Katrina death toll now at 1,281

[MaineDem]

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. --Four more bodies have been found in debris from Hurricane Katrina, pushing Mississippi's death toll to 228, a Gulf Coast coroner reported.

The number brings to 1,281 the deaths from Katrina reported by state and local officials in five states.

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove, who is overseeing victim recovery in the Mississippi coastal counties devastated by the Aug. 29 hurricane, said Tuesday that search teams found one body Friday near the Jordan River in Hancock County.

A second body was found in Hancock County on Monday, he said, while the other two bodies were recovered Tuesday in Hancock County and in Biloxi in Harrison County.


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/19/k...

[sabra]

1. Katrina, what's that?

Bush is already monitoring Wilma, so no worries.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. That's a lot of people. nt

[Reverend Smoothfield]

22. pakistan quake toll now at 79,000 and rising

us katrina donations: $1.2 billion
us earthquake donation: 79¢*

* Figure plucked directly out of ass, but still.

[jasmeel]

3. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever know how many actually died

[Skittles]

4. no we won't

it's very sad

[MindPilot]

5. Isn't there still something like 11,000 missing?

[NorCalDem]

6. That's what I have heard as well

I do not believe for one instant that only 1,200 people or so died in NOLA after Katrina. They are purposely keeping the number of dead down so it doesn't look as bad, and that pisses me off.

All people listed as "missing" should be added to the death toll until they turn up alive. It pains me to say that, and it's so horrible that so many people perished, but the truth must come out. Bush is a monster!

[MindPilot]

7. I believe that 1200 number is only the bodies that have

been recovered and identified. Who knows how many are still under debris, swept out out sea, eaten, or for other reasons may never be found.

[BikeWriter]

8. Yep, swept out out sea, and buried under debris and mud. ;-(

[Ian David]

9. I don't think many people will be found thanks to Kenyon International

FEMA, La. outsource Katrina body count to firm implicated in body-dumping scandals

Miriam Raftery

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has hired Kenyon International to set up a mobile morgue for handling bodies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a scandal-ridden Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.

Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco subsequently inked a contract with the firm after talks between FEMA and the firm broke down. Kenyon's original deal was secured by the Department of Homeland Security.

In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.

The Menorah Gardens cemetery chain, owned by SCI, desecrated vaults, removed hundreds of bodies from two cemeteries in Florida and dumped the gruesome remains in woods frequented by wild hogs, investigators discovered in 2001. In one case, a backhoe was used to crack open a vault, remove corpses and make room for more dead bodies.

SCI paid $100 million to settle a lawsuit filed by outraged family members of the deceased.

A secretary at the lawfirm that sued SCI over the Florida cemetery scandals gasped when informed that FEMA had outsourced handling of Katrina victims' bodies to an SCI subsidiary.

"Oh, good lord!" she said.

More:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/FEMA_outsources_Katrina_b...

[VespertineIconoclast]

12. Damage control --

pure and simple. This administration will do anything to minimize the adverse effect those images of crying and suffering American Katrina victims had on people across the world.

Disgusting...

-VI

[NorCalDem]

10. That's why they should be reporting the number of people MISSING!

because it is the best estimate of the total number of dead. After two months, will they even be able to identify any bodies they find? And if not, do they not get counted in the death toll?

[pitohui]

11. 53 additional dead in houston alone

they are not adding in ppl who died after being evacuated

houston says 53 of the evacuees they received did not survive, they died in houston, you see no mention of texas dead on that list

the 70-plus veteran rescued after 3 weeks was transported to california & died there, no mention of the one dead in california

it's fuzzy math if they don't count all who died as a result of the storm, even if the effects of dehydration/heat stroke did not kill them until they were transported elsewhere

i'm quite angry abt this undercounting which seems quite deliberate, since this is not a case of "missing," it's a case of just not counting them

[VespertineIconoclast]

13. Those people won't be added the count.

It's amazing how short attention spans are in the US. The media people, who were so eager to show their humanity and concern for the evacuees during the first few days after the hurricane devastation, have completely dropped the ball on reporting these numbers and seriously discussing the aftermath of Katrina.

I'm angry, but also rather saddened by this deliberate effort to keep the numbers down and keep people from even focusing on this.

-VI

[fearnobush]

14. (Louisiana) Death toll from Katrina rises to 1,053

05:32 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The death toll from Hurricane Katrina is now at 1,053, the state reported Wednesday.


That is 18 more than the previous total, released Oct. 14. The news release said 860 are at the morgue at St. Gabriel or have been released to families, and the rest are at parish coroners' offices.


As of Friday, 132 bodies had been released to families.

<http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL101905katrina.10e... >

So thats 18 more bodies found in 4 days. Yet no so called media seems to care and nothing will be done to prevent such negligent deaths in the future so long as Bush co is in charge.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Oh it irritates me to no end

we will not forget

[expatriot]

16. updated graph of the official death toll in Louisiana

[annabanana]

19. thank you for this..n/t

[nosmokes]

17. i believe there are thousands of bodies yet to recovered

and counted, and many of those never will be. let's face it, the fewer bodies, the lower the count, the less inept the powers that be will appear to have been. and these are for the most part people without a voice. these aren't blonde blue eyed upper class college girls that dissappeared on a foreign beach resort, after all.

[OneBlueSky]

18. yup . . . n/t

.

[bluedonkey]

20. They had

a short breakdown of the death count in the paper last Saturday,including the dead from the cemetaries(1000).When I added up the numbers they didn't make sense.It's like they pull Numbers out of thin air(or their asses)!

[Zeebo]

21. It is a crime that the MSM has not covered this AT ALL!

There should be reporters investigating and interviewing the people and process involved in the body recovery and identification process. If the MSM reporters can't do this because their corporate masters have started to tighten the screws, then independent journalists and reporters should pick up the slack.

And if they can't get access to these people because of the gov't, then that should be investigated and reported.

This is an absolutely huge story that has been almost completely swept under the rug.

I feel ill.

[GayCanuck]

23. I

can't help but think how much lower the death toll would have been if bushco hadn't been strumming his guitar.

Also "fearnobush" - LOL, sounds like a gay motto!

[fearnobush]

24. Nice Work.

I actually came up with that one just before the war in winter 2003 when a co-worker was echoing chimp talking points and claimed that any one who stands against the President (idiot in cheif) stands against the USA. I told him "I fear no Bush, or any one who spouts his bullshit"