Evacuating from one Dome to another? WTF!

[dejaboutique]

Why on Gods green earth - and who's brilliant freaking idea is it to take these people from one dome to another! I bet they are quite sick of DOMES! couldnt we find something with beds and not shaped in the same way the hell was for them in NO?? I think Burt and Ernie could have ran the show on this disaster than these incompetent people.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2005/08/29/daily20.html

[tanyev]

1. At least the toilets will flush in this one.

[donsu]

2. agree - but the mean people are in charge of our country

the bushgang didn't really like NO anyway.

[rodeodance]

3. it is a good short term solution. Astrodome has toilets that work, and

other things. like thrash collection etc etc. and the peoople can go out and walk around. and kids can go to school. ect ect.

[justabob]

4. Where would you house 25000 people in a hurry?

I agree its not ideal, but at least in Houston they will have plumbing, electricity, food and water.

[shoelace414]

5. schools?

[meganmonkey]

9. Apparently Houston will allow the children to attend their schools

I read it in another thread...

[dejaboutique]

6. Anything but another Dome

anything but a dome dome dome dome. they just will be getting out of that hell. maybe a tent city in an area with mild temperatures, how about emptying a freaking hotel somewhere. Im sure a company would get a nice tax break for shutting down their hotel.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Hotels? Plenty of those around.

[dejaboutique]

11. a hotel in another state

why cant someone donate their hotels for a couple weeks and give these people beds? I am very aware that there are no hotels in the area misunderestimator but thank you very much for reminding me.

[Misunderestimator]

14. And why can't the government pay to the hotels what they

would be paying anyway? At least enough to help them from going bankrupt. All American businesses should be contributing to this relief effort, including hotel chains. And part of our government's apparently non-existent disaster-recovery plan should have included a budget and provisions for this.

[Oreegone]

24. Hotels?

Two weeks???? NO!!! They need housing for months. There is going to be no place for most of these people to go in 2 weeks. They probably won't even have the sewage pumped out let alone water, sewer, electricity, food etc. etc. etc. Boy would that be expensive. Military bases with showers and barracks are the answer, unless you want tent cities and may I remind you all this is September, winter just around the corner?

[Misunderestimator]

32. You're right, they definitely need housing for more than weeks.

And during the 2 weeks they are housed in hotels, someone could be planning their long-term fate (which should of course, have been planned prior to this). I agree that military bases are the best solution... why wasn't that part of the plan? WHERE IS THE DISASTER PLAN? That's the question.

[LSK]

20. where do you think all the people who evacuated before went???

The hotels are already full. So your going to kick out homeless people to house homeless people. BRILLIANT.

[Misunderestimator]

22. And saying "BRILLIANT" is a very effective way to help too.

I doubt that every single hotel in Texas and Arkansas and Colorado and Florida and Georgia are full. These people will be without homes a long time. Housing them in a stadium is only a short-term solution that will become completely unworkable after a few days. It's short-sighted and without a long-term plan will end up being a complete waste of effort.

[LSK]

25. you are just adding to a logistical nightmare by scattering people

Now they'd have to keep track of not only the dead and missing, but where they put everyone throughout the country. Its better to keep the people together in the Astrodome. I know its only a temp fix, I would imagine that they are working on tent cities in the area or getting lots of trailers. I only hope that is the case. But with our leaders, we will only get stupid ass catch phrases like its hard work or something. And we are left to speculate and flame war ourselves to dealth.

[Misunderestimator]

30. LOL! I am adding to it... uh... no, I suggesting alternatives to people

being stuck in a stadium. As far as them working on tent cities... doubtful, since they apparently had no plan for a disaster in the first place.

[LSK]

34. not you personally, just a figure of speech

I agree with you that they dont seem to know what they are doing. I guess they need vacationboy to ok them to start putting up tents???

[Misunderestimator]

37. I guess so... pretty damn amazing... how long can he sit on his hands?

Until everyone is dead? :grr:

[onenote]

40. exactly - its a short term solution and the right one at that

You are suggesting that the government commandeer thousands of hotel rooms scattered all over the place, get folks to these disparate locations, figure out the logistics of getting food and other supplies to them, all in about 48 hours. Getting them all from one large, covered stadium to another, a situation that is far easier to coordinate in terms of transportation and supplies makes absolute sense as a short term. Over the long haul something else will have to be done, but this is right short term thing.

onenote

[Misunderestimator]

41. Given that there was no plan, I suppose it remains to be seen

if this is the best short-term solution. MY point was that there should have been a PLAN, and that plan COULD have included hotels' cooperation.

Doing something like that without a plan would be sheer stupidity... of course, bussing them from one stadium in Louisiana to another in Texas is pretty damn stupid too, though I agree they don't have much of an alternative now, since they never had a plan in the first place.

