The Aftermath of Helen

From what I am seeing from people on the ground via social media Western North Carolina, and parts of Tennessee, and Georgia took a massive hit from hurricane Helen. Roads are gone, bridges gone, entire towns washed away. News from there is that emergency management agencies won’t go in because the roads aren’t clear. Private pilots in places are being threatened with arrest if they fly helicopters in. Food, water, shelter, and fuel are all desperately needed. So two big things come to mind:

First we have some of the largest corporations in the world, why can’t they step up? Walmart has logistics nailed down. Coke-a-cola, Pepsico, and Conagra, pretty much control the food and beverage industry, can they not shave some profit while doing “I’m not an evil corporation” public relations?

The United States can drop a Burger King in a shipping container in a war zone, can’t these corporations drop some generic commercial kitchens in these cut off areas? I mean food trucks are a thing so I know we could fit a kitchen sponsored by Kimberly Clark in a 20 foot container and I bet if they reached out to John Deere, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin or Northrup Grumin, one of them could get them just about anywhere even without a road. Heck partner up with Blue Bird, a school bus will go just about anywhere with the right tires!

Can Elon Musk not afford to drop Starlink set ups to survivors? Space-X can launch a rocket and land it on a small pad in the ocean, don’t tell me they can’t deliver supplies to a parking lot. Can Jeff Bezos not use Amazon drones to get food in? Bonus PR if they wave the charges for these folks. Can REI that is so quick to outfit protestors for Occupy Wall Street suddenly not be able to sponsor families with camping gear?

Second, why hasn’t the Army Corp of Engineers been deployed? Or maybe the Seabees? Can we not dispatch a few dozen Chinooks into ferrying supplies and people? Can we not establish MASH units for the injured? The United States Military can deploy anywhere on Earth in 24 hours. Why not Appalachia? I’m not one for martial law but right now too many people in charge are too big for their britches and I think it’s time we assign a general to the job. Why does emergency relief have to come from the Cajun Navy and not the U.S. Navy? Why do the owners of monster trucks get in and out in dangerous times but relief agencies can’t or won’t?

I know some will say the president has to authorize deployment, but so can Congress. We should have learned from Katrina, but obviously we haven’t. Katrina was totally FUBAR and now we are doing it all over again nineteen years later. Is it because our people in power look down on mountain folk? Just as they did the poor people of New Orleans?

There is no way I can make this make sense especially in a time where our leaders send billions to other nations. It is past time for our government and corporations to shift inward, help our people, and do the right thing.