The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.
Updated January 28, 2008:
Afghanistan
*****
Unfortunately, things are continuing to unravel in Afghanistan. Canadian and British troops are rotating into Southern Afghanistan and both are finding the area to be quite hostile. Canadian troops in particular have met with serious resistance in just the past week alone, causing the Canadian population to question the deployment. There are 2,200 Canadian forces in Kandahar.
The Canadians have accepted the command of Uruzgan, Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul Provinces, having taken over from the US. All of these majority-Pashtun provinces are seriously unstable and are hotbeds of support for the Taliban. The insurgency has been growing in all of these provinces since last year. The first deployment of 150 British forces arrived in Helmand in mid-February.
A much larger contingent of British forces - over 2,000 - is due to replace the small US contingent in Helmand shortly. Among the attacks in the past week, we have seen particularly ominous attacks in Kapisa, Badakhshan and central Farah Provinces.
These attacks are unusual because all of these areas have been quite calm since 2001. Attacks in these areas may indicate that the guerrilla war is spreading to new areas.
****
Saturday, February 25
Kandahar, 10:30 PM: Guerrillas fired RPG's at a Canadian patrol on the road between two Canadian camps on the southern outskirts of Kandahar city. There were no serious injuries in the attack. Kandahar is quite hostile.
Sunday, February 26
Khost Province: Taliban Islamofascist idiots bombed a just-completed girls' high school in Khost. Police found and defused another bomb inside the school. Khost is very hostile, with some sort of fighting about every other day in the province. Guerrillas move back and forth across the border between Khost and the North Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.
Monday, February 27
Between Khost Province and Kabul: 2 Afghan policemen and 1 civilian were wounded when an attempt to defuse a roadside bomb on the highway between Kabul and Khost Province went awry when the bomb went off.
Tuesday, February 28
Tarin Kot: Taliban guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb under a US Humvee in Tarin Kot in southern Uruzgan Province, killing 1 US Special Forces soldier, Master Sgt. Emigdio E. Elizarraras, and wounding 2 others. 7 Taliban were arrested by US forces in the attack. Tarin Kot has been very hostile for a long time now.
Wednesday, March 1
*****
Helmand Province: Fighting between Afghan government troops and guerrillas in Helmand killed 1 Afghan soldier and wounded 2 more. Guerrillas also suffered unknown casualties. Helmand is extremely unstable - it is more unstable now than at any time since the US invasion in 2001. There is a great deal of opium production here - it grows more opium than any other Afghan province.
There are not many government or Coalition troops in Helmand. Instead, security is left to Afghan police, who are poorly armed, often have no uniforms and have often received either no training or only a few weeks of training. In combat, Afghan police are often outgunned by the Taliban. In Helmand, the Taliban have formed a marriage of convenience with drug traffickers.
Drug traffickers pay the Taliban to fight government forces to keep security forces so tied up fighting guerrillas that they won't have time to fight the drug trade. In return, the Taliban guard heroin factories and provide armed guards for drug convoys heading south into Baluchistan in Pakistan. This alliance has left the Taliban in Helmand flush with cash and arms.
A few years ago, it was widely suggested that Mullah Omar, former leader of the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan and on the run since the US invasion, might be hiding out in Helmand, where he has family and tribal ties.
*****
Zabul Province: Afghan troops battled guerrillas in Zabul. 3 guerrillas were arrested in the course of the fighting.
Thursday, March 2
****
Outside Kandahar, 9:50 AM: 2 Canadian soldiers were killed and 5 more were wounded when their LAV III armored vehicle overturned 4 miles from the city of Kandahar. It was the second death of a Canadian soldier in a week in hostile Kandahar Province. Corporal Paul Davis was killed immediately.
2 soldiers, Master Corporal Timothy Wilson and Private Miguel Chavez, were seriously wounded. Wilson died on Sunday of his wounds. 4 more soldiers, Private Nathan Justice, Private Mark Taylor, Private Thomas Wong and Sergeant Darren Haggerty, were wounded and in stable condition.
*****
Kapisa Province: Guerrillas attacked a vehicle carrying the Afghan intelligence chief for Tagab District in Kapisa, 37 miles northwest of Kabul. The chief was killed in the attack. There has been little or no violence against Afghan or Coalition forces in Kapisa Province. This is not a good sign.
