via: buyo, yahoo news - New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes, peking duck - "waiting for a leader"
related links:
Katrina Destroys My Myth of America
china daily - Hurricane Katrina batters US
Germans Respond to 'Katrina' Controversy
'Katrina' and America's Race Problems
update:
- chinese government will donate 5 million USD to victims and relief teams are ready to help upon US request
- chinese consulate in houston offers hotlines to assist chinese nationals in finding their relatives in katrina-hit areas: 001-713-521-9215 (USA)，001-713-520-1462 ext. 214 (USA), 010-65963527 (china)
- rebecca: how to donate for the victims
- CNOOC employees say they are organizing donations for katrina victims (in chinese) and so far received about 800,000 RMB, the company says it will donate the same amount of money to the victims
- china red cross has donated 100,000 USD to american red cross for the victims
New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday, as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out and storm survivors battled for seats on the buses that would carry them away from the chaos.
many of us here in china can not believe what was happening in new orleans, even some chaos are inevitable in such a disaster, we expect the washington government, with the resources of a developed nation and experiences of handling emergencies, could do a better job in organizing the relief and avoiding much of the misfortunes. and a critical question is - why they didn't do something in the first place to stop the floods into the city. sorry for my ignorance, photos of flooded new orleans just make me wonder why chinese could defend the river banks and stop floods there back in 1998 but americans couldn't in 2005.
new orleans
A SWAT team drives past flood victims waiting at the Convention Center in New Orleans, Thursday, September 1, 2005. New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters. "They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will." [AP]
in china, the relief work are mostly carried out by PLA soldiers. the mobility of the army and especially the spirit of sacrifice of many soldiers make PLA an effective and respected relief forces in crisis like the floods of 1998.
PLA soldiers repair a section of damaged river bank
two soldiers rescued a kid
PLA soldiers evacuate flood victims
ships like this are widely used
when army completed their mission, tens of thousands came to send them off, with flowers and tears
comments by chinese on the katrina disaster in new orleans by chinese at sina news:
- god bless america
- we should offer hands to americans, after all they have helped us during WWII ...
- americans should use 30% of their defense budget for the relief, and don't drop bombs in iraq and come to contain china ...
- USA, this is the punishment from the God, go to confess your sins ...
- those pro-americanists wake up, do you really believe the US is as strong as you siad? americans are so civilized as you imaged? ...
- bullshit, i think you are not civilized at all, when people are suffering you still talk those nonsense, you don't have the least compassion
- don't blame bush, he is just too busy, except iraq, there are so many places in the world that need the US to keep order and promote democracy ...
- the americans' moral standards are not so high, a hurrican make them show their true colors
- it's not a big deal, anyway the US has a lot of money
- americans are very practical, such a disaster make them cry loudly, we chinese will endure disaster larger than this, like the chinese saying: crying baby have more milk ...
- many commenters haven't lived in the US and didn't understand some of the backgrounds, new orleans is one of the poorest region in the US ... the economy there is not good with high unemployment rate ... it's not surprising there are chaos like this
- it's not natural disaster, refuse to sign the kyoto treaty, it's human disaster
- wow, rich boy doesn't have extra money, 555
- get the troops in iraq back for relief work, that would be enough ...
- the ability of chinese government to cope with natural disasters is great
- this is so-called american citizens with high qualities?
- lousiana is one of the poorest states in the US, ..... if they have a lot of money, things will be different
- a few previous typhoons, even not as severe as this one, also brought a lot of damages to zhejiang and fujian provinces, but social orders are kept well and they recovered pretty quick ...