Originally posted by Skydancer
With difficulty agreed. But if our neighbours just stood by or couldn't rush in support within five days I'd be asking questions of them.
Its not about locality its about humanity. The US is a huge place. Not that much of the whole nation was affected.
Remember it was two events a 150 year Hurricane and a 150 year flood. Two catastophic events in the space of two days and we are not talking average. Also we had Florida hit by the same hurricane two days prior, who do you think went to help those people?
Can you fly a chopper in 160 mile an hour winds? That's how bad it was on day One. Could you drive any truck in 6 to 15 feet of water? That's how bad it was on day Two. The water in some areas was higher and as of today most of it is still there. There are some routes you could take some trucks and busses, but it adds hours to the trip. By day 5 the relief was rolling in.
When you say the US is a large place your absolutely correct. How long does it take to fly a chopper in the UK from say Forss in the north to Carland Cross in the south? That's just the affected area, not the staging area. Say you had to cross the channel from France to a staging area in Scotland then fly the same north south route. How much time would that add to the process?
Ok add refueling, loading supplies, picking up stranded people and flying them to safety. Now say each chopper can hold supplies for 10 families and pick up 8 people. How many choppers would you need to rescue or feed 100,000 people, the numbers are higher than that, but 100k is a nice round number. Put a pencil to the numbers and you tell me how easy it should be.
I am sorry Sky, but with all due respect, you still have me convinced you don't have a handle on the scope of this disaster.
