Katrina's Aftermath - New technology gives victims a sense of home, or lack thereof
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
--Barbra Bush, September 5, 2005, in reference to Hurricane Katrina victims taking shelter at the Houston Astrodome.
Last week was a dark seven days for Americans. As the poor and stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina sat and waited for help to arrive, thousands died unnecessarily over the course of six days. Six days of almost no Federal response. Imagine that. In the richest, most accepting, caring nation in the world, hundreds of thousands of people were doomed to an untimely death because of government negligence, pure and simple.
Several thousand victims now call Dallas' Reunion Arena home. On top of that, many have decided to stay in Texas and other states. What do they have to return to? Others, determined to return and rebuild someday soon, have found recourse in a little known Google product appropriately titled Google Earth.
To get Google Earth, go here ...
earth.google.com
Describing Google Earth is a feat unto its self. To summarize in a single sentence, Google Earth is the real-world materialization of everything Internet, stitched into an intricately woven tapestry that is our world. Upon launch of the program, the user is presented with The World from space. Google-ers can punch up a physical address and watch as a 3D recreation of the Earth pans, zooms, and drops down, literally, on top of any specified location. Utilizing aerial and satellite photography, Google has created a working digital map of the world. But to Katrina's victims, many of whom cannot return for a long time, Google Earth is about all they will see of their home, or what is left of it.
Most of the country has been asking, "How can I help?" That's the Amazing thing about Americans: we all genuinely want what is best, even if we get duped once in a while. In the six agonizing days after Katrina bulldozed the gulf coast, as our benevolent Federal Government sat and watched, concerned citizens took to the internet.
By Friday, as the first National Guard units were being mobilized, the online grass already had roots. Utilizing images from the Remote Sensing Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov), web-heads in the know began matching topographical data, analyzing before and after shots, and passing the data on to the Google Earth database. Taking a cue from these super surfers, NASA, Google, and Carnegie Mellon University compiled over 4,000 post-Katrina images of the gulf coast.
Saturday night, thousands of evacuees began turning to the internet for information, and the Google-ers came to the rescue. Many of these anonymous individuals are, and will remain, completely unconnected to this tragedy. But, as new Google Earth updates flooded in by the hour, former coast-dwellers took solace in seeing pictures of home.
While Google Earth certainly cannot offer anything as jarring as the photos and video seen on CNN in the days following Katrina, it can get a viewer close enough to identify a house or car. In 2001, just four short years ago, photography of Ground Zero in New York took over 14 days to land on the inter-nets. Last week, data was literally streaming within 24 hours. Evacuees fortunate enough to have web access have been able to find their homes, destroyed or just slightly dampened, and breathe a little easier.
The American people never fail to amaze me. Within 24 hours of Katrina's landfall, concerned citizens practically crashed the Red Cross' website with donations, and countered the waters with near endless material support. While the President golfed and took guitar lessons and went to birthday parties (no kidding), the American public swallowed hard, sucked it up, and spread the sacrifice as far and wide as possible.
If our Federal government is able to air-drop massive food and medical aid to tsunami victims on the other side of the world within two days, then certainly we could make it down to the gulf coast in a week. Or maybe President Bush did not think that we could type up Google and find out that Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), actually had no emergency experience at all. No experience, that is, until now. (Thank the bloggers for discovering his qualifications: managing the International Arabian Horse Association.)
"The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, [...]" said President Bush on September 2. But from my perch, atop Blimp Google, hovering over the wreckage left in Katrina's path presents a daunting landscape. The only "fantastic" thing to come out of this tragedy so far is the public exposure of the uncaring, elitist ruling class ... Unless, by "fantastic" you mean Halliburton getting a non-compete reconstruction contract on the gulf coast.
We will surf on a river of the known. Mahalo.
Electronic Horizons is a column published in The News Connection (thenewsconnection.com), a community newspaper based outside of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex in Texas. Republished with permission.
--Barbra Bush, September 5, 2005, in reference to Hurricane Katrina victims taking shelter at the Houston Astrodome.
Last week was a dark seven days for Americans. As the poor and stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina sat and waited for help to arrive, thousands died unnecessarily over the course of six days. Six days of almost no Federal response. Imagine that. In the richest, most accepting, caring nation in the world, hundreds of thousands of people were doomed to an untimely death because of government negligence, pure and simple.
Several thousand victims now call Dallas' Reunion Arena home. On top of that, many have decided to stay in Texas and other states. What do they have to return to? Others, determined to return and rebuild someday soon, have found recourse in a little known Google product appropriately titled Google Earth.
To get Google Earth, go here ...
earth.google.com
Describing Google Earth is a feat unto its self. To summarize in a single sentence, Google Earth is the real-world materialization of everything Internet, stitched into an intricately woven tapestry that is our world. Upon launch of the program, the user is presented with The World from space. Google-ers can punch up a physical address and watch as a 3D recreation of the Earth pans, zooms, and drops down, literally, on top of any specified location. Utilizing aerial and satellite photography, Google has created a working digital map of the world. But to Katrina's victims, many of whom cannot return for a long time, Google Earth is about all they will see of their home, or what is left of it.
Most of the country has been asking, "How can I help?" That's the Amazing thing about Americans: we all genuinely want what is best, even if we get duped once in a while. In the six agonizing days after Katrina bulldozed the gulf coast, as our benevolent Federal Government sat and watched, concerned citizens took to the internet.
By Friday, as the first National Guard units were being mobilized, the online grass already had roots. Utilizing images from the Remote Sensing Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov), web-heads in the know began matching topographical data, analyzing before and after shots, and passing the data on to the Google Earth database. Taking a cue from these super surfers, NASA, Google, and Carnegie Mellon University compiled over 4,000 post-Katrina images of the gulf coast.
Saturday night, thousands of evacuees began turning to the internet for information, and the Google-ers came to the rescue. Many of these anonymous individuals are, and will remain, completely unconnected to this tragedy. But, as new Google Earth updates flooded in by the hour, former coast-dwellers took solace in seeing pictures of home.
While Google Earth certainly cannot offer anything as jarring as the photos and video seen on CNN in the days following Katrina, it can get a viewer close enough to identify a house or car. In 2001, just four short years ago, photography of Ground Zero in New York took over 14 days to land on the inter-nets. Last week, data was literally streaming within 24 hours. Evacuees fortunate enough to have web access have been able to find their homes, destroyed or just slightly dampened, and breathe a little easier.
The American people never fail to amaze me. Within 24 hours of Katrina's landfall, concerned citizens practically crashed the Red Cross' website with donations, and countered the waters with near endless material support. While the President golfed and took guitar lessons and went to birthday parties (no kidding), the American public swallowed hard, sucked it up, and spread the sacrifice as far and wide as possible.
If our Federal government is able to air-drop massive food and medical aid to tsunami victims on the other side of the world within two days, then certainly we could make it down to the gulf coast in a week. Or maybe President Bush did not think that we could type up Google and find out that Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), actually had no emergency experience at all. No experience, that is, until now. (Thank the bloggers for discovering his qualifications: managing the International Arabian Horse Association.)
"The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, [...]" said President Bush on September 2. But from my perch, atop Blimp Google, hovering over the wreckage left in Katrina's path presents a daunting landscape. The only "fantastic" thing to come out of this tragedy so far is the public exposure of the uncaring, elitist ruling class ... Unless, by "fantastic" you mean Halliburton getting a non-compete reconstruction contract on the gulf coast.
We will surf on a river of the known. Mahalo.
Electronic Horizons is a column published in The News Connection (thenewsconnection.com), a community newspaper based outside of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex in Texas. Republished with permission.
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