The question is always this when there's a disaster on the scale of a huricane katrina; what can those of us far away do to help?
In many ways, the answre is not fucking much.
But there are a couple ways we can help out - money, and time.
I'm no expert on this. So I'll point to someone who is - go read Doxy's entry on helping 101. (EDIT - that's a new link, she just updated)
These are the people who're gonna be there, with time and bodies and money, helping those who lost everything, sheltering them, feeding them, getting them clean water to drink and medical attention.
So what do you do, where do you go?
You can start with www.redcross.org, though that server is being hit hard. You can call - 1-800-HELP-NOW.
You can also give time, if you have some. It's all volunteers, taking calls, processing donations, shipping supplies to the disaster zone, or out there slogging through the mud helping the cleanup.
redcross.org/donate/volunteer/
You can even give blood. As always, blood supplies are short. http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/.
It's something, for those of us too far to do anything useful to help all these poor bastards.
New Orleans, beyond the getting plastered and losing yourself element, is really the best city in the U.S. - like no other town. It's so shitty all this.
Fuck, my coworker's aunt was ejected from her car after a blowout while she was trying to get to Shreveport. She's in the hospital and in stable condition - - that's the good news.
But, shit, what about a break here?
Sure, there's a lot of horror stories. This one hit pretty close to home.
And, Co-worker was supposed to go to Mardi Gras this year.