Bush is on TV. He. keeps. calling. reufgees. 'folks'.

Awww, fuck. There are still 8-10,000 people in the Superdome. They're basically living inside a blacked out garbage heap buried in shit.

More than that, I've heard.

This is neat. A name I just ran across in our database: Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh

I am so relieved to hear from -t.

I can't even talk about NO because I just feel lik esomeone needs to go in there and take over and I am paralyzed by my uselessness.

It is just a big snowballing mess.

The mobilization was late so the people are angry.

The emergency workers are now in danger from the angry people

Now no one can get help. But coworkers (I work at a nursing school now, one with a "disaster nursing" track) have heard from doctors and nurses down there who say they are afraid to go in the Superdome because there are rapes and murders going on all around them.

So the people get more and more desperate. And workers get more and more scared.

Also, ita, try the links here. They are very comprehensive.

[link]

University of Wisconsin, Illinois at Chicago, and Chicago Loyola have all jumped on the bandwagon of offering automatic admittance and financial aid packages to displaced students. I know a lot of other are doing the same.

Someone I know in Memphis said:

The University of Memphis is allowing students from Loyola, Southern Miss, and Tulane to pick up their course curriculum (or as close as possible) and attend classes on our campus, waiving any tuition for students who have a paid tuition on file at their previous school (other schools in the state followed suit). The University of Tennessee medical research and science facilities are taking all the misplaced medical students.

We have scheduled a conference call for 2 p.m. today to discuss how universities and colleges around the country might offer help to our students in the event there are no classes held on Tulane’s campus this fall.

GW is allowing anyone from NO schools to register as non-degree students this semester. They're waiving late registration fees, but still charging tuition, as far as I can tell. I think that Syracuse is waiving tuition.

I also just read that the city of DC is sending buses to bring some people here to the Armory.

University of Alabama is also admitting students, assisting with housing, financial aid, etc. There was quite a bit of property damage around Tuscaloosa, so they're helping their current students as well.

Additionally, the student rec center was converted into a shelter for 100 people on Sunday and has been operating since then.

Thanks, Sophia!

Another tidbit from Charity Hospital (which, as you might infer from the name, tends to the poor and indigent, and which - in a pattern which looks kind of familiar now - was dealt with last):

Beside himself after failing to get through to city and state officials, the chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital called a news conference on Thursday to beg for help. Charity was nearly out of food and power for its generators and had been forced to move patients to higher floors to escape looters prowling the hospital, Dr. Norman McSwain said.

From a forwarded email I just got -- I don't know who wrote this originally.

I have confirmed with the First District police that 400 families will be coming to DC on Monday to stay in the Armory. They stressed that their biggest needs at this time are bottled water and anything that would constitute a "care package." For example, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, undergarmets, soap, etc. These items can be brought to the First District office located at 415 4th St SW.