Katrina’s victims still largely unknown

tybee204 · #1 09-13-2005, 12:12 PM

Recovery problems, cloak of secrecy compound the mystery

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9317209/

By Sue Anne Pressley and Jacqueline L. Salmon

Updated: 1:05 a.m. ET Sept. 13, 2005
Cynthia du Faur telephoned her twin sister in Chicago at 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 30 and told her in a small, surprised voice that water was rising fast inside their New Orleans home.

It was pitch black, she said, and the city around her was paralyzed, and she was alone with their nine dogs and cats. She could not reach the ladder in the basement, and the attic was nailed shut. Suddenly, she said, almost as an aside, "I think we're going to die."

Her very last words, which haunt me, were 'Let me go try to find some plywood. Okay, bye.' She was looking for something to float on," said her sister, Brenda du Faur, 46. "I can't imagine the slow, rising death that Du Faur can't be certain her sister is dead, but like many others who haven't heard from loved ones in this stricken region, she is already grieving. The people who died during Katrina and its aftermath are, two weeks later, still largely unidentified and unknown. No one can say yet how many perished, who they were, how and when they died. Communications and recovery problems -- and a heavy cloak of secrecy -- have compounded the mystery. Officials have been told not to pass on any information. For now, and for the foreseeable future, the victims of Katrina remain the dead without a roster.

______________

More at link.

kato · #2 09-13-2005, 12:20 PM

I had a hunch there would be or is going to be alot of secrecy.

BillyGoatGruff · #3 09-13-2005, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kato

I had a hunch there would be or is going to be alot of secrecy.

It's not secrecy. It's called "pending notification of next of kin".
And since a lot of the drowned bodies are going to require DNA testing to even identify who they might be--that might take awhile.
If you've ever seen a body that's been in the water for some amount of time, you really don't want to have to watch them being gathered up.
It'll be weeks before they can generate a comprehensive death list. As it is, not everyone at St. Rita's was killed, so you can't even go by existing records.

Details · #4 09-13-2005, 02:35 PM

What seems odd to me is that there's not an estimate of the number of missing people. I remember that being true in other disasters - the news had an estimate of how many people were misssing, as well as how many confirmed dead. Where is that number here?

kato · #5 09-13-2005, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyGoatGruff

It's not secrecy. It's called "pending notification of next of kin".
And since a lot of the drowned bodies are going to require DNA testing to even identify who they might be--that might take awhile.
If you've ever seen a body that's been in the water for some amount of time, you really don't want to have to watch them being gathered up.
It'll be weeks before they can generate a comprehensive death list. As it is, not everyone at St. Rita's was killed, so you can't even go by existing records.

I don't mean secrecy as pertaining to showing the bodies. I don't want to see that. I mean secrecy as to what the death toll will be, the effects on the environment, and what was and wasn't done to prevent this.

tybee204 · #6 09-13-2005, 03:14 PM

Notifying Next of kin has to do with releasing names, not numbers. Every responder working down there has been briefed NOT to discuss numbers.

TexMex · #7 09-13-2005, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tybee204

Notifying Next of kin has to do with releasing names, not numbers. Every responder working down there has been briefed NOT to discuss numbers.

Somebody should brief the Mayor

kato · #8 09-13-2005, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexMex

Somebody should brief the Mayor

Problem is his briefs are probably giving him a wedgie and that's why he can't think.

less0305 · #9 09-13-2005, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tybee204

Notifying Next of kin has to do with releasing names, not numbers. Every responder working down there has been briefed NOT to discuss numbers.

Yes, but what about when the personnel come out of a house - that a next of kin could identify - and mark on the outside wall how many are dead there. I think that's just horrible. Of course, if I had a loved one there and didn't know what happened, I just wouldn't have the TV on I guess. I wouldn't want to see it - so I wouldn't watch.

I don't think they have any idea whatsoever how many people really evacuated before the storm, and how many stayed. But aren't we getting somewhat of an update on the death count. I thought I saw some numbers of actual known deaths this morning.

TexMex · #10 09-13-2005, 04:44 PM

The AP is getting numbers:

Death Toll in Louisiana Climbs Past 400
Sep 13 4:32 PM US/Eastern

NEW ORLEANS

Hurricane Katrina's death toll in Louisiana climbed to 423 Tuesday, up from 279 a day before, the state Health Department said.

Tom'sGirl · #11 09-13-2005, 05:56 PM

No details yet, just came over the Net, I'll post a thread!

rollerbladr123 · #12 09-13-2005, 06:03 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050913/...HNlYwMlJVRPUCU

New Orleans Death Toll Climbs to 423 l

Quote 1

The state Health Department said the death toll in Louisiana climbed to 423 Tuesday, up from 279 a day before. The jump came as recovery workers turned more and more of their attention to gathering up and counting the corpses in a city all but emptied out of the living. The death toll is all but certain to rise, because some flooded-out areas of the city have not been fully searched. But how high it might go is unclear. Authorities have cast strong doubt on the mayor's dire projection earlier this month of perhaps 10,000 dead

more at link....

Tom'sGirl · #13 09-13-2005, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexMex

The AP is getting numbers:

Death Toll in Louisiana Climbs Past 400
Sep 13 4:32 PM US/Eastern

NEW ORLEANS

Hurricane Katrina's death toll in Louisiana climbed to 423 Tuesday, up from 279 a day before, the state Health Department said.

I heard this morning on T.V when they were discussing this and they said they hadn't even gotten to the deep water areas yet and won't until the water is drained.........

kato · #14 09-14-2005, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom'sGirl

I heard this morning on T.V when they were discussing this and they said they hadn't even gotten to the deep water areas yet and won't until the water is drained.........

I feel sorry for the teams that eventually recover these bodies. Oh the horror. They'll never forget those images as long as they live.