Slow Response? It's all relative.
Category: Hurricane Katrina... Thinking Allowed...
Posted Tuesday, September 06, 2005 at 08:20 AM [GMT-6]

It's now been a full week since the full impact of Katrina was first perceived. Seven days...168 hours, give or take. Let's assess where we now find ourselves:

  • The broken levees in NOLA have been repaired and floodwaters are now be pumped out of the city.

  • Practically every willing evacuee (and many unwisely unwilling) has been taken out of the city to safer, drier ground.

  • Those evacuees have been staged, processed and distributed to havens across the country, havens established in many cases by nothing more complicated than citizens in a community getting together and deciding to offer their resources to help.

  • Millions of meals have been served, millions of pounds (if not tons) of supplies have been collected and delivered, millions of dollars collected to pay for it all, and more.

  • The federal government has created new programs to insure individual losses, and ensure individual jobs and homes.

It's been pointed out that Katrina's devastation affected 90,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Kansas. The number of people devastated is more than a million. The cleanup and reconstruction will extend for years, if not decades. Given a challenge of this magnitude, I'm just wondering how much more effective and how much quicker the response should have been?

The Bible tells us that God created the universe and all it contains in seven days (including the debriefing and paperwork). Despite our protestations to the contrary, we're not God, but we've done a pretty darn good job in the past seven days, all things considered.

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Comments

Agreed. Thank you for your usual ability to see the best in situations.

Posted by: Phyllis at September 6, 2005 09:18 AM

Eric,
Good on you for a positive outlook. I am a big fan of the Salvation Army and their work. I am far less a fan of the Red Cross. People have been so generous and in particular to the Red Cross. How much of those millions will ever reach needy people?

There have been integrity hiccups at the Red Cross.

I would be interested in your very competent view.

Posted by: Gene Redlin at September 6, 2005 09:44 AM

How much of those millions will ever reach needy people?

Gene, how is that statement any different than the ones criticizing whomever for slow and/or incompetent response to the disaster?

How many of those millions already have and will continue to reach those in need via the Red Cross?

Sorry. I don't agree with you on this one. If you want to support the Salvation Army, that's terrific. It's a wonderful, caring and competent organization. But I don't see the value in disparaging one organization in order to show support for another.

Posted by: Eric at September 6, 2005 11:06 AM

Rebuke well taken, I might have been out of line, I guess I have had some experiencs which color my views. And, as a wise old pastor friend once told me, "your experiences will always trump your theology". This was such a case. Did you see Julie's take on Compassion? Excellent. I linked to it and sent it to several pastors. Should be required reading.

When I was a Pastor and my phone would ring with a sad tale of woe, sorting all this out was a continual battle. I got a little hardened.

Keep up the good work, I enjoy reading your stuff.

Posted by: Gene Redlin at September 6, 2005 02:28 PM

Gene, "rebuke" is a little harsher word than I intended for my reply, but I appreciate your gracious response. And I've spent enough time around the benevolence ministries of my church to understand your comment about getting hardened.

Resources are scarce enough without people trying to game the system by "double-dipping," and outright lying in order to take advantage of the generosity of others. While you want to err on the side of benevolence, you also have a responsibility to be a wise and discerning steward of the resources entrusted to you. Those two goals can make for some tough decisions.

And, yes, Julie's post was one of the best I've read on the subject.

Posted by: Eric at September 6, 2005 03:29 PM
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