people returning home in NO finding dead bodies "horrible times"

[donsu]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/national/nationalspecial/29death.html?pagewanted=print


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."
-snip-
----------------------------------


sigh

[wanpete]

1. Why on God's green earth are there still bodies in these homes

literally a MONTH after the storm. This is utterly disgraceful. It's sad enough how these people had to die. But to disrespect their remains for four weeks and not even removing them before the families returned?? I really can't believe this is America!

I thought there were teams being paid much money to remove bodies and such. What the heck is going on here? Now does anyone truly believe George * cares about black people? (thank you Mr. West)

DISGUSTING!:mad: :grr:

[flordehinojos]

5. bush is a psychopath who loves death and destruction...

he should be making sure that his army of mercenaries is picking up those dead bodies and taking them to the morgue. instead he seems to relish on how many dead corpses people will find, strewn around each day. This whole thing makes me think about the tony perkins' character in PSYCHO.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. They want to turn N.O. red.

If you were to return home after a month and discovered that missing family member rotting in your attic, would you want to stay and rebuild, or take yourself and your memories somewhere else?

Even if you were considering staying, before, how could you deal with living in that same place after such a discovery? Got relatives in Michigan?

[insane_cratic_gal]

21. Ya good luck with that

keep treating them like shit.. and leaving dead bodies laying inside and outside on the walkway.. and I don't think NO is going to be red except in temperament.

[BiggJawn]

18. Hey, they KNOCKED!

And nobody came to the door or called out, so they marked the house "0/0" or whatever.

Hey, it's NEW ORLEANS, right? EVERYBODY knows about the ZOMBIES, right?
:sarcasm:

"Brownie" must have come up with that "Knock thrice to summon The Dead" policy.

[spuddonna]

19. Because FEMA told the crews going around not to break doors down...

...so if a door was blocked or locked, they spray painted the door and moved on...

Yes, they are idiots. Yes, it is incredibly disrespectful of the people who lived in NO.

Does anyone know what the recovery teams are doing with the bodies? Are they even collecting them? Do we have anyone overseeing the operations? Are there audit controls in place for these no bid contracts to pals of * and Cheney?

Who knows? It makes my blood boil... :mad:

[lostnfound]

23. FEMA told crews not to even ENTER houses unless they heard VOICES

Regardless of whether the door was locked.
So insane.

Isn't Service Corporation International overseeing the body collection?

[elehhhhna]

24. Yes. Surprised folks aren't coming home to find the neighbor's body

in their house & their families bodies in the neighbors house. THAT sounds like the SCI I know.

[spuddonna]

27. Yup, SCI is in charge of the body collection...

From Talking Points Memo:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php
To assist with the recovery and disposition of the victims of Katrina, FEMA has hired Kenyon Worldwide Disaster Management, a Houston-based company which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), another Houston-based corporation, which bills itself as the "dominant leader in the North American death care industry."

SCI is not only closely associated with the president (which is not surprising since the company is based in Houston), they were also at the center of what is probably the best-known scandal during Bush's six years as governor of Texas: the so-called 'funeralgate' case."

[renate]

2. OMG

I hope there are mental health professionals there to help these people--what an utter nightmare.
Those families are never going to be able to get those images out of their minds. This is absolutely awful.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. Assuming this is true (who knows anymore)

it is a complete nightmare. I can't imagine anything worse. It boggles the imagination.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I can and it has nothign to do with LO being disfunctional

rather DMORT (Part of FEMA) being dysfuncitonal

[jobycom]

6. People are just going to have to take responsibility for their own

dead recovery, and not expect the government or the company the government paid our tax dollars to remove the dead to actually remove the dead.

Oh, sorry, that was my Michael Marie Brown Antoinette impersonation. Needs work. Hard to capture just the right degree of arrogance and incompetence.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

7. And eat cake while they are doing it. eom

[Pepper32]

9. WTF... can't help but to believe they are doing this deliberately (eom)

[earth mom]

10. Just how many people would come streaming back to NOLA

if they knew their loved ones were left this way? Thousands no doubt!

This sh*t has been bothering me for weeks! Look how they carefully and meticulously searched the wreckage of the twin towers after 911 for survivors and victims! Yet, in NOLA all they did was peek in windows for movement and mark the doors if they saw a body. They didn't even go inside to remove the bodies to give these people the respect they deserve and are due in death!!! :grr:

Seriously, this is by far just about the sickest most vile thing to do to people since the Holocast! :grr:

[tblue37]

11. Did anyone else read that FEMA was insisting

that each body be prayed over, and thus seriously slowing down recovery efforts?

