Teensy taste of emergency

Some construction guys severed a water main down by the Holland Tunnel early this afternoon, and all of Hoboken and much of Jersey City was without water until about 10 minutes ago (it's a little after 7 in the evening). The hospital had a couple trucks bring in tanks of water, there was an emergency hydration place (I guess there was - no idea where though) and of course bottled water was available in stores and such (though the restaurants had to close: no restrooms = no restaurants).

It was pretty inconvenient, and the level of communication among utilities, police, and news agencies fairly well sucked. And yes, it's a little tough to see how it could go unrepaired as long as it did, but really what it brought to my mind is how many places there are who have this kind of problem on a regular/permanent basis. Especially poignant in light of the preview/partial screening/discussion I attended last night for Kamp Katrina.





Don't have time to go into it now, but it followed a woman named Ms. Pearl who opened her home to hurricane refugees in the 9th Ward. Check it out. There are about 70 films that should be made about Katrina and all the things surrounding it, and this looks to be an important one in it's look at people on the margins.