Police fired warning shots, New Orleans tourists tell.

Police fired warning shots, New Orleans tourists tell. :

"Frightened Japanese, European and American tourists say police fired over their heads to end their attempt to leave New Orleans.

Stranded since Hurricane Katrina hit the city on Monday, the 200 tourists were thrown out of their hotel on Thursday morning and said they were confronted by police as they attempted to get to buses to take them to safety."

This article makes it sound horrific. More like they are caught in a war zone. Watching from a distance it is never easy to get a proper picture of what is occurring. We are aware the situation is chaotic. We are aware that people are very distressed. We are aware the devastation is long term and far reaching. We are also aware this is America in peace time. We are hearing about rapes, shootings, "shoot to kill" policies and none of that is sounding like a country which is coping. Put the guns away. Looting to feed and clothe yourself when no one else is, is not looting...unless you are thieving from friends and neighbours and that appears to be occurring.The streets aren't lawless. There are no streets. The people of a civilised country have been rendered totally dependent and have no infrastructure and no alternative living skills. No one here has a problem with people trying to access shops and stores to get what they need until the real help arrives. In Darwin during cyclone Tracey people did what they could to keep going but then we flew them out of Darwin so it could be cleaned up and rebuilt. That was the military's job. The rest of us looked after the people of Darwin who had no relatives or easy ways of finding accomodation which was safe, clean and secure. It has been something which has bonded our country. No one went in with guns. This is the bit we don't understand: why you would be saying to traumatised people that men from Iraq are going in to shoot to kill if need be. I know we don't understand and I haven't changed my mind. I've said it is hard for westerners to understand the complexity of the middle east. And for the middle east to understand us. Americans will understand New Orleans better than we do, but the thing with guns is bizarre and seems an odd way to go about anything in a peace time crisis. The people are being raped and living with bodies and people who are dying. That is tough living. Tourists are being herded and hunted. That is hard living. It's not what you expect and okay, when in Rome and all of that. New Orleans being in a basin makes it difficult to manage because of the flooding. More pumps need to get in there. Or is there a reason why more pumps can't be set up? The threat of disease is imminent because the people are talking about how hot it is and how disgusting and how there is no sanitation. Humanising the situation has to be a priority. Care. Or can't the people who are left in New Orleans respond to care? In Mississippi it appears to be calmer and more organised and more together. And yet Mississippi appears to have taken a fair hammering from the hurricane. Our journalist was talking about how a lady had let her use her home to take a shower. Maybe , too late now, all of the people should have been moved out of New Orleans because the poor had no way out and are now doing the field work of how to survive a category 5 hurricane with little or no help. Once our western infrastructure collapses our western butts are blooming hopeless and then we are confronted with the devastation we can wreak on each other. Civilisation? Bit of a misnoma. And for heaven's sake tell us what you need because the American quilters helped our farmers and our cyclone people and we have helped Kosovans and Thai tsunami victims with our "shoeboxes" which are short term quick relief successes to all accounts. We are good at that. We get the blankets and the short term needs fixed very easily through churches and schools. Just like American people have sent us practical things when they know. Put away the guns and let's get out the toothbrushes, the singlets and whatever else people need to feel comfortable...and get them out of there !