Friday, March 3
Kandahar Province: A guerrilla suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked a Canadian LAV III armored vehicle in Kandahar, wounding 5 Canadian soldiers. The attacker was an Afghan from Kandahar who had the name of a Pakistani Islamist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, written on his chest.
Sangin District, Helmand Province: There was heavy fighting between Afghan government forces and Taliban guerrillas in Sangin District in Helmand Province 47 miles northwest of the capital of Helmand. 11 Taliban were killed and 4 policemen were wounded in the fighting. 10 more Taliban were arrested by government forces. The Taliban assassinated also the head of Sangin District.
Saturday, March 4
*****
Gumbad, Kandahar Province, Afternoon: 1 Canadian soldier, Lieutenant Trevor Greene, was critically wounded and is currently in a coma after an ax attack by an armed villager in the northern Kandahar village of Gumbad, near Kawndalan in Shah Wali Kot District of Kandahar Province, 50 miles north of Kandahar.
Soldiers had come to the village to discuss reconstruction needs with village elders. Troops had removed their helmets as a sign of respect when one of them was attacked from behind with an ax by a man in his 20's.
After the attack, the attacker was immediately killed by Canadian troops. A melee ensued afterwards as villagers ran in all directions and armed men opened fire on Canadian troops with automatic weapons and RPG's from across a river. The village appeared to be in on the attack. This part of Northern Kandahar Province near the Uruzgan border is very unstable.
*****
Nawai Barazkay, Helmand Province: The Taliban detonated a roadside bomb on a vehicle carrying the head of Intelligence for Nad Ali District in Helmand Province 12 miles south of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, killing the intelligence officer and 3 other intelligence officers. The attack occurred near the town of Nawai Barazkay.
Zairkoa, Farah Province: Taliban terrorists shot and killed a UN engineer near Zairkoa in Bala Buluk District on the border of Farah Province and Herat Province, where he was doing rehabilitation work. The terrorists dragged him from a car and shot him dead. That area would not seem to be an unstable place and I am not aware of any recent reports of anti-Coalition forces in that area.
Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province: 1 French soldier was killed in firefight with guerrillas in very hostile Shah Wali Kot District in northwestern Kandahar Province. 2 guerrillas were also killed in the fighting.
Sunday, March 5
*****
Farah, Farah Province: 2 Afghans and a Pakistani were arrested after their car filled with explosives was pulled over 20 yards from the provincial governor's office in the city of Farah in Farah Province. Provincial officials were meeting with US reconstruction officers in the building at the time.
This incident, along with the previous killing of a UN worker in this province, are not a good sign because Farah has not seen a lot of fighting since the US invasion, other than in the far eastern region, which is majority Pashtun. But the area around Bala Buluk and Farah city have been quite stable. I do not know the ethnic makeup of the rest of Farah province.
****
****
Faizabad, Badakhshan Province: A motorcycle bomb placed outside a hospital in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan Province, went off as a Provincial Reconstruction Team drove by. 2 civilians were wounded in the blast. This attack is definitely bad news.
There have been very few guerrilla attacks on Coalition or Afghan government forces in far northeastern Badakhshan Province, which is populated with Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kirghiz, Pamirs and Pashtuns. Tajik and Uzbek Muslims mostly migrated to Badakhshan after the Soviet takeover of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the 1920's. These Muslims were alienated by the atheist Soviet Communist regime and have strong anti-Soviet leanings.
The Kirghiz and Pamiris are in a beautiful place in the heart of the Himalayas called the Wakhan Corridor. The nomadic pastoralists in this area are desperately poor nowadays, with widespread malnutrition, infant mortality (and mortality in general) and lately, opium addiction.
The Pashtuns are nomadic pastoralists, government officials and wealthy landowners. Most of them are from around Jalalabad and were moved here by the Afghan government in the late 1800's after the conquest of the northern areas.
The Afghan government moved these Nangarhar Pashtuns to Badakhshan and other northern areas to divide this powerful rival group. Burhanuddin Rabbani's Tajik Jamiat-e-Islami, a huge force in the Afghan civil war that wasted the country from 1992-1996, originated in Badakhshan.