I don't know if it's true, but I did read it here on DU some time ago.

[formercia]

12. Sense of smell is all that's needed

The smell of a rotting corpse is distinctive and unforgettable. You don't even need to search the house to know one is there.

[grace0418]

16. Although from what I hear that stench hangs over much of the city.

It may be hard to tell from where it's coming.

[ebal]

20. Smells all around

Everything there probably smells pretty bad, it might not be that easy, especially if the bodies are in an attic. Mix in dead animals and smell is probably useless.

[Saphire]

13. What kind of horrid sight that would be. After a month in the elements

I cant imagine that anything would be worse.

[Guaranteed]

14. What IS the latest death count, from Katrina? nt

[spinbaby]

26. It's down to 32

Pretty soon it'll be down to 0.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. I never see dead/missing toll in news articles anymore.

[Zeebo]

15. This should be on every fucking front page, but NO, it is the 6th story on

NYTIMES.com after you click on complete hurricane coverage on their home page.

I'm disgusted that this travesty is happening and it is NOT making major news anywhere. Even here on DU, any post regarding death tolls or body recovery questions or concerns usually gets off the front page quickly with only a handful of replies. I don't think people are concerned about this, but the fucking should be. This is a huge story.

The major networks and cable stations are not even giving an updated confirmed death toll anymore. It is like this is done and over with. It is not, there are still bodies in homes and attics, but the media blackout is universal.

There are so many signs that this is being mishandled and covered up. Mississippi's death toll was 219 on 9/13, today still 219. 17 days and no bodies found or identified... BULLSHIT.

[EFerrari]

17. I agree. It's just so horrible, it's probably traumatizing for

people to even think about it.

What a terrible time this is in this country.

[Gregorian]

22. This represents a much much bigger problem. Inexcusable.

Something tells me this is all about money. Bush knows that the poor contribute less tax revenues than the rich. So why should he give a rat's ass.
I'm livid over this. There had better be some justice left in this country for those who let this happen, and those who let it continue to happen.

This isn't America. This is Bushland.

[elehhhhna]

25. This is SOP for USA now, people...

Fuck it up.
Pay select friends to clean it up.
Said friends don't perform work.
Taxpayer pays AND does job too.
We're doomed.

[Ksec]

28. Hard to believe this is America...Well, Bush's America.

[malaise]

31. It's a fugging international disgrace

There is no excuse for this total disresepct for the dead. What the fuck is wrong with FEMA and George Bush!!

[gulfcoastliberal]

29. Good thing they did that no-bid contract with SCI/Kenyon.

Even the most macabre jobs are awarded to *co toadies.

[Miss Chybil]

30. Bush's cronies are having too much fun spending the money they're

stealing from us to remember they're supposed to be doing something for it.

[bicentennial_baby]

33. My friend in the NG just got back from body recovery duty

He was still shaking, days after leaving NO. Said he couldn't get the smell out of his nose, and that he began smoking cigs again while he was there (this, coming from a HS track coach! :o)

what struck me the most was when he said "i'd rather have been sent to Iraq than New Orleans" :(

[KoKo]

35. It must be beyond anything we can imagine now...with the elements

having more time to work their way causing rot, mold, and more decay of those who might be under rubble or washed into corners or attics.

I thought General Honore was one of those ball buster types who loves to create an image for the media with that cigar constantly in his mouth.

Now, from your post, I know why he smokes them...it's to cover the smell of death. Maybe NO's needs a ball buster who can handle this kind of thing and not let it get to him. I was maybe too hard on him.

Thanks for your post. It's the kind of thing we don't hear much of.

[Roland99]

34. Would explain the lowered estimated death toll.

no big death toll if you don't look for the bodies.

[slaveplanet]

36. If It were me

I'd much rather be dealing with my own dead.

You can only imagine how those that were recovered were dealt with by Fema....just like trash... would be my guess.

+ imagine the looting if they did enter every home....some dwellings with very little water would have many good things still left.

Too much complaining about this issue will set precedent...and next time they will break into every home.

I feel bad for those that may have died while awaiting rescue...But this should be a wake up call as to what many of us have already known.

Fema never cared or intended on maximizing rescues....securing the perimiter is job one for them.