Katrina has a little more of a personal impact for me than some of the people out there in the world.
While I live on the Pacific coast, my family does not. My father, and many of his relatives, live in Louisianan.
I am one of the lucky ones that are in this situation. Hurricane Katrina did a lot of damage to my father's land, particularly to the trees, but little more.
He was out of power for a couple days until he could get a generator. He had stored a load of clean water in every conceivable container so he can use some of this for showers, toilets, and so on.
Phone service has been spotty, which is a bad thing since he has been trying to see how my job search went. But I finally talked to him today, and he knows that my life is continuing in a reasonable way.
I listen to the efforts of many, and see both success and failure in our addressing this emergency.
We turn down so much just because we do not like the politics of who is offering aid. At the same time we have so much offered that we simply can not implement because we can't even get the resources from one place to another.
Let me go into this very real issue for a moment.
Michael Anderson of Part-15, http://www.part-15.org, was interviewed on Wireless Tech Radio (WTR), http://www.wirelesstechradio.com. Now I have met Michael in person, and Steve Stroh, who is one of the co-hosts of WTR.
Michael is personally dedicated to this country. He has served it through a voluntary involvement in our armed forces. He has raised children who have also all performed voluntary military service.
Both Michael and his family are well educated. One of his girls was just back from college when I met them. She jumped right in with her dad to work at one of the Part-15 events.
Steve Stroh is a realistic, honest author who provides the best periodical on wireless technology. He does not let random favoritism, or advertisements, influence his reporting.
These are good people who put their money where their mouth is. They don't just talk about making a business, an organization, or an effort to help in a disaster. They have done these things, and continue to do them.
Listening to them talk about their personal involvement in the relief efforts is very educational.
My father was exceptionally concerned when I talked to him immediately after Katrina hit. People were starving because of unpreparedness, and a complete lack of national response. 30,000 living in the Super Dome without proper facilities, food, water, communications, and so on. There were other problems he mentioned, but that was the most dire.
What I have since learned is that while people were trying to help, the efforts were largely ineffectual at that time.
What have we learned from mass disaster response to the California earthquakes? What have we taken away from the numerous floods of the mid-western states? Apparently far less than what could be expected.
A web site for FEMA so that disaster victims can request aid. . . . . which is really great since their computer is under fifteen feet of water, and even if that was not true the power is out, as is broadband Internet, phone lines, and so on.
Misplaced focus. A gap.
So what is the solution? The prone companies say that as soon as the water is pumped out they can get in to restore services so these people can use FEMA's web site. Uh? What? So they have to wait however many months to get aid?
Enter the little guys. Michael Anderson has been organizing and managing small wireless Internet service providers who are interested in helping. Steve Stroh has been assisting this effort through being the textual voice of Michael.
In days these guys, and many, many others working with them, have begun to provide broadband Internet service via license free wireless. Via donated VoIP equipment, they are letting people call relatives. Through donated laptops and other computers, they are offering access to the FEMA website.
These men are not the only ones making this effort. Local WISPs in the effected areas were doing this before Michael got involved. The advantage Michael brings is his respected position in the WISP industry, his regular workings with the FCC which has gained him FCC backing to be involved in the relief efforts, and his background in public support, community involvement, and event management.
So what my father saw was not the whole truth.
There were people trying to help. They just had a very hard time getting there to give the much needed help.
The large organizations and small ones, and everything between, have been making an effort. It just took time to get it there, and to get it up to speed.
Now that things are moving and working, a regulation of the efforts is needed. This will not be a trip to the doctor, put on a bandage, and send the victim on their way. Instead a steady and continuing effort is needed to bring the survivors back to a more normal life. Their homes and places of work will need reconstruction. Their methods of communication, other utilities, and basic services need to be resurrected. All of this will take a continuous effort by a large number of people, and can not be allowed to stop until the job is done.
People like Michael Anderson and Steve Stroh will be critical to this process because they are helping to effort this issue. They are creating information on the flow, needs, and excesses. They are managing the continued relief so that their part, establishing Internet connections for use as a basic utility, so that this does not suddenly come to a halt when people lose interest.
Other people in other organizations are doing similar jobs. I do not mean to belittle these others, or give the idea that only Michael Anderson and Steve Stroh are making an effort. I just know these men, have met them personally, and have heard direct reports on their efforts.
Please, do not think this will be over soon.
My father, fortunately, can take care of himself. He was a boy scout, military officer, and avid camper. He is a doctor. He and his wife were prepared for this terrible event.
Many were not ready. They will need our continued support.
Konrad, the JOATMON
