WP- Katrina Death Toll May Never Be Known

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021001131.html

"The list of those reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, run by state and federal officials in Baton Rouge, has about 2,300 people on it. Some have already been found but have not been taken off the list because family members have not notified authorities. Others are on the lam, wanted for a crime or child support payments."



I know that this is such a surprise to all of us. The Katrina death toll may never be known because people in power have every desire to make SURE that it is never known. It's a lot easier to "lose" count of the poor and disenfranchised. And, didn't you know that many of them "want" to be lost because they are criminals or so that they can skip out of child support, etc.? Exactly how many outstanding warrants are there in Louisiana for people on this list? I would really like to know because I think this is just more of the sickening disinformation that is being put out there.

[bettyellen]

1. the 2,300 on the list, most are from New Orleans, and nearly 3/4 are black

"Of the 2,300 on the list, most are from New Orleans, and nearly three-quarters are black. Before Hurricane Katrina, about two-thirds of New Orleans was black. Of the 668 Louisiana dead identified and released by the morgue, three-quarters were from New Orleans. About half were black, and 44 percent were were white."

i can't believe they are calling this a "final sweep" when they never fully searched the ninth ward....

"New Orleans Coroner Frank Minyard said a final sweep of homes in the devastated Ninth Ward will be done this month with help from federal officials. After that, he said, any more bodies found will probably be discovered in out-of-the-way places by hunters or fishermen....
The remains of 1,079 people have been recovered in Louisiana; an additional 231 were found in Mississippi. But Louisiana officials have information on roughly 300 people whose loved ones are desperately searching for them, months after the Aug. 29 storm struck the Gulf Coast and scattered the region's residents."

[Botany]

2. Sad Math for NOLA only

100,000 people still in NOLA when Kitrina hit
-35,000 people who went to the super dome & convention center
_________
65,000 people left
- 6,000 that the Coast Guard took out by copter
________
59,900 people left
-25,000 reported by law enforcement that rode out the storm in their houses very (rough #)
_________
34,000

now I don't think that the # of dead is anywhere close to this but to say 1,000 total died is pure
WMD crap.

[Marleyb]

5. pure crap- I agree

If there were so few bodies to be found- why the fuck did it take them so long? Why are they still finding dead bodies?

I forget how much they were paying that body dumping company from Texas per day, but they must have been overpaying them, or paying them to dump bodies.

[jmatthan]

3. Isn't it amazing

that with the hundreds of thousands dead in the tsunami, it was possible to narrow down the death toll in each zone in each country affected to less than a few hundred unaccounted for "in the devloping countries".

The US, a "developed country" and it is not possible to get a reasonably accurate figure of the death toll for Hurricane Katrina.

My God, which wilderness century are the US citizens living in?

[Marleyb]

4. Everyone in New Orleans knows the death toll is much higher than this

Remember when they were ordering 50,000 body bags?

They lie about everything- why would anyone believe them on something that makes them look bad? Of course they are going to lie, because the death toll is much higher than 9/11, their whole reason for their rampage around the world.

I can't believe they would actually make this claim though
"Others are on the lam, wanted for a crime or child support payments."
That is why they are missing....sure.....

[long_green]

7. people who talk to police will tell you that there are a few

hundred dead who will never be counted...these dead being those shot by police, Army, and private security forces.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. You would think the Times-Picayune would be all over this issue. nt

[Mikimouse]

6. They don't want to take the chance that the death toll...

would be higher than that on september 11, 2001, as it would overshadow the terrorist attack diatribe.