Suggestions for trip to ground zero/katrina

[turbodog]

Some interesting ideas.

Some stuff suggested I have in my medical kit... imodium/pepto.

There is "supposed" to be drinking water there. I am toying with carrying water filtering equipment though.

If there is room I will add a thermorest pad. I do already have one, so at least I won't have to buy one.

Had forgotten about baby wipes.

Will add a short length of thin rope or cord to tie stuff with.

No boots. Hopefully I can stay dry. I think the heat will preclude anything rubber being worn.

Really, I'm trying to take care of myself. Supposedly there is equipment and supplies there for the people.

I thought about earplugs. But do I want to NOT to be able to hear? Maybe I could just wear one?

Maybe I'll trade in an expensive light for my minimag/opalec.


After I cram all this into the pelican case I'll see what room is (hopefully) left over.

 

[turbodog]

Update from the field:


national guard mortuary team is picking up bodies

food is arriving daily, but kitchens are only able to serve 1 meal/day

southern baptists are doing the cooking; they can prepare 4000 meals at a time

soldiers are there that just got back from iraq. they say iraq has nothing on this place except for the roadside bombs

18 wheeler just arrived from ontario, canada with food. thanks guys

 

[AlexGT]

Suggest snake bite kit and plastic snake byte leg protectors, there will be lots of displaced critters in and under the homes, be careful while removing rubble, use long sleeve shirt and use rubber bands to close your pants and shorts at the ankles and wrists so you don't get univited guests running up your legs or arms.

As soon as you clean the place, put some insecticide to get all insects out of it.

Lots of fuel, don't go out alone after dark, there are reports of armed gangs roaming around.

Best of luck, God be with you.

AlexGT

 

[AlexGT]

Probably said before but forgot to say take lots of Zip Ties and duct tape. and strong paracord, and nylon fishing line to tie things up.

AlexGT

 

[DieselDave]

Ok, shifting gears. This is just for you.

Take more than one pair of gloves. They WILL get wet. For that type work I like the $3, leather palm, fabric back cheapies. I buy them by the dozen.

Lots of socks

2 pair of shoes, optional. (wet again)

Athlete's foot powder or spray

A small vial of bleach and a small vial of alcohol
If I took only one it would be the bleach. You can clean your camelback and disinfect with it.

A large can of WD40. It's great at removing pinesap and other stickies from your body as well just about anything else.

Small individually packed alcohol wipes. The disease problem will do nothing but get worse.

Tweezers

Multi-tool

Needle and thread. I want to be able to close a small wound without spending the day in the hospital.

FYI: I found ants to be a much bigger problem in debris than snakes.

 

[paulr]

Talk to a doc about taking some prophylactic Cipro even, maybe.

 

[Chris_Medico]

Good luck. Just got back from a food/water run myself. We went to Pascagoula, MS.

Very depressing. Spotty cell coverage. No electricity or drinkable water. Food was arriving and gas was beginning to be pumped. The lines were hours long and the stations were manned by military personnel. I paid $3.50/gal for diesel when I could find it.

On the plus side we were able to make a difference for an entire community. They have plenty of food, water, and cleaning supplies.

Photos here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dieseladdict_36/album?.dir=b782&.src=ph

Take only the bare necessities. Don't take anything that you'd have a problem loosing or being stolen. Baby wipes, baby wipes, baby wipes.

 

[paulr]

Why so much bottled water? That stuff seems unbelievably fuel and cash inefficient. Local water sources except for the most intensely stricken areas haven't dried up. Why not bring local water in by tank truck where it's needed?

 

[turbodog]

Why so much bottled water? That stuff seems unbelievably fuel and cash inefficient. Local water sources except for the most intensely stricken areas haven't dried up. Why not bring local water in by tank truck where it's needed?

I think because a lot of people do not have CLEAN jugs/etc to hold water distributed from a bulk source.



More updates:

Gulfport/pascagoula were hit so hard that the actual slabs to the houses are upended. The rubble and debris is gone completely.

 

[Chris_Medico]

Why so much bottled water? That stuff seems unbelievably fuel and cash inefficient. Local water sources except for the most intensely stricken areas haven't dried up. Why not bring local water in by tank truck where it's needed?

Most of the supplies went to a very remote area. There is no water distribution there. We were hoping that the water we took would keep them going until fuel was available and they could travel the hour or so each way to reach the supplies being passed out by the red cross. Also its easier to divide out the water and monitor peoples intake in those containers. We had lots of gallon and 2.5 gallon containers in the load too.

I was lucky that my truck carries about 800 miles of fuel on board. I was able to get in and out without fueling. We had to carry jugs of gas for the SUV. When we got there people were trying to get the gas jugs off the trailer and ignoring the food and water. We had to put the food on the ground in boxes and lock the gas in the trailer so they wouldn't see the gas.

 

[turbodog]

Ok,

My friend Chris just got back. I have a ton of photos that he took. I cannot host them, they are too much. If someone can host them please let me know and I will email/ftp/etc them to you.


Situation update:

Red cross sucks apparently. Military flatbeds arrived with thousands of prepackaged breakfast meals (think of an MRE tailed for breakfast). The red cross refused them, saying "we don't do breakfast". Chris and his son Michael flagged down some MPs for security and were able to get these meals to local people.


Red cross has thousand of gallons of water in 1 and 2 gallons jugs. They are not distributing them either. They only give out the single serving sized water. Currently the gallon sized container are being used to flush toilets at the red cross facility. Yes, this is true. I have pictures.

