"The Veneer of Civilization is Very Thin"

said Margaret Thatcher, and apparently, she was right:

The operation to bus more than 20,000 people to the Houston Astrodome was suspended “until they gain control of the Superdome,” said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the Superdome.

He said that military would not fly out of the Superdome either because of the gunfire and that the National Guard told him that it was sending 100 military police officers to gain control.

“That’s not enough,” Zeuschlag. “We need a thousand.”

I guess this is a lesson for next time. Future large-scale relief efforts will need military assistance. I'm sure no one imagined refugee busses would be carjacked or helicopters would be shot at. But now they know.