Responding to Katrina

I'm leaving in a few minutes for the airport, heading to the command post in Alexandria, Louisiana, to work on the Hurricane Katrina response. It hit landfall three days ago and we’ve been in contact with the USCG even before then, preparing our equipment and mapping data in case we were called down. Now three of us are some of the first responders to help the USCG make an initial assessment of what southern Louisiana looks like. We have no idea what they will need, but we are ready. Their forward operating base is in Alexandria since New Orleans is currently a disaster area under water.

One of my many hats involves mapping in emergency response situations. I've been on two real oil spill responses and numerous drills. It's an opportunity of sheer adrenaline and knowing that everything you do is necessary and valuable. The Athos I oil spill in Philadelphia last winter was the largest response of human resources since the Exxon Valdez in 1989, mostly because of the stretches of river effected and the nuclear power plant being shut down for fear of oil leaching into their valves. We worked 18-20 hour days without getting out of our chairs, often not leaving the hotel/command post for days, going without eating, sucking as much caloric value as possible out of coffee, cream and sugar.

This response to Hurricane Katrina will be beyond compare. I'm excited to be part of the human machine that is being put in place. Working with a few hundred, or thousand, people in the command post, everyone gunning at their positions, working together to make the machine's pistons move effectively. The command post is the only time I've seen the phrase "team work" actually come to fruition. Unlike the typical mundane tasks at work, in a command post every effort by each person is vital.

I'm packed and even threw in extra food from my camping provisions: peanut butter, dried bananas, chocolate chips, energy bars, crackers, and more chocolate. I'm not expecting to ask for anything when so many people have nothing. I hope my little contribution will help this response in some way. When we work together as a machine for humanity, it usually does.

USCG overflight of a neighborhood in New Orleans. Photo USCG