The Tajiks and Uzbeks became alienated from the Pashtun-dominated Communist regime as early as 1979, when one of the first anti-Communist uprisings arose in this province. Khalq, the ruling (mostly Pashtun) Communist faction at the time, purged Sitami Mill (Maoists) and Parchami (the other Pashtun Communist faction) from the ruling regime around this time.
In response, Sitami Mill guerrillas attacked and overran a government outpost in Badakhshan. The government responded by appointing a ferocious official to the province who proceeded to crack down viciously on all opposition, but focusing on Islamist groups. It was this Communist reign of terror that alienated the Uzbeks and Tajiks in Badakhshan and led to the formation of Jamaat-e-Islami.
****
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Friday, November 11, 2005
Katrina Death Toll Up to 1,373
Update: The unofficial Katrina death toll has risen to 4,098 as of March 13, 2007. See my March 30, 2007 post, Katrina Death Toll Passes 4,000, for details. A list of 1,195 people who were killed in Hurricane Katrina is available on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
Updated February 7, 2008:
The unofficial death toll for Hurricane Katrina rose by 17 to 1,373 on Wednesday, November 9, with the addition of 17 more bodies in Louisiana. Louisiana continues to recover about 1-2 new bodies every day, which is rather amazing, actually. Although Louisiana officials are reportedly arguing about the official death toll in the state, the official figure is still 1,067, so we will use it in our toll.
Hurricane Katrina cost between $70-130 billion, making it the costliest tropical storm ever. 200,000 people have been left unemployed by Katrina.
The breakdown:
1The Ohio victims are Cassondra Ground, 19, of Monroeville, Ohio and Thelma Niedzinski, 84, of Norwalk, Ohio. Both were killed in a car accident near Monroeville, Ohio on August 30, 2005. The Ohio State Highway Patrol felt that a wet road caused by Hurricane Katrina caused the car accident. See Ohioans Focus on Helping Katrina Victims, by Jay Cohen, Associated Press , August 31, 2005
2The Kentucky victim was Deanna Petsch, 10, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. On August 29, 2005, she fell into a Hurricane Katrina-swollen ditch in Hopkinsville and drowned. See Storm Surge: State Gets Soaked, City Avoids Major Flooding, Homes, Life Lost in Hopkinsville , Sheldon S. Shafer and James Malone, The Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, August 31, 2005
353 of the 57 hurricane evacuee deaths occurred in Texas after evacuating the storm; the total includes two suicides in Texas. Two more evacuees died in Tennessee. Two other evacuees died in an unknown location.
I consider all of these deaths to be storm-related, and it is my understanding that authorities felt they were hurricane-related also. The evacuees section is particularly controversial.
Critics have suggested that the evacuee death toll of 57 deaths is simply a normal death toll for the huge number of evacuees. Yet the figure of 57 dead is far lower than the number of evacuees who died after the storm - a very large number of evacuees died post-Katrina, but the vast majority of them are not included in this tally.
For example, this tally mostly includes evacuees in Texas, omitting the huge number of evacuees from Louisiana, for whom a dubious zero deaths are recorded. Furthermore, evacuees in very poor health or on the verge of death post-Katrina never even made it to Texas; they were evacuated to hospitals, often via airplane.
It is my understanding that officials consider the 57 deaths (mostly in Texas) that occurred very soon after the hurricane to be hurricane-related. Apparently most of the deaths were exacerbated by the stress of the hurricane. The two suicides in Texas have also been questioned.
However, they both occurred very rapidly after the storm and I understand that they are considered to be hurricane-related. There have been many more suicides post-Katrina that are not yet included in this tally.
This section needs further research. Critics with valid data helping to clarify the evacuee death toll are encouraged to email me at the email address at the top right of this page. See 57 Evacuees Reported Dead; At Least 2 Committed Suicide, Steve Quinn, Associated Press, September 15, 2005.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Updated February 7, 2008:
The unofficial death toll for Hurricane Katrina rose by 17 to 1,373 on Wednesday, November 9, with the addition of 17 more bodies in Louisiana. Louisiana continues to recover about 1-2 new bodies every day, which is rather amazing, actually. Although Louisiana officials are reportedly arguing about the official death toll in the state, the official figure is still 1,067, so we will use it in our toll.
