Well, just got off the phone with my parents. The house my dad designed/built 20 years ago is gone, reduced to a pile of rubble. They can see the roof on my grandparent's house, and that's about it. My aunt who stayed in New Orleans had flooding in her garage and her 6month old Audi A8 is ruined, but the upstairs is okay, and she's only missing a few shingles (2 story house, bottom story is just a basement) Another aunt with a 3rd story apt. in the French Quarter said some of her hanging plants are gone, but she had pulled all the furniture on the deck inside...I don't know why she left the plants. They haven't been to my other aunt and uncle's house yet, but seeing as how it's only about 10blocks from the ocean, if it's still there they will have major flooding problems. And my aunt and uncle's house in Baton Rouge, where everyone is staying, is in perfect shape with only a few limbs down in the front yard.
I didn't mean to start a whole big thing on this, I was just wondering if the news channels weren't reporting that we've received aid from other countries. I just know the US is usually first to give away money when something disasterous happens, and unless there's some Japanese diplomats reading this forums, I don't think we're going to see any offers for help.
Oh, and for those of you who think that the US is so wealthy, you have OBVIOUSLY NEVER been to New Orleans.