9.03.2005
Amid Stench of Death, Poor Bear the Brunt (Guardian.co.uk)
Gary Younge in Pascalouga, Mississippi
Friday September 2, 2005
The Guardian
The journey from Pensacola to Pascalouga starts with a search for petrol and ends with a search for the dead.
Along the way, the smell of damp in Mobile, Alabama, turns to the stench of death from the Gulf Coast. The radio dial flits from call-in shows fielding requests from beleaguered mayors of small hamlets for generators and ice to Baptist preachers promising God's wrath. But for many here, it seems as though his will has already been done.
The entrance to Pascalouga reveals crushed homes and dilapidated stores alongside queues for petrol and food.
"I've got enough supplies for another two days but I don't know what I'm going to do after that," said Sarah Jackson as she entered her second hour in a queue outside Wal-Mart.
"I keep telling myself I'm lucky because it could have been worse, but with each day I feel less and less lucky."
Officials on the Gulf Coast say the emphasis has moved from search and rescue to bag and tag as emergency rescue workers cut their way through to Gulfport and Biloxi to find the death toll rising steadily.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Amid stench of death, poor bear the brunt) ¶ 20:41
Friday September 2, 2005
The Guardian
The journey from Pensacola to Pascalouga starts with a search for petrol and ends with a search for the dead.
Along the way, the smell of damp in Mobile, Alabama, turns to the stench of death from the Gulf Coast. The radio dial flits from call-in shows fielding requests from beleaguered mayors of small hamlets for generators and ice to Baptist preachers promising God's wrath. But for many here, it seems as though his will has already been done.
The entrance to Pascalouga reveals crushed homes and dilapidated stores alongside queues for petrol and food.
"I've got enough supplies for another two days but I don't know what I'm going to do after that," said Sarah Jackson as she entered her second hour in a queue outside Wal-Mart.
"I keep telling myself I'm lucky because it could have been worse, but with each day I feel less and less lucky."
Officials on the Gulf Coast say the emphasis has moved from search and rescue to bag and tag as emergency rescue workers cut their way through to Gulfport and Biloxi to find the death toll rising steadily.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Amid stench of death, poor bear the brunt) ¶ 20:41