Hurricane Katrina cost between $70-130 billion, making it the costliest tropical storm ever. 200,000 people have been left unemployed by Katrina.
The breakdown:
Footnoted totals are controversial. Explanations for controversial totals follows:
Louisiana: Wed., November 9: 1,067
Mississippi: Wed., November 9: 228
Florida: Wed., November 9: 14
Alabama: Wed., November 9: 2
Georgia: Wed., October 19: 2
Ohio1: Fri., September 23: 2
Kentucky2: Fri., September 23: 1
Evacuees3: Tues. October 4: 57
Total: 1,373
1The Ohio victims are Cassondra Ground, 19, of Monroeville, Ohio and Thelma Niedzinski, 84, of Norwalk, Ohio. Both were killed in a car accident near Monroeville, Ohio on August 30, 2005. The Ohio State Highway Patrol felt that a wet road caused by Hurricane Katrina caused the car accident. See Ohioans Focus on Helping Katrina Victims, by Jay Cohen, Associated Press , August 31, 2005
2The Kentucky victim was Deanna Petsch, 10, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. On August 29, 2005, she fell into a Hurricane Katrina-swollen ditch in Hopkinsville and drowned. See Storm Surge: State Gets Soaked, City Avoids Major Flooding, Homes, Life Lost in Hopkinsville , Sheldon S. Shafer and James Malone, The Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, August 31, 2005
353 of the 57 hurricane evacuee deaths occurred in Texas after evacuating the storm; the total includes two suicides in Texas. Two more evacuees died in Tennessee. Two other evacuees died in an unknown location.
I consider all of these deaths to be storm-related, and it is my understanding that authorities felt they were hurricane-related also. The evacuees section is particularly controversial.
Critics have suggested that the evacuee death toll of 57 deaths is simply a normal death toll for the huge number of evacuees. Yet the figure of 57 dead is far lower than the number of evacuees who died after the storm - a very large number of evacuees died post-Katrina, but the vast majority of them are not included in this tally.
For example, this tally mostly includes evacuees in Texas, omitting the huge number of evacuees from Louisiana, for whom a dubious zero deaths are recorded. Furthermore, evacuees in very poor health or on the verge of death post-Katrina never even made it to Texas; they were evacuated to hospitals, often via airplane.
It is my understanding that officials consider the 57 deaths (mostly in Texas) that occurred very soon after the hurricane to be hurricane-related. Apparently most of the deaths were exacerbated by the stress of the hurricane. The two suicides in Texas have also been questioned.
However, they both occurred very rapidly after the storm and I understand that they are considered to be hurricane-related. There have been many more suicides post-Katrina that are not yet included in this tally.
This section needs further research. Critics with valid data helping to clarify the evacuee death toll are encouraged to email me at the email address at the top right of this page. See 57 Evacuees Reported Dead; At Least 2 Committed Suicide, Steve Quinn, Associated Press, September 15, 2005.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Fanaticism and its Discontents
Why are Republicans so dishonest? Probably because as extreme rightwingers, they tend to be fanatics, and most fanatics are outrageously dishonest.
That extends from Linux (or insert another product) fanatics to political fanatics to extreme nationalist fanatics to ethnic and tribal fanatics of all stripes to religious fanatics. They may also just be crafty psychopathic bottom-liners, who play the zero-sum game for keeps. The more I study the fanatic, the more convinced I am that this is a sick way of thinking.
And what it looks like at core is human egotism. Because the fanatic's relationship to the thing he is fanatical about is identical to the egotist's relationship to the individual. After all, the ego is the biggest liar that any of us know. The ego lies to most all of us every minute of every day, and this is adaptive to some extent.
When it gets out of control, the lying of the egotist or his extensions assumes gargantuan proportions. This is seen in the addict, the sociopath, the narcissist, the histrionic, the borderline, indeed, in every single personality disorder - in a word, the extreme selfish human.
Other characteristics of the egotist are reacting with rage to all criticism, and and treating all criticism as libel, assault, character assassination, defamation, or especially, hatred.
To the egotist, all criticism is always absolutely uncalled for and baffling. Of course, the egotist reacts towards this outrageous assault with a wild counterattack that often has overtones of threats, verbal, physical, monetary or social (the egotist will threaten to end the relationship with the critic).
