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Not much, but I heard of a very small patch on the road that was discovered that took cellphone signals. Several people were calling their family letting them know they were okay.
Very touching watching them.
We're all so shocked and heartbroken over this nightmare...so much has gone horribly wrong and all the rescue efforts just seem so inadequate. The horror and desperation of it all is a little overwhelming for everyone. But in the midst of everything that's gone wrong, I know some things must be going right. There are some happy rescue stories out there. I know there are people doing extraordinary things in the face of so much adversity. I, for one, am starving for some good news, some stories of human triumph and of man helping man. So I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to it.
Please share whatever good news or uplifting stories you come across in this thread.
Not much, but I heard of a very small patch on the road that was discovered that took cellphone signals. Several people were calling their family letting them know they were okay.
Very touching watching them.
I'll start. News from Seattle
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/..._rescue02.html
STORM AID
Families offering rooms to refugees
Hundreds of families across the country, including some in Seattle, have begun posting rooms available for refugees of Hurricane Katrina.
Listings swelled yesterday as homeowners with extra space posted information about guest rooms and vacant spaces to Web sites such as moveon.org, craigslist.org and nola.com.
"I think like most people here, we just feel too far away to truly do anything hands-on." said Jenn Okeson, 25, who lives near Mill Creek. Okeson, who has two young children, posted an ad on moveon.org offering an empty room for a couple, small family or single parent.
"We'll help them for as long as it takes," she said.
Elizabeth Frady of Bot posted an ad on craigslist.org offering a room for anyone with the caveat: Must love dogs. (She has five.)
"I think the frustrating part is not knowing how to get in touch with the people who might need the rooms," she said by e-mail. She plans to leave her ads running for several weeks.
"I can't imagine the sense of loss these people must be experiencing," she said. "I want to help in any way I can. My family all lives in North Carolina so it could have just as easily been them needing help."
For information on offering emergency housing help: www.HurricaneHousing.org. Through this site, MoveOn.org Civic Action will directly connect evacuees with volunteer hosts and provide the housing information to the Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Bush flew over N.O.!
Please take sarcasm to the other Katrina threads.
thats not good?
massive convoy of military vehicles filled with supplies now arriving at Superdome.
Fats Domino, who was reported as missing, was found (rescued) and is ok.
Any good news about the people at the Convention Center?
on CNN right now, relief and troops arrive at Convention Center
Any good news about the people at the Convention Center?
2 friends of mine have good news.
maria reports that her uncle and his wife who had stayed behind made it out of NO yesterday morning... by BOAT. He loaded his boat with about 6 other people and they jsut went till they found a good place to land. He and his wife were able ot grab a ride with a local couple who agreed to bring them to houston for FREE! (thats awesome, gas is expensive) the 6 other folks are in Baton rouge apparently since they are trying to hook up with family members. She's expecting her uncle at her house in Houston this afternoon. (her parents and younger bro are allready there)
Ashley, (who is due with her baby #2 5 days before me and is on bedrest) emailed me that her sisters church (she is at her sisters in FLA. right now - thankgod she evacuated becasue her house in Biloxi is GONE) had a rrepresen ve stop buy yesterday with a new crib, a toddler bed for her other daughter, a breast pump, a few packs of diapers, and several $100's in gift cards for target, walmart and local restaurants.
Its making people aware and bringing us together.We may have different takes on the situation but the common denominator is that we care.
Everyone is learning from the deficiencies and I believe that will make this nation stronger in the long run.
Private aid pours in for Katrina
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E1702,00.html
sorry mook but thats good in a cynical way. you know bush is a pig
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...rldhelps_x.htm
France, Cuba, Venezuela among those offering aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged assistance in connection with the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
The offers blur political lines. Cuba and Venezuela, for instance, have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and tiny countries like Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
Australia announced a donation of $8 million to the American Red Cross. "The United States is so often at the forefront of international aid efforts to help less fortunate nations," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
"So it is only fitting that Australia should contribute to the daunting task of helping the thousands of American citizens whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by this unprecedented disaster," Downer said.
France, "determined to show its solidarity with the United States," offered a range of aircraft and two ships, with helicopters and planes capable of airlifting tons of supplies, a disaster unit with 20 soldiers, a civil defense detachment of 35 people and an airborne emergency unit, the French Embassy said.
Japan said it would contribute $200,000 to the American Red Cross for its relief operations. Upon request, Japan is prepared to provide up to $300,000 worth of tents, blankets, power generators, portable water tanks and other equipment, the Japanese Embassy said.
