What Is Martial Law?

[kathy]

On Tuesday reports began circulating that New Orleans officials had put the flood-ravaged city under martial law. The attorney general's office of Louisiana quickly issued a denial. Confusion persisted, however, after White House press secretary Scott McClellan told a group of journalists on Wednesday that "martial law has been declared in Mississippi and Louisiana." Yesterday National Guard Lt. Gen H. Steven Blum sought to set the record straight, saying, "This is not, as it has been erroneously reported, martial law." What is martial law? And who can declare it?

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[kathy]

The complete evacuation of New Orleans was necessary, officials said, because of the prospect of diseases caused by rotting bodies and polluted waters and other health risks. Doctors last night reported the first cases of dysentery in Biloxi.

"Our law enforcement people are not involved in taking people off the street and forcing them out of the city at this point. There may come a time where we get into that mode."

Michael Chertoff, the homeland security chief, said he understood why people wanted to stay close to their homes, but that flood-hit areas presented a severe health threat.

"As a matter of public health and matter of public safety, we have to complete this process. We are going to have to get a ring around the area, and send in teams to assess what we need to do to get it running again," he said.
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Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, left Washington on 4 Sep 2005 with a team of health and social service leaders to assist the tattered gulf region. "We have the ingredients for a bad situation there," Leavitt said on CNN yesterday, 4 Sep 2005.

Leavitt was criticized after he said, on Wed 31 Aug 2005, that officials were "gravely concerned about the potential for cholera, typhoid..." Experts said those devastating diseases rarely suddenly appear in flood regions where they didn't exist before.

tinyurl.com/akae4

For further information, the following links are provided as a public service:

[1] CDC: After a Hurricane: Key Facts About Infectious Disease
www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/infectiousdisease.asp

Includes:
- Decaying bodies create very little risk for major disease outbreaks.
- Outbreaks of infectious diseases following hurricanes are rare in developed
countries (such as the USA).
- Because cholera and typhoid are not commonly found in the U.S. Gulf States
area, it is very unlikely that they would occur after Hurricane Katrina.

[2] CDC: Protect Your Health and Safety After a Hurricane
www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/recovery.asp