At the same time, the egotist engages in nonstop criticism of others, often of a very harsh nature. In fact, many egotists are in a constant state of attack against supposed inferiors and enemies, which makes them seem mean, aggressive or hostile. In conflicts, the egotist portrays himself as the knight in shining armor radiating perfection, pure goodness and righteousness in all directions.
The person conflicting with the egotist is portrayed as purely bad or crazy, the essence of negativity and evil boiled into human shape. The egotist is 100% right and good and his opponent is 100% wrong and evil. Any suggestion to the egotist that there may be a 1% grey area in the conflict is met with fury, threats, and accusations of "working for the enemy".
It's tough being friends with an egotist, since you're either 100% supportive of the egotist, or if not, you are blackened by the egotist into a 100% enemy. As this situation gets more out of hand, the egotist's behavior gets more virulent in its pathology, and we often see frank paranoia, audacious attempts at attention-getting and appalling manipulation of others.
This little psychological aside has a purpose. I want you to think about what I just said and plug it into the notion of fanaticism. The stunning conclusion is that the fanatic is "egotistical" about the object of his fanaticism.
Therefore, the relationship of the fanatic towards rival or conflicting products, ideologies, political parties, tribes, races, religions or nations, is precisely the same diseased, pathological behavior that the egotist displays towards his critics and rivals! Now we need to know why this is.
Does the fanatic see his fanaticized objects and notions as extensions of himself, of his own ego? Surely the tribal, racial, religious or ethnic fanatic must. If you attack my "tribe", then you attack me, and I will react accordingly as if you threatened to kill me. But does the Republican fanatic or the Linux fanatic see the party or the operating system as an extension of the self? How could they?
Food for thought...
That extends from Linux (or insert another product) fanatics to political fanatics to extreme nationalist fanatics to ethnic and tribal fanatics of all stripes to religious fanatics. They may also just be crafty psychopathic bottom-liners, who play the zero-sum game for keeps. The more I study the fanatic, the more convinced I am that this is a sick way of thinking.
And what it looks like at core is human egotism. Because the fanatic's relationship to the thing he is fanatical about is identical to the egotist's relationship to the individual. After all, the ego is the biggest liar that any of us know. The ego lies to most all of us every minute of every day, and this is adaptive to some extent.
When it gets out of control, the lying of the egotist or his extensions assumes gargantuan proportions. This is seen in the addict, the sociopath, the narcissist, the histrionic, the borderline, indeed, in every single personality disorder - in a word, the extreme selfish human.
Other characteristics of the egotist are reacting with rage to all criticism, and and treating all criticism as libel, assault, character assassination, defamation, or especially, hatred.
To the egotist, all criticism is always absolutely uncalled for and baffling. Of course, the egotist reacts towards this outrageous assault with a wild counterattack that often has overtones of threats, verbal, physical, monetary or social (the egotist will threaten to end the relationship with the critic).
At the same time, the egotist engages in nonstop criticism of others, often of a very harsh nature. In fact, many egotists are in a constant state of attack against supposed inferiors and enemies, which makes them seem mean, aggressive or hostile. In conflicts, the egotist portrays himself as the knight in shining armor radiating perfection, pure goodness and righteousness in all directions.
The person conflicting with the egotist is portrayed as purely bad or crazy, the essence of negativity and evil boiled into human shape. The egotist is 100% right and good and his opponent is 100% wrong and evil. Any suggestion to the egotist that there may be a 1% grey area in the conflict is met with fury, threats, and accusations of "working for the enemy".
It's tough being friends with an egotist, since you're either 100% supportive of the egotist, or if not, you are blackened by the egotist into a 100% enemy. As this situation gets more out of hand, the egotist's behavior gets more virulent in its pathology, and we often see frank paranoia, audacious attempts at attention-getting and appalling manipulation of others.
This little psychological aside has a purpose. I want you to think about what I just said and plug it into the notion of fanaticism. The stunning conclusion is that the fanatic is "egotistical" about the object of his fanaticism.
Therefore, the relationship of the fanatic towards rival or conflicting products, ideologies, political parties, tribes, races, religions or nations, is precisely the same diseased, pathological behavior that the egotist displays towards his critics and rivals! Now we need to know why this is.
