Montblack wrote:
Salt Lake City (1999) medium size tornado makes a direct hit on Downtown -
No Looting.

People across the city stopped what they were doing and cleaned up the
mess - until the job was done - then resumed what they were doing. No
comparing the two natural disasters, but no comparing the preparedness of
the two local governments, and reaction of the citizens either.

You were right with the comment that there's no comparing the disasters
- so why are you trying to do just that? I've been through a pretty
bad tornado. Our house was lifted off the foundation and dropped on
our neighbor's lot which was empty since their house was now down the
block a little farther. Most houses on our side of the street were
left in other lots. But the neighbors just across the street suffered
no damage at all. Police and other emergency services could quickly
deal with the situation since it covered a limited area. But they
still set up roadblocks manned by police and National Guard units who
only let in residents with proper IDs specifically to prevent looting.
And this was in a small midwest town in the supposedly law-abiding
'50s.
The devastation in New Orleans and surrounding coastal areas is on a
completely different scale.

CBS news (Tuesday) said people were looting out of a need to survive. It had
only been 18 hours folks!! CBS news is banned from this house for the rest
of the year.

No excuse for those who were filling shopping carts with TVs and other
electronics. But there were quite a few people who barely escaped from
their flooded dwellings and found themselves without food or water. I
can't see fault with them if they grab some bottled water and food. 18
hours can be a long time to be without a source of potable water -
especially if there are any young children in the family.