NEWS: Katrina - Official Death Toll

At present the official death toll in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina is 83 persons according to authorities, with some estimates projecting an end total of around 10,000 people. Mobile morgues have been set up and bodies are being collected from floodwaters in badly decomposed condition. Saint gabriel, north of New Orleans has been designated a collection point for bodies recovered from the disaster.



Estimates so far from other areas have an official figure of 150, once again this figure will rise substantially over the next few weeks as more and more bodies are identified.

I would like this thread to be updated with official figures as time goes by and more and more bodies are found.

Related News Links:
www.washingtonpost.com
www.stuff.co.nz
www.latimes.com
news.nationalgeographic.com

What's going to be more difficult with getting a final tally on the death toll in New Orleans is the fact that every cemetary in New Orleans is above ground, and it's quite likely that some of the monuments were disturbed by the storm and resulting flood waters, spilling their occupants. I hope that the death/funeral records in the city are able to be retrieved, as this will make it a little easier to determine who died and was buried before the storm, versus after the storm.

Also, an interesting side note - New Orleans has often been called the City of the Dead, because, even before the storm, there's more dead occupants than living occupants - all of whom have been entombed above ground, rather than buried underground.

I believe the recovery of bodies is well undergoing but the counts has kept quiet for now.

I guess nobody wants to tell how many so far they have found and if they died before or after the storm.

SOME 25,000 body bags have been brought into the New Orleans area to cope with the possiblity of a huge death toll from Hurricane Katrina, a Louisiana health official has said.
"It is my understanding that FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has about 25,000 body bags on hand," Bob Johanssen of the state Department of Health and Hospitals told reporters.
www.news.com.au...

[edit on 7-9-2005 by Mayet]

Good update. Thanks. ....and which might explain why no picture taking is allowed - documentation for a count.

It will be a while until the real toll is tallied. Here's a note from a friend who has lost relatives and some still missing...

it is so sad...My cousin lost everything. We still have not found several cousins and my ex has not found his brother. There are over 2 thousand dead in Slidell at last count but they are not reporting them until next of kin is told.

From what I read this morning FEMA, RED CROSS and Guard are now in Slidell along with Electric trying to get things back together. My cousin from 40 miles up the road has been doing road clearing and just got the main roads open 3 days ago so help could get through.

I would not let Sylvia and her son go back until they had their shots and we knew they would be safe. From what we hear there is a 9 PM lock down, no alcohol allowed and no smoking in some areas due to busted gas lines.

Tanker trucks arrived yesterday and started giving out gas since the pumps are still down. The lines are 4 to 6 hours wait for gas.

It is bad and now I know why we have not been hearing about Slidell. Seems there were many bodies hanging from the railroad bridge, hwy 11 bridge and twin span bridge that had to be retrived. Plus cars on the twin span bridge with bodies in them and cars which had been swept into the lake as people tried to get out of New Orleans.

SAD...SAD...SAD


used with permission

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


A sad dirge from Naw'leans to remember them by...

Learn From This Mistake

I've come so close, it's almost hard to believe
When you're up close, it blinds you brilliantly
Just one rush can change your life forever
Just one push can end it all together

Why can't we learn from the plague that surrounds us
Learn from my mistakes
Learn from this mistake
Learn from our mistake
Learn from their mistakes

There's no shoulder to cry on when you have no shame
There's no finger to point when you are to blame
Open book, in my eyes shows you rain, then storming
I can't look, when covered by the nothing and the suffering

Learn from my mistakes
Learn from this mistake
Learn from our mistake
Learn from their mistakes
Learn from my mistake

Believe me, all my friends, in the ending of the story
There's no junkie out there with a happy ending
It consumes you, and haunts you like the devil
It's the art of the process that kills off all the rebels

Learn from this mistake
Learn from my mistake
Learn from our mistake
Learn from my mistake...