There are thousands of gallons of apple juice. Guess where they are. Still in the parking lot on pallets. That is, until Chris and Michael loaded them by hand, in Chris's truck and started to give them out.

FYI: red cross is supplying the food for 1 meal a day for these people. They are not preparing it though. The southern baptists out of georgia are doing the cooking.

Lots of corpses.


Chris, Michael, and I will be leaving Thursday morning of Friday evening to head down there again. I think our plan is to try and distribute all the stuff that the red cross won't touch because it's not their "standard operating procedure".

 

[BB]

Kind of sounds like this article:

Red Cross bureaucracy causing frustrations

It's been a week since Hurricane Katrina evacuees started arriving, dazed and heartbroken, fearing for loved ones and what the future holds.Many escaped with little clothing, their kids and pets in tow, not much money in their pockets, jobs vanquished.

They grew roots quickly wherever in Cenla they landed: small churches and campgrounds, at least one hotel that let them live in lobbies and fed them.

It was the closest thing to home they've had, and Central Louisiana welcomed them with bountiful generosity.

However, some of the refugees and those who have helped them are frustrated with the Red Cross and its intractable bureaucracy, its tendency to look to the rule book before taking a step, whether it be registering evacuees for shelters and getting help from sorely needed volunteers.

Also, the Red Cross-mandated migrating of evacuees from small shelters to large is ripping some from the small venues where they feel safe to much larger ones where people are placed hundreds to a room with no privacy and a shortage of bathrooms.

Leann Murphy, CEO of the American Red Cross of Central Louisiana, said her agency is in "crisis mode," they're doing the best they can and that she understands the frustrations of evacuees and volunteers alike.

-Bill

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Oh man! Sounds like one big Fustercluck. From Day 1 nothing has gone very well.

PRAYERS for these people!

 

[turbodog]

Well things are shaping up pretty well.

All the shelters in the area have been flooded with donations of clothes. I'm picking up clothes for 40+ people tomorrow.

Even now, we've got 2 truckloads and 2 enclosed trailer loads of clothes, food, and supplies.

Our manpower has grown from 3 to 5 as well.

Some of my bike racing buddies have chipped in for over $200 of cash to help pay for gas and buy supplies.

Will keep you guys posted as things develop.

 

[paulr]

I've been thinking of getting one of these water tanks to store at home under my bed. The 30 or 60 gallon model might also be good on your SUV: http://www.aquaflex.net

Ziplock bags are good for carrying water if you're a little bit careful. They're not invulnerable but they don't break or leak as easily as you might guess. Just don't overfill them. A few boxes of them would be a compact way to distribute water from a larger tank, to people who don't have containers of their own.

 

[KevinL]

Watching the bureaucracy screw up is just sickeningly painful.

Do they really think Nature is going to play by the rules, or re-write the entire damn book for them?

Turbodog, kudos to you and your crew for making it happen where they won't. We need more people who are willing to go above and beyond the rule book.

 

[C4LED]

Ok,

Red cross sucks apparently. Military flatbeds arrived with thousands of prepackaged breakfast meals (think of an MRE tailed for breakfast). The red cross refused them, saying "we don't do breakfast". Chris and his son Michael flagged down some MPs for security and were able to get these meals to local people.

Chris, Michael, and I will be leaving Thursday morning of Friday evening to head down there again. I think our plan is to try and distribute all the stuff that the red cross won't touch because it's not their "standard operating procedure".

Wow. I've heard bad things about the Red Cross and choose other charities to give to because of it.

During WWII the Red Cross was said to have sold donuts to Troops on the front line to make a profit. I did some quick research to see what I could find on this and found this quote:

"Back in the late 1970s, I used to know an old guy who had served in WW II. He hated the Red Cross with a passion.
He said that anytime they did anything for anyone, they expected to be reimbursed for it somewhere along the line, and that anytime they were helping someone in a crisis, half the time was spent on paperwork to determine when you could pay them back.
He also said that he remembered occasions when other organizations(ie the Salvation Army) were feeding GIs free coffee and donuts, and the Red Cross was nearby selling the coffee and donuts."

http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/007858.html

Turbodog: Good Luck with all your efforts!

 

[Chris_Medico]

Watching the bureaucracy screw up is just sickeningly painful.

Do they really think Nature is going to play by the rules, or re-write the entire damn book for them?

Turbodog, kudos to you and your crew for making it happen where they won't. We need more people who are willing to go above and beyond the rule book.

Same here!

When we went down last weekend people thought we were FEMA. We were the first of anything they had seen. When they found out that we were just regular folks it made them even more angry at the "professional" relief agencies.

Good luck on the trip. I'm sure they will be appreciate it.

Chris

 

[Chris_Medico]

Ok,

My friend Chris just got back. I have a ton of photos that he took. I cannot host them, they are too much. If someone can host them please let me know and I will email/ftp/etc them to you.

You can set up a free account on www.flickr.com. Let the application resize the photos to 1280 or so and you can load quite a few. I've got some hosted there and they even allow direct linking to the photos.

Mine are here www.flickr.com/photos/dieseladdict

Chris

 

[sniper]

Not much to add to whatever else has been said, but if in areas with debris: watch where you put your hands and feet. That area of the U.S. is well supplied with serpents. Take a Cutter or some other snakebite kit,and be careful!