Bloggers Tell Their Stories

Bloggers have once again proven the growing importance of the Internet in covering the biggest news events, contributing heart-wrenching, personal accounts of the tragedy from Hurricane Katrina.

Blogger Jack Ware, a New Orleans-area resident and contributor to Metroblogging New Orleans, left his uptown, second-floor apartment Aug. 30 after concluding that police did not have control of the city. "People were noticeably frustrated, hungry, thirsty, and scared. This is all understandable in my mind and a little looting for necessity? for survival? is to be expected," Ware wrote.

His sympathy waned after watching people steal televisions and microwaves, both useless in a city without power. "Someone will die because an officer was telling you to put the DVD player down instead of cutting through a roof to let someone out before the water takes them from this world," Ware said.

Blogs also carried messages from local government officials. Eyes On Katrina, hosted by Don Hammack, staff writer for the Sun Herald newspaper in southern Mississippi, had this from the Harrison County coroner in Mississippi: "If people find a body, don't try to move it because of health risk and decomposition issues. Alert local police, fire, or rescue personnel to it."

--Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb