We Won't See a Repeat of the Superdome at Qualcomm

In 2005 thousands of New Orleans residents were evacuated to the Superdome and the stories that came out of that place were truly shocking (even the ones that were true - a lot of urban legends were born there that proved to be completely wrong). In San Diego thousands have been evacuated to Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the San Diego Chargers, but you won't see a repeat of the Superdome there.

For one thing, Qualcomm still has power and water plus plenty of services for the evacuees that are showing up in volumes almost beyond what the relief officials can handle. They actually asked people to stop bringing donations because they had more than they could use.

Secondly, you don't have incompetent political leadership in San Diego. That, all by itself, will make a huge difference in the experience that the refugees will have during their stay in the stadium. You can read the story of what's going on at Qualcomm here.

UPDATE: Some further thoughts. The people of New Orleans had long before Katrina surrendered their lives to the government, and when the going got tough they had no place to go but to the government and the government let them down. San Diego County residents are not the type to surrender their livelihoods and happiness to the government and instead they will take care of themselves and their fellow citizens. That's why there won't be any problems in the evacuation centers, and why San Diego will make a far quicker recovery than New Orleans.