I just came back from Bay St. Louis (putting in new wireless data links (puters & VoIP) to shelters & reponders). What awaits you isn't the normal disaster response scenario I'm accustomed to:
Currently, the shelters have tons (literally) of food & water. The emergency responders have plenty of supplies too. Things appear stable on a day-to-day basis. What's so far completely undefined is how to get the economies of these cities up & running again - there's really nothing left of these communities but giant piles of festering debris. (The only signs of emerging capitalism I saw were some new cars on the wrecked car lots, and lots of plywood signs that said "Tree Cut'n, House Gut'n" with a cell number.)
The current premise among many is that the only thing you need bring is beer; with that, anything else can be easily bartered for. I'm not advocating that, but you get the idea. There's lots of stuff there now.
I'd agree with others: Don't go without a clearly needed purpose/invitation. I imagine the shelter personnel will need some rotation, but I'm unsure why those sheltered can't take over most of those functions.
If you're working at a shelter, just stay cool - it's really damn hot there. Boots, etc., aren't needed unless you're going into the hell zone. In those climates, I wear scrubs - cheap, light, and they don't soak up all the rain & sweat, so they dry quickly. Soaked t-shirts suck. If you're prone to sweat a lot in places like this, bring Gatorade for your own electrolytes. Drink lots of water (it's everywhere) - and a bottle of Gatorade a day. It's more important than you think. Coolers (even without ice) do a good job of keeping drinks drinkable.
(I drove from Montogomery thru Meridian to Hattiesburg - the most dense outbreak of lovebugs I've ever seen coated my car with guts that then baked onto the paint, wipers, glass, etc., and has been a giant pain. These bugs quickly obscure the vision through your windshield, and truly become a problem in several ways. Rain makes the situation worse, too. A non-scratch scrubby will help you get them off your glass & paint, and you don't want to wait.)
In any case, if you have a specific purpose/reason/invitation to participate, go. If you don't, contribute money if you can - on-site, you'll likely become a burden.
I think the biggest thing ALL OF US can do is to push our Governments to do better, and to hold them accountable. Just throwing our money at Halliburton or Bechtel doesn't really fix much. Like Rob Corddry says, it's not about a reduced size of government, it's about a reduced effectiveness.
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Currently, the shelters have tons (literally) of food & water. The emergency responders have plenty of supplies too. Things appear stable on a day-to-day basis. What's so far completely undefined is how to get the economies of these cities up & running again - there's really nothing left of these communities but giant piles of festering debris. (The only signs of emerging capitalism I saw were some new cars on the wrecked car lots, and lots of plywood signs that said "Tree Cut'n, House Gut'n" with a cell number.)
The current premise among many is that the only thing you need bring is beer; with that, anything else can be easily bartered for. I'm not advocating that, but you get the idea. There's lots of stuff there now.
I'd agree with others: Don't go without a clearly needed purpose/invitation. I imagine the shelter personnel will need some rotation, but I'm unsure why those sheltered can't take over most of those functions.
If you're working at a shelter, just stay cool - it's really damn hot there. Boots, etc., aren't needed unless you're going into the hell zone. In those climates, I wear scrubs - cheap, light, and they don't soak up all the rain & sweat, so they dry quickly. Soaked t-shirts suck. If you're prone to sweat a lot in places like this, bring Gatorade for your own electrolytes. Drink lots of water (it's everywhere) - and a bottle of Gatorade a day. It's more important than you think. Coolers (even without ice) do a good job of keeping drinks drinkable.
(I drove from Montogomery thru Meridian to Hattiesburg - the most dense outbreak of lovebugs I've ever seen coated my car with guts that then baked onto the paint, wipers, glass, etc., and has been a giant pain. These bugs quickly obscure the vision through your windshield, and truly become a problem in several ways. Rain makes the situation worse, too. A non-scratch scrubby will help you get them off your glass & paint, and you don't want to wait.)
In any case, if you have a specific purpose/reason/invitation to participate, go. If you don't, contribute money if you can - on-site, you'll likely become a burden.
I think the biggest thing ALL OF US can do is to push our Governments to do better, and to hold them accountable. Just throwing our money at Halliburton or Bechtel doesn't really fix much. Like Rob Corddry says, it's not about a reduced size of government, it's about a reduced effectiveness.