<<Personally, I'm still wondering whether the concept of public emergency shelters is entirely alien to the state of Lousiana or USA in general? Over here, urban areas have dedicated shelters either constructed underground by the city (and used as gyms or indoor tennis courts, etc. in normal situations) or in basements of houses (used as saunas for the apartment complex). >> It's curious that no one responded to this. I'd be interested in what the situation is like in other States. In Missouri, about 25 - 30 years ago, during the height of nuclear warfare fear, people jumped on the underground shelter bandwagon (something like the post-9/11 duct tape and plastic sheeting thing).....lots of underground concrete shelters, stocked with emergency supplies -- clothes, jugs of water, canned food, radios, flashlights, batteries. My folks knew a couple who spent exorbitant amounts of money on a home they purc hased, reinforcing the underground walls with very thick concrete, etc. They were die-hards and I wouldn't be surprised if that shelter is still there now. Gradually as the cold war stuff melted away these started being turned into recreational rooms, storage areas, etc., or simply ignored. A few hard core self-preservationists have hung onto them for years .... "we'll be glad someday, you'll see" mentality. When these started springing up there were also public underground shelters publicized. It hasn't occurred to me until now to wonder whatever happened to those. Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: True Desperation Date: 9/6/05 5:20:04 P.M. Central Daylight Time From: _teme17@xxxxxxxxxx (mailto:teme17@xxxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: --- Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > On quite another note, I've been tearful and raging > this weekend. True, > Saturday was my birthday, but this is more about > N.O. and the Bush. > Desperation without a net. Has anyone else here been > taking all this Katrina > aftermath viscerally and personally? > It is not only misery. It is throughly depressing no matter how you look at it. You can pick pretty much any thing you thing that is wrong with USA, or modern societies in general and it fits the disaster: - Government being starved by lack of tax funds to the point of being inoperative. (As a veteran BBC US correspondent put it, "there were simply no buttons to push".) - General dysfunctionality of government bureaucracy. - The growing poverty. - Racism. - The failure to appreaciate the fact that if public order isn't maintained, it will break down. And so on. Personally, I'm still wondering whether the concept of public emergency shelters is entirely alien to the state of Lousiana or USA in general? Over here, urban areas have dedicated shelters either constructed underground by the city (and used as gyms or indoor tennis courts, etc. in normal situations) or in basements of houses (used as saunas for the apartment complex). There are some structural requirements, but the basic thing is that they must have a toilet, a shower and spare water. I've never paid any attention to how this is handled elsewhere, but surely the concept is not novel. It's not like it has any significant costs either. Yours, Teemu Helsinki, Finland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html