We'll see how this unplanned fiasco pans out.

[onenote]

42. how could you "plan" for this

It might be possible to have a general "advance" plan of action for a disaster without knowing the details (what services, transportation would be available, the area involved, the numbers of people etc). But the most sense for any such plan would be to get folks out of harm's way into a secure location as a short term measure.

There is no possible way arrangements for putting up people in hotels or even military bases as a "long term" solution could have been made in advance. And this has been a fluid (no pun intended) situation, with the storm stregthening quickly over the weekend, changing direction at the last minute, but then still causing delayed havoc when the levees broke.


on edit: I should note that if by "plan" you mean a plan to get people out before the hurricane struck, I don't disagree with you. But even then, there wouldn't have been enough time to transport a 100,000 folks out of New Orleans and get them situated all over the place in hotels, etc. Stadiums would've been the best bet for a short term solution until the extent of the damage was known.

onenote

[Misunderestimator]

43. Too bad that they didn't even have a short-term plan.

[dejaboutique]

31. of course not jeeeez

hotels in other areas, if texas is offering find a hotel district and keep them all together. The gov. has the power to buy out several hotels. maybe read my previous posts before calling me brilliant with sarcasm. thanks

[LSK]

36. again, this is a temporary solution

They need a place for 25000 people TODAY. Hotels or military bases might be used next week, but it takes time.

Sorry about the brilliant comment, im just a little on edge today because of all this going on.

[Beaverhausen]

13. Military bases?

lots of empty ones these days...

[Misunderestimator]

15. Excellent idea!

[OrlandoGator]

7. There will be running water, cots, air conditioning and food there.

These people unfortunately don't have the luxury of architectural criticism of their shelter right now, and frankly I don't think they'll care.

[livetohike]

10. There is some time to prepare the Astrodome for the onslaught

I think it is a good solution. I haven't been there in years, but maybe the authorities can make things a little more comfortable for the folks there until a better solution is found (other shelters were the folks can sleep on cots, get warm food, etc.)

I helped out during the massive wildfires down here in San Diego two years ago. It's an enormous job taking care of all these people.

[theHandpuppet]

12. Do you really think

If the majority of these folks were white they would just transfer them from one corral to another?

It's called FEAR and CONTROL.

[Skink]

16. How about Crawford . I think they got some questions...

[johnnie]

17. Okay, I know everyone hates Perry but..

He was asked to help with a place for these people and they offered the Astrodome. I understand that it would be better to house these 23,000 people in other places, but this is an emergency and things need ot be done quick.
The state of Texas is trying to help place these people somewhere quick. Maybe in due time they can come up with around 6,000 hotel rooms, but I don't see anything wrong with helping the survivors out of New Orleans.

[LSK]

18. do you have any other ideas????

Tent cities cannot be built overnight. At least they will get AC and toilets now. That is a huge step for them at this point. And this is a temp fix.

[MercutioATC]

19. Right! Let's put them on the street!

The Houston Astrodome can house (short-term) 20,000 or so people who are desperately in need of a roof over their heads at the moment. It's not meant as a long-term solution, it's emergency shelter.

Seems like a great idea to me.

[johnnie]

21. It also is easier to get them food and medical

Instead of having them spread out all over in hotels and such.

[Oreegone]

23. Showers????

Don't they think these people are going to need to bathe someday? Why don't they move them into those barracks they are going to close anyhow?
Where they have a real bed and someplace to shower and brush their teeth?

[LSK]

27. i was thinking of that too

Im sure the Astrodome has those facilities, afterall, they played sports there. I would guess that the lockerrooms have showers still.

[Oreegone]

35. Yes but,

For 25,000 people? I don't think so.

[Jacobin]

26. So, what's your idea?

:eyes:

[dejaboutique]

29. hotels, military bases, you know..real beds and showers

seems dehumanizing to just heard them into another dome. The gov. could buy out a hotel or put them in a military base with real beds and real showers. I know that I would FREAK out if they hearded me to another DOME of hell.

[Beaverhausen]

33. I agree. There are thousands of people without homes

they can't "live" in a stadium.

I hope someone is coming up other housing ideas.

[GOPisEvil]

38. The dome is temporary until more permanent solutions can be found.

We have to get those people out of New Orleans NOW. There's not sufficient time to line up semi-permanent housing for that many people.

[GOPisEvil]

28. The Astrodome is a "staging area".

They have to get those people OUT of New Orleans, and to a place that is safe and dry. Once the initial emergency is over, more long-term solutions should be available.

[VADem11]

39. It's temporary

They're planning to move them to the Astrodome and then try to find better housing for them. At least the astrodome has plumbing and air conditioning.