I’m not just mad. I’m enraged. Last night, I watched CBS covering what’s happened to the Southern part of my home state, Mississippi, post Katrina. I’m not talking about the parts of the story focusing on Katrina itself and the destruction it waged on the area. I’m talking about the utter lack of response on the part of government agencies like FEMA, who didn’t rush into Biloxi with supplies for fear of harming “the already destabilized infrastructure.” Translation: a bunch of lazy bastards haven’t been doing their jobs to prepare for these types of situations over the past several years, and now that it is show-time, they are unprepared or under-prepared, and too lazy to save lives.
If you are a victim of Katrina, and in need of aid, you can register on their website for help, but only if you meet the minimum requirements: “What are the hardware (system) and software requirements for accessing and filing a disaster registration? A computer that has access to the Internet and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as its Web browser should work efficiently with the FEMA Internet RI system. We further recommend a minimum Pentium III and 128 mb of Ram for IE 6.0, with an actual minimum requirement of a 486/66 MHZ processor, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.” So if you happen to be fortunate enough to grab a computer and a live internet connection to apply for aid, you’re out of luck if it is a Mac machine.
Half of the state where I grew up is in dire need of help and stupid decisions like making their website IE 6.0 and PC-only seem to plague every nook and cranny of FEMA. Every little exclusion is a slammed door in the face of people who are just trying to survive.
UPDATE: More on this over at BoingBoing.
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