The Murray State News

Issue date: 9/9/05 Section: Opinion

The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Murray State News. The editorial board is composed of all section editors.

Since Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast last week, people have begun arguing about who is to blame for the lack of planning before the disaster.

Many contend that, had someone planned better, the devastation and death tolls in many of the areas could have been greatly lessened.

While this could be the case, there is no real way to prevent the damage from a natural disaster of Katrina's magnitude.

Now is not the time to decide whether pre-hurricane preparation was handled adequately or who is to blame. It is appropriate to ask these question only when those hurt by this disaster are on the road to recovery.

At this point, people need to focus on the relief effort and getting New Orleans and other affected areas on the road to recovery rather than pointing fingers at people to blame. There is no real way to yet assess where blame should go.

After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001, everyone immediately sprang to action to get survivors out of the wreckage. Only months down the road did debates about whether something could have been done to prevent the attacks begin.

The criticism that has been fired back and forth about who is to blame for the mishandling of planning for Katrina has no place in the discussion. What does merit criticism now, however, is the time it took to mobilize relief efforts and the lags that continue.

According to CNN.com, after Katrina hit, it took two days for President George W. Bush to survey the damage in New Orleans and announce a major federal mobilization to the area.

Had the same thing happened after Sept. 11, heads would have rolled. There is no way anyone would have found it acceptable to leave New York's local and state governments to virtually fend for themselves for two days.

People have been stranded in New Orleans for days without food, water or medicine. The flood waters are contaminated with disease and bacteria, and people are killing one another for food and medicine.

The government has accepted aid from several countries including Britain, France, Mexico and Germany and international organizations such as the United Nations and NATO.

However, as of Sunday night, the government had failed to respond to Fidel Castro's offer to send 1,585 Cuban doctors, each of whom would carry 27 pounds of medicine.

Because the United States and Cuba are not on good terms, it is understandable the government wants to make sure everything will be safe for our country's citizens.

What is not understandable, however, is that absolutely no response was given. By not responding to this generous offer, it seems the government is more concerned with maintaining a long-standing grudge than the safety of its people.

While people are dying from the diseased waters and lack of proper medical care, the government seems to disregard a chance to acquire almost 43,000 pounds of medical supplies.

Instances such as these are prime examples of the government's inability to handle this crisis situation. It leaves us with a question that begs to be answered: if we are unable to handle a predicted natural disaster, what other more unpredictable situations are we unequipped to handle?

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