Comments on: Warren, Julie & Charles Update

By: Anthony Marseglia

Anthony Marseglia — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:56:12 +0000

Glad to hear that everyone from the NO IABC is safe.
Prayers go out to all affected by this tragedy.

IABC PHOENIX

By: Gerard Braud

Gerard Braud — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:28:23 +0000

HELP. Please, please, please help. This is Gerard Braud. I have evacuated safely from New Orleans, but now I am trying to return home to offer my services as a communicator. Specifically I an trying to get to Covington, Louisiana to help in St. Tammany Parish. The problem is, there is no way to get information to anyone in an official capacity who can get me in to help. I need an official police or emergency vehicle to get from Destin, Florida to Covington, Louisiana. Only official vehicles are allowed on the interstate.

As with most disasters, everyone is busy handling the crisis and no one is communicating. I have a broadcast camera and computer editing in my car. If I can get in, I can drive back out to places with power to get this information out to citizens who need it. ONE MILLION people are trying to get official information and there is NO SOURCE FOR IT. One Million people will be HOMELESS for week and don’t know it yet. I have the tools and the know how. I just need a way in.

If you know anyone, ANYONE, who can help, we need you desperately. I need someone at the Federal FEMA level who can cut through red tape and show interest in my offer to help lift some of the communications burden.

I am currently camped out at an Emergency Operations Center in Florida, where they are trying to help me facilitate my offer.

If you see this posting, please contact me here at 850-651-7560.

My e-mail is not working. I will look for your postings here.

Because the TV networks are showing the same footage over and over, and only a few dramatic interviews, my goal is to gather official information that I can bring back out to TV and Radio Stations, as well as websites, so other evacuations have real info. Official government websites are down because the servers are only based locally and there is no power–there are no phone lines.

We need to think outside the box. I need brain power and the networking capability of this global organization for us to do something BIG.

My evacuation site numbers are as follows:
My cell: May not work-504-908-8188
Elaine Tucker’s Cell-my house host-850-585-7294

My e-mail is not working. I will look for your postings here.

By: Sheri Rosen

Sheri Rosen — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 02:31:28 +0000

I have been glued to the TV, in part because I lived in New Orleans for about eight years. It is so catastrophic that it is incomprehensible. Thank God you all are safe. Charles, in particular, I’ve been thinking about you and praying for you and your mother. I worry about all my ol’ New Orleans chapter friends. Everyone — keep us updated on your whereabouts, safety, and recovery plans. What can we do to help?

By: Julie Freeman

Julie Freeman — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:11:30 +0000

As Tom wrote in his posts, IABC Chair Warren Bickford and I, as well as past Chair David Kistle, left New Orleans by car. We are all safe and sound and I’m now writing from San Francisco.

During the long drive out of the affected area, we knew that while Warren, David and I were headed toward the safety of our homes, most of the people in the countless other cars sharing the road with us were in fact leaving their homes behind, not knowing what they’d return to when this is all over.

To our members and everyone else in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, on behalf of IABC’s staff and executive board, our thoughts are with you, with hopes for your safety and minimal loss of property.

We’ll keep posting updates here in the Café as more information becomes available.

Julie Freeman
IABC President

By: Lisa Owens

Lisa Owens — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:48:18 +0000

Tom -
Thank you very, very much for the update! Glad everyone’s out of harm’s way.

(noon cst)