. Coming to the realization of the magnitude of the situation.
Wednesday 8/31: Day 2 of watching this horrific event unfold. Questioning the evacuation (pre & post storm) and rescue efforts. Could it have been done better?
Thursday 9/1: Wondering were the fuck is the cavalry? The situation has reached critical mass and all we have is local police and Coast Guards on the scene.
Friday 9/2: The blame game.
We ran through a bunch of topics during the week. Most of them not covered by the news yet because of the ongoing crisis. We started to see it some of the topics discussed Thursday and Friday. Today on Meet The Press host Tim Russert was pounding the Secretary of Home Land Security Michael Chertoff. In the coming weeks more in-depth questions will be asked.
Tuesday thru Thursday of last week I worked on average 13 hour days. On Friday when I actually came home at a decent hour I found out some interesting news. My mother works for a leading cruise line, and she volunteered to go to New Orleans to help. Apparently this cruise line has a program were they help out in disaster stricken areas. This week she'll have a better idea when she'll be leaving. This cruise line is also in negotiations to donate 3 cruise ships to serve as housing facilities.
On my work front, we are going to be collecting donations on Tuesday. At that point we'll contact HR and see if they'll match the amount collected. Last week I asked HR if the company is doing anything for the relief efforts. Three days passed and no response. So we'll collect the money first and go from there.
It's a shame that the situations had to deteriorate to this point. But it came to no surprise to my co-workers who went through Hurricane Andrew. I was told it took days to get federal help in the hardest hit areas of South Florida. Like every other aspect of the government FEMA is reactive, not proactive. In these cases though, it cost lives.
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