In Louisiana, Private Disaster Relief Outperforms the Government
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Citizens to the Rescue
The rains that swamped parts of Louisiana over a period of a few days were relentless. Local governments and first responders were overwhelmed with calls for help from people trapped in their homes by rising waters.
Instead of waiting for the government to come rescue them, the people of Louisiana used their own boats to save their neighbors.Instead of waiting for the government to come rescue them, the people of Louisiana used their own privately-owned boats to save their neighbors. This "Cajun Navy" drew its ranks and fleet from Louisiana's large numbers of sportsmen. People who needed rescue contacted a Facebook group and the boats used smartphone apps such as the GPS app Glympse and the walkie talkie app Zello to coordinate. The “Cajun Navy” was responsible for saving the lives of thousands of Louisianians and their pets and livestock.
The people of Louisiana also distributed immediate relief to their displaced neighbors much more efficiently than the government was able to. One of the best examples of this was the conversion of a movie studio into a shelter housing over 2,000 people. The Celtic Media Centre is one of Louisiana’s premier film production studios located in Baton Rouge, which was one of the cities hardest hit by the flooding. The studio’s executive director, Patrick Mulhearn, saw how devastated his neighbors were by the high water and decided to open up Celtic as an emergency shelter.
Celtic was able to shelter over 2,000 evacuees in large, open, and air conditioned sound stages that were not being used for filming at the time. The shelter was supplied at first by local volunteers who donated food, water, and clothing to those affected by the storm. Volunteer doctors and other medical personnel, themselves often flood victims, set up a clinic in Celtic.
Importantly in a pet loving state like Louisiana, Celtic was open to pets as well. Many people did not evacuate during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 because their pets were not welcome at shelters.
There were smaller examples of churches opening themselves up, without prodding by either the Red Cross or the state government, as storm shelters for those who lost everything. Such shelters are all over the parishes that were flooded, and have largely been stocked with supplies by volunteers all over the state. People are even taking donations to the parking lots of stores that were unaffected to bring food, water, and other supplies to the flood zone.
People looking to donate supplies have been coordinating their relief efforts on Facebook and other social media. If people are looking to donate supplies, they can use social media to find places to drop them off. If people in other parts of the state and out of state want to donate, they're being directed on social media to places where they can help.
Even while the streets of Louisiana flooded, trucks from Wal-Mart and UPS did not stop rolling. Wal-Mart, in particular, was able to use its corporate meteorologists to plan delivery routes and shift deliveries of much-needed supplies such as baby formula and water to the affected areas. UPS is able to prioritize delivery of items such as mail order prescription drugs. Companies are rushing supplies into the disaster area quicker than lethargic government agencies and the Red Cross.
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Originally Posted by Ron Paul
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