Why out of my ass, of course.

I hear people exclaiming about the slowness of response in the areas affected by Katrina. Does anyone have any idea of the size of that area? You can’t fly a helicopter or drive a vehicle in hurricane force winds. That puts response back until the winds dissipate. Now you need to know where the helicopters are coming from. They needed to be out of the storm’s path so it will be several hundred miles. Where will they be based? Where will they refuel? How many people can they carry at once? What are their ranges? Where will they drop people off? What is the total round trip for this movement of people? How many trips can the helicopter make without refueling? Where is the fuel coming from? The mayor needs 500 busses. Where are they coming from? Several hundred miles would be my guess. Where will they be based? Where will their fuel come from? How many hundreds of miles of road will have to be cleared so that they can make it to New Orleans? How long will that take? How will they navigate around downed bridges and flooded roads? How will you keep the busses from being shot at or overloaded with people? Where will they drop people off? How long will that trip take? How many trips can be made on one tank of fuel? How do you get rescue people in? How do you supply rescue crews with fuel, food, water, medical supplies, and other equipment?

People expect stuff to just BE THERE. Well it isn’t just there. It has to come from somewhere, and someone has the crappy job of trying to coordinate something that will never be able to happen fast enough. It’s a disaster, and we can’t pull this stuff out of our asses. Damned armchair quarterbacks. The people are doing the best they can with what they have. Maybe this will lead to some reevaluation of what price we place on emergency preparedness.