Update: The response to these photos has been incredible. I have been in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and many emergency response teams around the country. It is my hope that these photos can be used by people who can take them, analyze them, and learn from them in order to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
If you would like to help, there are many things you can do. Start by reading information on the state of the nation’s infrastructure. To do so, please visit the American Society of Civil Engineer’s website (www.asce.org) for more detailed information.
For anyone who might be interested in donating, a website has been setup that will allow you to give to people hurt by this tragedy and who may need help paying for medical and mental health treatment. Please visit www.minnesotahelps.org if you are so inclined.
And finally, use these images as a catalyst to think about how important our nation’s infrastructure is. Roads, power lines, bridges, levees and everything else our nation is built from are not things that just exist, they were built and need to be maintained. Take that knowledge and use it to talk to your elected officials and encourage them to put in place policies that reflect the true importance of our infrastructure.
-Tim
