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New Orleans mayor: I see death
04/09/2005 22:02 - (SA)
New Orleans - Some New Orleans police and firefighters were driven to suicide by the trauma of trying to hold the city together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, mayor Ray Nagin said Sunday.
"Some firefighters and police officers have been pretty much traumatised. And we've already had a couple of suicides," Nagin told CNN.
Local emergency services were overwhelmed by the level of destruction unleashed by Katrina, and found themselves helpless as the city swiftly descended into anarchy with widespread looting and violence.
Outnumbered and unable to deter the looters, a number of police officers simply turned in their badges in disgust.
"They've been holding the city together for three or four days, almost by themselves, doing everything imaginable," Nagin said, "and the toll is just too much for them".
The mayor said his main priority was to cycle the most fatigued emergency personnel out of the city as soon as possible.
"They need physical and psychological evaluations," he added.
Once the evacuation of hurricane survivors from the city had been completed, Nagin said the next priority would be the grisly task of harvesting the rotting corpses from the flooded streets and houses.
"We have to drain this city. We have to get these dead bodies out of the water," he said, estimating that the death toll would be in the thousands.
Nagin has been among the most vocal critics of the government response to the disaster that left 80% of New Orleans submerged.
He was especially angered by delays in bringing in sufficient numbers of armed national guardsmen to help secure the city as the law and order situation broke down.
With the arrival of reinforcements in the last two days, including thousands of active service troops, Nagin said the security situation had improved, but the overall picture remained dire.
"I see the same thing I've been seeing for six or seven days now. I see destruction. "I see despair. I see suffering. I see death," he said.
- AFP
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