I've been follow the situation in the Gulf Coast region for the past few days now. Even as I sit home quite comfortable, I can hardly believe some of the scenes I'm seeing via TV and the internet. At times it seems unreal, yet it is very real. A great deal of the region is in ruin, and New Orleans itself has fallen into an extremely degenerate state. With the way things are going and the terms being tossed around, I'm reminded more of a scenes from a third world country, not the United States. Then again, I suppose it took a disaster like this to really underscore the difference in social classes. There are those who lost everything and those who on top of losing everything are suffering badly. It's a disaster that people knew would eventually happen, but I'm sure no one had any idea that Federal response would be so slow. It's true that the government is doing something, but that something still isn't enough. It's hard to believe that for days now people haven't had clean water to drink, food or even decent shelter. Even animals, some that couldn't be taken along as stranded people left the region, aren't any better off. Add that together with a loss of security, fires breaking out in random spots in New Orleans, and all stability in that region seems to have gone down to 0.

Mini-rant aside, sitting at home, I'm doing the only thing I can to help. I'm donating money; I don't have much to spare but I hear every little bit helps. So I went to redcross.org to donate on-line and was please to find out that some companies (that would be UPS for me) would provide matching funds for any given donations. I've also found links to places that are also accepting donations:

For those in need a list of links can be found here: http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/hurricane_katrina/12528702.htm (Let me know if one of those stupid site registration screens come up and I'll paste the links instead.)

If you'd also like to give something to the animals affected:
Noah's Wish: http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS): https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005

Also, if any of you are friends with or know of leopardwolf, then this community may be of interest. Though the name is familiar, I personally have never met Leopardwolf, but that won't stop me from passing this link on.

If I get the time before work, I may cross post my thoughts and these links outside of LJ.

On another note, if you're tired of hearing about such things, feel free to skip over this entry but please don't leave me any snide comments. I'm currently not in the mood for them.