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how much is a few?A few residents returning to their homes
"A few residents returning to their homes in this devastated region have found the bodies of their loved ones, even in houses that have been searched and marked, and the state emergency medical director warned Wednesday that more families could be in for a similar shock.
Dr. Louis Cataldie, the medical director for emergency response, made his remarks after a news conference about the effort to retrieve and identify bodies, saying he had arranged for a rapid response if families called 911. Four bodies were found on Wednesday in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans.
-snip-
"Yes, it's horrible," he said. "These are horrible times, and it's extremely frustrating.
NY Times
A month after the storm and relatives arel finding bodies of loved-ones who perished in their homes, in their attics, many of which have been previously searched by authorities. Unexcuseable.
how much is a few?A few residents returning to their homes
Of course its unexcusable. Anything that can be attributed to the ring wing in the NBADaniverse is that way. However, back on earth we view that as acceptable.
As usual with Dan, here is the whole article:
September 29, 2005
Returning Home, a Handful Find Bodies; New Orleans Mayor Presses Effort to Reopen City
By SHAILA DEWAN
BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 28 - A few residents returning to their homes in this devastated region have found the bodies of their loved ones, even in houses that have been searched and marked, and the state emergency medical director warned Wednesday that more families could be in for a similar shock.
Dr. Louis Cataldie, the medical director for emergency response, made his remarks after a news conference about the effort to retrieve and identify bodies, saying he had arranged for a rapid response if families called 911. Four bodies were found on Wednesday in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans.
"I'm very concerned about people going back to their homes," Dr. Cataldie said. The statement came just before Mayor C. Ray Nagin laid out plans to open most of New Orleans to residents over the next week, an effort that had been stalled by Hurricane Rita.
Speaking to state legislators at the Capitol, Mayor Nagin said residents would be allowed to return to all neighborhoods except the Lower Ninth Ward, which he said was still flooded. They will be allowed to inspect their property or, if they wanted, to stay in the city, he said, according to The Associated Press.
Mayor Nagin's effort to repopulate New Orleans, which still lacks basic services in many areas, was seemingly unshaken by the resignation of the city's police superintendent, Edwin P. Compass III, on Tuesday. Superintendent Compass said in an interview on Wednesday that he decided to resign at the urging of the mayor in a Tuesday morning meeting.
Mayor Nagin has been under tremendous pressure from New Orleanians who have watched neighboring parishes like St. Bernard reopen in recent days, even though the experience has been painful. Many families took along empty trailers for salvaged belongings, but left with only a bag or two of possessions, the rest having been ruined.
Officials said it was inevitable that a few returning residents would face not only the trauma of seeing their homes and possessions destroyed, but also the body of a family member. Although search-and-rescue teams from various law enforcement agencies have done grid searches, they have entered homes only if there was reason to believe that they might find a living person or human remains, Dr. Cataldie said.
Dr. Bryan Bertucci, the coroner in St. Bernard Parish, which was opened to residents on Saturday, said that even in houses that had been entered, conditions might have prevented a thorough search.
"I've been in my own house five times, and I still can't get into the bathroom," Dr. Bertucci said.
In many rooms at St. Rita's Nursing Home, where 34 died, he said, "if you looked in the room numerous times, you wouldn't know somebody was there unless you moved furniture around."
Dr. Bertucci said that three of the four bodies found on Wednesday had been discovered by families or friends. In the fourth case, the family was on the way home but called ahead to report that they had not heard from one relative. Kenyon Worldwide Disaster Management, which has been contracted to retrieve bodies, was able to find and remove the body before the family arrived.
"All of us felt that this would be the worst scenario that could happen, and it is happening," Dr. Bertucci said. "People are coming back to find their loved ones."
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina now stands at 1,134 in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia. Houston has recorded 46 deaths among evacuees. Dr. Cataldie said that of the 783 bodies taken to the temporary central morgue, 32 have been released to families.
