Anoth­er update from a friend help­ing out with FEMA in Marksville, Louisiana.

The lat­est from Marksville is that Rita brought evac­uees from all over LA.  Today, dur­ing the storm, [my cousin] and his bud­dies helped a group of elder­ly who were evac­u­at­ed from a nurs­ing home to Marksville.  The place they are in is filthy, and the con­di­tions are hor­rid.  They got water to these peo­ple, and peti­tioned city hall to move them.  Some got moved, but there are still 70 peo­ple who suf­fer from demen­tia and oth­er frail­ties of old age who are basi­cal­ly being stored in a filthy, old build­ing with­out enough care­tak­ers.  As I men­tioned ear­li­er, the Red Cross moved out when fema moved in, so there is no one to advo­cate for these peo­ple.  [My cousin] and co did their best today, but must go back to the [Dis­as­ter Relief Cen­ter] tomor­row. …
 
[My cousin] met many oth­er work­ers who evac­u­at­ed for the day and then went right back to work in New Orleans.  Some of them had been in Afghanistan and Iraq and are head­ing back there as soon as this work is done.  He says their morale is good.  Amazing. 

No Man’s Land is full of acts of hero­ism, large and small, many of them in response to fail­ures large and small.