[lbo-talk] Evacuating half a million people

[snitsnat]

At 08:29 AM 9/5/2005, Daniel Davies wrote:
> > Official response to the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans
> > was woefully inadequate. But which government could have evacuated a 
> city of
> > half a million people - bigger than Liverpool, Nice or Bradford - with 
> ease?
>
>To be honest, any government.  This "oooh half a million people" is just doing
>my head in.  It isn't really that difficult to move lots of people from one
>place to another, even under quite trying conditions.

War game (I didn't work for the fucker for nothin')= :)

You have approximately 12 hrs to do it from the time the first bus leaves 
to the time you can safely get the last bus shipped off. Roads shut down 
when winds hit 40 mph. If you're lucky and they're passable at all. One 
major fender bender or downed powerlines/trees across a highway if the 
hurricane kicks up a storm (very likely) while people are trekking (I 
presume) northward. Or do you go west? Or east?

You're dealing with a Cat 4 hurricane

you know that the average highway speed is 25-35 mph

If you gas up all the buses, you deplete (by half) the supply you have for 
gassing up generators, emergency vehicles, and police cars for the aftermath

95% of your experienced bus drivers have bugged out.

You realize you can't get them all out and you don't have the authority to 
do so as mayor anyway.

Who do you get to drive the buses?
Who do you spare from hurricane preparation to round up these folks?
Remember that you will add to the hospital load with accidents because 
you've forced more traffic on the roads to notify people, go door to door, 
and move back and forth between neighborhoods to staging areas.

"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."

                        -- rwmartin