Dr. Cataldie said about 340 others had been presumptively identified but would not be released until they were positively identified through DNA, dental records or fingerprints. Families are typically notified when a presumptive identification is made, he said. Other bodies have not been released because they are awaiting autopsy, he said.
Many of those identified have been from nursing homes or hospitals. More than 100 autopsies have been performed, Dr. Cataldie said, the bulk of them on bodies found in those ins utions. The state attorney general is investigating those deaths and has charged the operators of St. Rita's with negligent homicide.
People who appear to have been the victims of violence will also have autopsies, Dr. Cataldie said. Only six or seven have appeared to be homicide victims, he said.
Dr. Cataldie acknowledged that the process was painfully slow for families waiting to say their last goodbyes.
"Yes, it's horrible," he said. "These are horrible times, and it's extremely frustrating."
Mayor Nagin has also been frustrated in his effort to reopen New Orleans to businesses and residents. Businesses will be allowed to return on Thursday and residents beginning on Friday, with the primary exception being flooded areas in the Ninth Ward, under the plan announced Wednesday.
A day earlier, Mayor Nagin had asked his police chief to consider stepping down, the chief said in a phone interview. Superintendent Compass said now that he had guided the New Orleans police past the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, perhaps others could do better as New Orleans began to rebuild.
"The mayor said that I did a great job for the city, but that every leader has to understand when they have to leave," Superintendent Compass said, referring to his 26 years as a police officer and three years as chief.
He said that Mayor Nagin told him: "I'm not forcing you to retire, but you've got to think of the big picture. Are you the best man to run the department? Do you have the energy to keep up with the pace you've been going?"
The mayor noted that the police chief's wife, Arlene, is expected to give birth in two weeks, the superintendent said.
Superintendent Compass sounded philosophical, not bitter, and described his relationship with the mayor as professional, not adversarial.
"He didn't pressure me," the chief said.
Superintendent Compass said he had spoken to publishers in New York this month at the request of a friend and with the intent of giving most of the money from any book deal to the local police foundation for displaced officers. No deal had been signed, he said.
"I'm not going to take advantage of this to make money," Superintendent Compass said. "God has given me everything that I need. I didn't resign to write a book or make a movie. My life is police work."
Jere Longman contributed reporting from New Orleans for this article.
So that was 3 out of 1134 bodies. What a terrible percentage!!! That's like almost .003%!
Last edited by Useruser666; 09-30-2005 at 01:00 PM. Reason: Wanted to round up!
No Manny, leaving dead bodies on American streets, in peoples homes, for more than a month is not acceptable. Maybe in your world it is, but not here in reality.
Damnit man, read the article. Read the parts you skipped over and I highlighted. You have no idea what you are talking about.
What? That 4 bodies have been found? So what? Many evacuees haven't even returned home yet. The real question is, how many of them are going to get a sad surprise when they return home?
Hopefully very, very few...if any. But since I don't walk around expecting miracles from mortals and then until I'm blue in the face when they can't be performed, I'm sure there will be more than anyone would care to see.
OMG! What ifs are all you have any more huh? What if the bodies are found by then? What if the people come back and don't find it themselves? What if the people never come back? What if the same thing as the case with the fourth body happens? The people hadn't heard from their loved one so they called ahead before they came back. The search teams went to their house, found the body and removed it before they got there. Seems like a reasonable course of action to me.
Oh I get it, your upset about less that 1/3 third of a SINGLE PERCENT of the cases? None of this would even be happening if these people would not be allowed back in so soon into a city that is not ready to support them. But that is a whole other topic of discussion.
Dan, I wish you would volunteer for these rescue operations, or at least become a cop, firefighter, first responder, whatever, so that you could show these guys how things should be done. I know that if you were running things, nothing would have been missed.
and the word is "inexcusable"
What is it you do, Dan? With as much ing as you partake in, I hope you at least provide society some benefit.
I agree, we should halt searches for living people in need of rescue in order to protect people from having to see a dead body.
Then Dan can post articles about how people trapped in their homes starved to death while the government was making sure all the NO dead had a proper Christian burial.
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