The recent request on the part of the Feds to not take any pictures of the dead seems eerily familar. Jeez...when did the Feds last ask us not to photograph the dead...that's right, we're not allowed to honor the fallen in Iraq because no one is to see images of flag draped coffins.

This policy makes as much sense to me as someone rushing to NO to open an electronics store to fill the void created by looting. If you want to respect the dead, do not let them die in vain. At least allow their deaths to burn the image of a failed disaster recovery effort into the minds of the survivors, some of which are the families which will have to move right back in to that hellhole when they can.

FEMA accused of censorship

When U.S. officials asked the media not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, they were censoring a key part of the disaster story, free speech watchdogs said on Wednesday.

The move by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in line with the Bush administration's ban on images of flag-draped U.S. military coffins returning from the Iraq war, media monitors said in separate telephone interviews.

"It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story," said Larry Siems of the PEN American Center, an authors' group that defends free expression.

"The notion that, when there's very little information from FEMA, that they would even spend the time to be concerned about whether the reporting effort is up to its standards of taste is simply mind-boggling," Daugherty said. "You cannot report on the disaster and give the public a realistic idea of how horrible it is if you don't see that there are bodies as well."

It has been reported that more than 30 people have died at a nursing home in one of the suburbs of New Orleans hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina last week.

Local authorities have told CNN the bodies were found at St Rita's Nursing Home in the district known as St Bernard Parish.

Sheriff Jack Stevens has reportedly said between 40 and 50 other people inside the nursing home are alive and have been rescued.

The sheriff has not provided an exact body count and the number has not been added to the official death toll of 83, announced earlier this week by New Orleans authorities.

Mayor Ray Nagin has said the overall death toll from Katrina could reach 10,000.

Authorities have confirmed at least three people have died and one is seriously ill, after contracting bacterial infections from the contaminated floodwaters.
www.abc.net.au...

To add to the death toll, these poor people in a nursing home with no chance of running to escape floodwaters or to go find food or water.

All we can do now is pray for the dead in whatever way that is in our hearts and do our best to make sure that they did not die in vain lets all continue to pull together to see that some good comes out of this, some teamwork, some togetherness, some heart, and some all around learning make it possible...I have just said a prayer for them and I send my hopeful thoughts there way and you should too.

The 10.000 estimate could be way below the mark as mentioned above.
The BBC have this News Item regarding the amount of body bags needed.
I hope to God that they don't all get used.

Officials say the final death toll from Hurricane Katrina may be lower than initially feared amid the release of a document that appears to show that the scale of the disaster had been foreseen.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown is to be recalled to Washington.

He will be replaced Vice-Admiral Thad Allen from the US Coast Guard.

"Hurricane Katrina will go down as the largest natural disaster in American history, and Mike has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge," Mr Chertoff said.

Mr Brown had resisted calls to resign over the sluggish federal response to the disaster.

The document outlines a scenario of 1 million evacuees and up to 350,000 left homeless in the event of a hurricane hitting New Orleans.
www.abc.net.au...

The US military says it will ban journalists and photographers from documenting the recovery of bodies left littering New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

The military ban follows a request by the Federal Emergency Management Team (FEMA) not to photograph the dead.

The Pentagon has an existing banned photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore, the commander of the relief operation on the US Gulf Coast, said that while the military had allowed reporters covering the catastrophe free rein, it was now slamming the door shut out of respect for the possibly thousands of victims and their families.

"We've had total access to everything we've done - the good, the bad and the ugly - but that operation (the recovery of corpses) will be conducted with dignity and respect for the families," Lt Gen Honore said.

www.abc.net.au...

CNN has brought the issue of no media coverage of the body recovery to the federal court system.

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- At the request of CNN, a federal judge in Texas Friday night blocked emergency officials in New Orleans from preventing the media from covering the recovery of bodies from Hurricane Katrina.

Attorneys for the network argued that the ban was an unconstitutional prior restraint on news gathering.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison issued a temporary restraining order against a "zero access" policy announced earlier Friday by Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the federal relief effort in the city, and Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director.

