Let me preface by saying that I am both glad that Ike was not as bad as it was feared it would be and that I have great sympathy for those whose lives were turned upside down by this storm. I have never had to evacuate my family. I can only imagine how difficult it is to decide what to take and what to leave, to turn your pets over to a mass shelter, to face the prospect of losing all that you worked for.
However, news reports indicate that some 140,000 persons stayed behind after the evacuation order was issued.
Now, lets assume that some of those were abandoned and would have wanted to get out- elderly, infirm, and such. It is also likely that others stayed behind because they could not get out such as those who took too long and were trapped.
The news interviews with those who stayed because they expected to "ride out the storm" or because they "wanted to experience the storm" strike me as having made a grossly negligent choice. There may be few or many of these, but their choice put others in danger and that is hard to accept.
Predictably, emergency services at all levels are rescuing these folks now. The financial cost is great but the human cost is higher as thousands of emergency personnel risk life and limb to save those whose own negligence put them there. Sure, this is their job- though it is worth noting that Texas, like Pennsylvania, provides most local emergency services through volunteer companies- but increasing the risks that others face is the essence of negligence.
For example, three folks in Galveston went out to the end of a pier to "experience" and photograph Ike's landfall. When the pier was wiped away behind them, they were stranded on the end through the storm. They are lucky to be alive at all and I have no doubt that they have the experience of a lifetime.
The Coast Guard, spotting them from the air yesterday morning conducted a search and rescue and brought them out safely.
I hope they, and any others like them, realize how stupid it was to vie with Mother Nature, on the one hand, and how fundamentally wrong it is to act so negligently.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
We need a law that says if you intentionally remain in harms way after government issued evacuation order would have to pay for their own rescue in full plus civil penalties. If they can't pay then they must stand on a pedestal in the center of town and tell everybody how stupid they are.
I kinda like the whole "forced public apology" idea for a host of such behaviors. But then, I favor public spankings for graffiti vandals too, so I am probably not the best person to ask.
Well, maybe not civil penalties. People are free to make stupid decisions as long as they don't imperil anyone else.
However, if someone decides to ignore an evacuation order, and then avails himself or herself of emergency rescue services, they should be charged--as 5toe says--the full cost of the rescue operation. Just think how much expensive high-octain aviation fuel a hovering helicopter consumes every minute. Charge for the food, water, ice, blankets, etc cetera. Charge commercial rates for the rent of the boat or helicopter or whatever. Charge for the overtime. Make the holdout liable for civil suits, such as any death or injury to rescue personel, or death or injury to others whose rescue/treatment was delayed by the time and resources devoted to the holdout.
If you decide to ignore an evacuation order so that you can "experience a category four hurricane" on an unprotected tourist pier, go ahead. Just consider that if most of the pier washes away in the storm surge, leaving you stranded a hundred yards from dry land, you will have to make another decision: 1) to attempt the dangerous swim to shore, 2) to wait until the peir is re-built, or 3) to pay $7,527.58for your rescue.
You won't need to place them on a pedestal. This is a civilized, digital age. Your picuter will be poisted online along with the expense you forced the citizenry to expend in your rescure and the accounts of the other people your follishness harmed or endangered. The newspapers will probably pick it up, too.
Post a Comment