Does the fanatic see his fanaticized objects and notions as extensions of himself, of his own ego? Surely the tribal, racial, religious or ethnic fanatic must. If you attack my "tribe", then you attack me, and I will react accordingly as if you threatened to kill me. But does the Republican fanatic or the Linux fanatic see the party or the operating system as an extension of the self? How could they?
Food for thought...
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Howard Fast and Revolutionary Picnics
I was getting my Master's Degree at a California state university and it was Fall 1992. I befriended a Chinese man from mainland China who was also in the Master's program. He was one smart guy, and he was also really nice, but I had to tell him to quit putting his arm around me as we walked across campus cuz of all the funny glances we got. We used to talk about socialism, China, Mao, Marx, and many other things.
The guy (name forgotten) called himself a socialist, but hated the present CP in China. One warm afternoon we were outside of Historical Linguistics class (fascinating subfield) and we were talking about something or other. He got this wicked twinkle in his eye and said, "Well, you know, Chairman Mao said, 'Revolution... is not a picnic'". He laughed, and I did too, and to this day, I just love that nugget of pungent Maoist wisdom.
P.S. If you are clicking the links above, try this one: an article by Howard Fast from the Daily Worker in 1956, the year he broke with the American Communist Party. Even if you hate Communism, you have to admit it's a gorgeous piece. Wow, what a writer. I know very little about Howard Fast, but the index page for the link above seems to have a trove of information about this fine writer and thinker. Nice biography here.
The guy (name forgotten) called himself a socialist, but hated the present CP in China. One warm afternoon we were outside of Historical Linguistics class (fascinating subfield) and we were talking about something or other. He got this wicked twinkle in his eye and said, "Well, you know, Chairman Mao said, 'Revolution... is not a picnic'". He laughed, and I did too, and to this day, I just love that nugget of pungent Maoist wisdom.
P.S. If you are clicking the links above, try this one: an article by Howard Fast from the Daily Worker in 1956, the year he broke with the American Communist Party. Even if you hate Communism, you have to admit it's a gorgeous piece. Wow, what a writer. I know very little about Howard Fast, but the index page for the link above seems to have a trove of information about this fine writer and thinker. Nice biography here.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Katrina Death Toll Climbs to 1,271
The unofficial death toll for Hurricane Katrina climbed to 1,271 on Tuesday, October 4, as eight more bodies were found in Louisiana, raising the total there to 972. The eight bodies in Louisiana were found one day after FEMA declared the search for the dead in Louisiana to be officially over and issued a "final" death toll. Snort. Isn't it odd that after they call off the search and issue a final toll, more bodies keep turning up?
1The Ohio victims are Cassondra Ground, 19, of Monroeville, Ohio and Thelma Niedzinski, 84, of Norwalk, Ohio. Both were killed in a car accident near Monroeville, Ohio on August 30, 2005. The Ohio State Highway Patrol felt that a wet road caused by Hurricane Katrina caused the car accident. See Ohioans Focus on Helping Katrina Victims, by Jay Cohen, Associated Press , August 31, 2005
2The Kentucky victim was Deanna Petsch, 10, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. On August 29, 2005, she fell into a Hurricane Katrina-swollen ditch in Hopkinsville and drowned. See Storm Surge: State Gets Soaked, City Avoids Major Flooding, Homes, Life Lost in Hopkinsville , Sheldon S. Shafer and James Malone, The Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, August 31, 2005
353 of the 57 hurricane evacuee deaths occurred in Texas after evacuating the storm; the total includes two suicides in Texas. Two more evacuees died in Tennessee. Two other evacuees died in an unknown location.
I consider all of these deaths to be storm-related, and it is my understanding that authorities felt they were hurricane-related also. The evacuees section is particularly controversial.
Critics have suggested that the evacuee death toll of 57 deaths is simply a normal death toll for the huge number of evacuees. Yet the figure of 57 dead is far lower than the number of evacuees who died after the storm - a very large number of evacuees died post-Katrina, but the vast majority of them are not included in this tally.
