Out Of The Spotlight

In Iraq, Baghdad gets all the attention because, as we learned with Hanna Allam, that's where the beauty shops and karaoke bars are.

So too with Hurricane Katrina; the media is in New Orleans - ergo, that's where the disaster was.

Not so:

Mississippi hurricane survivors looked around Saturday and wondered just how long it would take to get food, clean water and shelter. And they were more than angry at the federal government and the national news media.

Richard Gibbs was disgusted by reports of looting in New Orleans and upset at the lack of attention hurricane victims in his state were getting.

"I say burn the bridges and let 'em all rot there," he said. "We're suffering over here too, but we're not killing each other. We've got to help each other. We need gas and food and water and medical supplies."

Gibbs and his wife, Holly, have been stuck at their flooded home in Gulfport just off the Biloxi River. Water comes up to the second floor, they are out of gasoline, and food supplies are running perilously low.

Until recently, they also had Holly's 75-year-old father, who has a pacemaker and severe diabetes, with them. Finally they got an ambulance to take him to the airport so he could be airlifted to Lafayette, La., for medical help.

Remember - the worst of the hurricane itself passed to the east of New Orleans and smashed southern Alabama and Mississippi.

If a disaster happens in an unfashionable area without two-star hotels for the media, did it happen at all?

Posted by Mitch at September 5, 2005 09:36 AM | TrackBack