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Replies to '08/28 Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later'
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August 28, 2006, 8:22 am PDT
 Quote From: flthomcat Why is it that many of us Americans think that recovery will be fast and perfect one year after it occurred? I was at ground zero three days after Hurricane Andrew hit Holmstead, FL; I went there to help, loaded down with donations. It takes YEARS to fully recover from major hurricanes.
Pensacola, FL is STILL trying to rebuild two years after Hurricane Ivan hit. Once New Orleans and those areas were ravaged by Katrina, all the skilled and unskilled workers headed out of Florida. It still takes months for average citizens to get electricians, plumbers and the like to go to a home in Pensacola.
WE all failed when it came to Katrina. To all those who felt you build a town on WET LAND (as is the case with New Orleans), to those who stayed when they should have evacuated, to the local leaders who were unorganized and SHOULD be ashamed (Ray N is too arrogant to take any blame), to FEMA (so poorly organized) and to the sitting president (who should have MADE the state and local leaders get off their hands).
Prior to the storm, much money went to the New Orleans area and much went to the levees. However, LA state and local government is known as the most corrupt in the U.S. so it's no wonder there was big problems from the start.
Sorry, but it takes more than a year to recover from a NATURAL DISASTER. We Americans want instant satisfaction and it just can't happen after such a huge disaster. Life slowly returns to "normal." But let's just hope "normal" isn't the poverty, crime, drug-use, etc, that once WAS the New Orleans area!
True change comes from within. Until the people of that area WANT a better life, they won't get it. They have to want it and to work toward it (once they once again have food, shelter, clothing, etc).
God bless all of them (all the survivors) and all of those who have helped them (expecting no monetary profit). God always knows what's He's doing; perhaps someday we'll understand the reason for Katrina; hopefully we won't be too arrogant to listen! I watched from australia when Katrina was coming in as I watched one that hit our coast this year. The only option is to understand the nature of cyclones and hurricanes. Leevees are extremely expressive but a lot can be learned from them. Information must be passed very quickly and all should leave on being instructed to. This of course requires an infrastructure ready to commit to the evacuation. It requires a very indepth perception of when and how. I have a lot of faith in mankind's ability to survive. The year was 2005 and forward planning was available but not put to use. It is of no consequence as to who was to blame as that will not be productive. The people have to pull together, enforceing the belief that what nature and incompetence destroyed, hope and brothership will again rebuild. Separateing people in times such as these is counter-productive. United we stand, divided we fall. I was saddend deeply at the destruction of property and lives that befell all who lived in New Orleans and other cities and towns and can only hope that hope itself still lives within them. Living below sea level seems indeed risky at best but mankind has learned in the past to engineer prevention and protection in many areas and I feel, if given the right direction and funding it can and hopefully will be done |
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