For example, this tally mostly includes evacuees in Texas, omitting the huge number of evacuees from Louisiana, for whom a dubious zero deaths are recorded. Furthermore, evacuees in very poor health or on the verge of death post-Katrina never even made it to Texas; they were evacuated to hospitals, often via airplane.
It is my understanding that officials consider the 57 deaths (mostly in Texas) that occurred very soon after the hurricane to be hurricane-related. Apparently most of the deaths were exacerbated by the stress of the hurricane. The two suicides in Texas have also been questioned.
However, they both occurred very rapidly after the storm and I understand that they are considered to be hurricane-related. There have been many more suicides post-Katrina that are not yet included in this tally.
This section needs further research. Critics with valid data helping to clarify the evacuee death toll are encouraged to email me at the email address at the top right of this page. See 57 Evacuees Reported Dead; At Least 2 Committed Suicide, Steve Quinn, Associated Press, September 15, 2005.
Only 61 of the 972 dead in Louisiana have been identified. In Mississippi, 196 of the 221 dead have been identified. 2000 children are still missing in the disaster, and a list of them can be found here (Excel viewer or Excel required). A page of their photos can be found here. In addition, around 3,600 adults are still missing, according to this list. So the total missing from Katrina is around 5,600 people.
Louisiana: Tues. October 4: 972Footnoted totals are controversial. Explanations for controversial totals follows:
Mississippi: Tues. October 4: 221
Florida: Wed., September 28: 14
Alabama: Wed., September 28: 2
Georgia: Fri., September 23: 2
Ohio1: Fri., September 23: 2
Kentucky2: Fri., September 23: 1
Evacuees3: Tues. October 4: 57
Total: 1,271
1The Ohio victims are Cassondra Ground, 19, of Monroeville, Ohio and Thelma Niedzinski, 84, of Norwalk, Ohio. Both were killed in a car accident near Monroeville, Ohio on August 30, 2005. The Ohio State Highway Patrol felt that a wet road caused by Hurricane Katrina caused the car accident. See Ohioans Focus on Helping Katrina Victims, by Jay Cohen, Associated Press , August 31, 2005
2The Kentucky victim was Deanna Petsch, 10, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. On August 29, 2005, she fell into a Hurricane Katrina-swollen ditch in Hopkinsville and drowned. See Storm Surge: State Gets Soaked, City Avoids Major Flooding, Homes, Life Lost in Hopkinsville , Sheldon S. Shafer and James Malone, The Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, August 31, 2005
353 of the 57 hurricane evacuee deaths occurred in Texas after evacuating the storm; the total includes two suicides in Texas. Two more evacuees died in Tennessee. Two other evacuees died in an unknown location.
I consider all of these deaths to be storm-related, and it is my understanding that authorities felt they were hurricane-related also. The evacuees section is particularly controversial.
Critics have suggested that the evacuee death toll of 57 deaths is simply a normal death toll for the huge number of evacuees. Yet the figure of 57 dead is far lower than the number of evacuees who died after the storm - a very large number of evacuees died post-Katrina, but the vast majority of them are not included in this tally.
For example, this tally mostly includes evacuees in Texas, omitting the huge number of evacuees from Louisiana, for whom a dubious zero deaths are recorded. Furthermore, evacuees in very poor health or on the verge of death post-Katrina never even made it to Texas; they were evacuated to hospitals, often via airplane.
It is my understanding that officials consider the 57 deaths (mostly in Texas) that occurred very soon after the hurricane to be hurricane-related. Apparently most of the deaths were exacerbated by the stress of the hurricane. The two suicides in Texas have also been questioned.
However, they both occurred very rapidly after the storm and I understand that they are considered to be hurricane-related. There have been many more suicides post-Katrina that are not yet included in this tally.
This section needs further research. Critics with valid data helping to clarify the evacuee death toll are encouraged to email me at the email address at the top right of this page. See 57 Evacuees Reported Dead; At Least 2 Committed Suicide, Steve Quinn, Associated Press, September 15, 2005.
Only 61 of the 972 dead in Louisiana have been identified. In Mississippi, 196 of the 221 dead have been identified. 2000 children are still missing in the disaster, and a list of them can be found here (Excel viewer or Excel required). A page of their photos can be found here. In addition, around 3,600 adults are still missing, according to this list. So the total missing from Katrina is around 5,600 people.
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