I’m really disgusted by two of the quotes coming from New Orleans. Firstly, let me say that my heart goes out to all those people who have lost family, friends, and priceless posessions. It is a tragedy, and I am very concerned for the safety of those down south. I hope that Jen’s (of shamus&jen) family is not from New Orleans, and if so, that they are safe. BUT! I’ve heard two quotes said by government officials that seem to be a bit over the top. The first, “This is our tsunami” and the second “I can imagine this is what hiroshima looked like after the bomb.”
WHAT?
The tsunami killed over 212,000 people. The atomic bomb at hiroshima killed over 200,000.
While my only exposure to Katrina are the pictures from the news, and thusly I am not qualified to outright debunk the quotes, I would imagine that the residents of New Orleans would rather endure another Katrina than an atomic bomb or a tsunami of the likes of last December. To even compare Katrina to either of these events is insulting. This does not mean that Katrina wasn’t horrible, simply that in a world where nature and war have wreaked mindnumbing devestation on humanity, it seems wrong to compare levels of suffering. Especially when the death toll and area affected are so vastly different.
That said, Here’s how to help.
Authored by:
mike d.