Link to the original article

Hopefully, the courts make this permanent in the hearing on Saturday. Good job CNN.

Good find there

I am glad they are making this move. It seems the start of secrecy big time lately with our Governments deciding for themselves what we need to know and what we don't need to know. It is our choice and i think the majority of people would say they want the truth.

THE official death toll from Hurricane Katrina rose Saturday to 381, but with still no estimate of a final figure.
There were 154 dead in Louisiana, up from 118, 211 in Mississippi, up from 204, 14 in Florida and two in Alabama, authorities in the different states said.

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, and other leading officials in Louisiana had said there could be 10,000 dead but in recent days have indicated the final figure will be much lower.
www.news.com.au...

Zero access will not mean full accounting. Even if the access is unlimited there will be times when the media is warned not to enter certain areas due to a gazillion varied reasons. Health and Safety?

I am glad to see the verdict. I hope the media now has the balls to do the story as it should be told.

Originally posted by Mayet
i think the majority of people would say they want the truth.

Here's a hint from the latest communications strategy of what to expect:


From FredT, posted 9/9

"Innovative Emergency Management Inc. of Baton Rouge, hired by FEMA, in July 2004 conducted a 8 day simulation of a Category 3 hurricane making a direct hit on New Orleans. The chilling prediction of the models were at least over 61 thousand dead and 380,000 wounded. The fictitious Hurricane Pam was to have overwhelmed the levee system and predicted as much as a year to make some areas safe to live in."

Hurricane Simulation Predicted 61,290 Dead


The above story contradicts one of the major stories that ran 2 days earlier:

From wecomeinpeace, posted 9/7

"...FEMA had run simulated hurricane drills for New Orleans that were very successful in all aspects. Both men expressed disbelief and bewilderment after witnessing the agency's dismal response to the crisis. The revelation follows in the footsteps of allegations by people on the ground in New Orleans that FEMA was actively refusing aid and personnel resources that would have helped to alleviate the crisis."

Former FEMA Officials Speak Out


EDIT to Add: Oh yeah - my take - the death toll will be high but most of the deaths will blamed on a "disease outbreak."

[edit on 10-9-2005 by soficrow]

The media is now saying that the current death toll from Katrina in New Orleans is only 91. Ninety-one??? I thought I've seen photos of more than 91 dead. After two weeks of hearing numbers up to 10,000, how can there be only 91 dead?
I've given a lot of thought to this, and I don't see how anybody could fudge the death toll by a substantial figure. Not with census data and birth records. I'm really bothered by this because it seems that either the media has been lying their heads off to us, or there is a HUGE coverup going on.
Help me out here, do you think the estimates could have been so far off?

www.news.com.au...

RELIEF workers have found the bodies of 45 people in a New Orleans hospital, two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the city turning it into a foul swamp, a health official said today.
"Forty-five corpses were retrieved from the Memorial Medical Centre," Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals spokeswoman Melissa Walker said.

"The bodies were found yesterday (Sunday) but the retrieval operation is ongoing," she said.

Relief workers from the Federal Emergency Management's (FEMA) Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team were recovering the bodies, but it was not yet known whether the remains were those of staff or patients, Ms Walker said.

Are you attributing these 45 to Katrina, Mayet?
Where they confirmed mercy killings because they could not be evacuated?
Where they [the dead bodies and/or in the morgue] there before Katrina hit and were simply left or not removed?

Your article mentioned:

Relief workers from the Federal Emergency Management's (FEMA) Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team were recovering the bodies, but it was not yet known whether the remains were those of staff or patients, Ms Walker said.

According to this AP short article:

The 317-bed hospital, owned by TenetHealthcare Corp., was surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of the hurricane and was evacuated.

Interesting that such a claim would be made that the hospital "was evacuated", and yet 45 bodies were found, no?

Personally, journalism today is a joke.





seekerof

[edit on 12-9-2005 by Seekerof]