The United States historically has aided victims of disasters, but it is not universally recognized as providing the level of aid expected of a rich nation.
In July, President Bush resisted British Prime Minister Tony Blair's ambitious goals for assisting Africa, though Bush took steps to double U.S. aid to more than $8.6 billion by 2010.
The United States, which has the world's largest economy, lags behind other rich nations in the percentage of its giving to nations in Africa, the world's poorest continent.
By Friday, offers had been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Guatemala, Paraguay, Belgium, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Italy, Guyana, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Lithuania, Spain, Dominica, Norway, Cuba, Bahamas, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Iceland, India, Jordan, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
Europeans have been moved to help in ways great and small: from an Austrian university proposing to take in 500 students from New Orleans, to nations agreeing to tap into strategic oil reserves.
Amid the compassion, there was also surprise that America was so vulnerable and unprepared, and dismay the Bush administration plays down the global warming threat so many Europeans link to the force and frequency of such storms.
Across the continent, the media and governments focused on the tragedy, with newspapers running photos of victims wading chest-deep in water and television screens filled with fires.
Concrete offers of help were louder than European criticism. The governments of 26 countries agreed Friday to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels of oil per day from strategic fuel reserves to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the International Energy Agency said.
With offers from the four corners of the globe pouring in, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided "no offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.
However, in Moscow, a Russian official said the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency had rejected a Russian offer to dispatch rescue teams and other aid.
Spurred by images of people huddled on curbs begging for clean water and chaotic rescue efforts from rooftops, Europe also offered brainpower — specialists in coordinating disaster relief, experts in rebuilding devastated communities and rescue workers familiar with risky maneuvers.
The U.N. created a special task force to dispatch disaster experts, while the European Union volunteered to send water supply specialists.
Italy offered two military transport planes loaded with pumps, generators, amphibious crafts and tents. Germany pledged medical supplies. France dispatched rescue workers to determine what it could offer. NATO pledged its help, too.
In the Balkans, where the U.S. military has been deployed to keep the peace following a decade of conflict, offers were steeped in gra ude. A Bosnian television station offered to raise money. In Kosovo, a civil emergency unit made up of former ethnic Albanian rebels offered to send a team to help rebuild.
Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific nations, including tsunami-battered Sri Lanka, pledged money and disaster relief experts.
"There should not be an assumption that because America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, this isn't a major challenge and a major crisis," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
El Salvador, the only Latin American country with troops still in Iraq, offered Thursday to send soldiers to the United States to help police zones flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
The French city of Orleans also rallied to help its hurricane-hit American namesake. The city south of Paris planned to donate money raised from ticket sales at local sports matches to help hurricane victims in New Orleans, a statement from City Hall said Friday. Orleans and its university also offered to take in 50 students from the University of New Orleans for the school year.
The proposal to take in 500 students from New Orleans at the University of Innsbruck in Austria for the winter semester was more personal. The two universities, both in cities that boast rich cultural histories, have spent decades building bonds of friendship and community.
The two universities have exchanged students in summer programs for three decades, placing hundreds of students per year, largely in business studies. Many of the program's alumni have offered to assist, Mathias Schennach, who heads the Austrian university's international relations office.
The offer came only days after the western province of Tyrol suffered severe flooding of its own.
"People here have cold winters and avalanches — so we are familiar with the dangers of nature," Schennach said. "There is an understanding that if someone is in need, you help."
I thought you were going to say:
I just saved 15% on my car insurance.
But seriously...good news.
I thought you were going to say:
I just saved 15% on my car insurance.
But seriously...good news.
bad taste but funny none the less.
We have a family friend that lived in NO and she had evacuated to Baton Rouge but she couldn't find her husband. She was watching the news to see if she could find out more info on some of the survivors and a local news channel was broadcasting wind boats coming in and she saw her husband getting off of one. She called the news station to see if there was a way that they could replay the tape and they said they would at 2a.m. So she stayed up and watched it and confirmed that it was him. She still doesn't know where he is at specifically but is relieved that he is alive and believes that he is going to a VA hospital nearby. Thats about the only good news that I've heard.
I know that the company that owns Ken Batchelor (and a bunch of dealerships in the US) will match any voluntary employee deductions from their checks to help the employees of the NOLA dealership. Also, they will find jobs for those employees at other dealerships.
HEB is helping and more help is on its way.
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