Katrina
There are two things that stand out in the devastation that is New Orleans. Firstly its the black faces. There are almost no white people seeking help. True the population of New Orleans is dominated by blacks, the us census data gives the population of the city as approximately 60% Black, 30% White & 10 % others, but prehaps the black majority shown on the TV just reflect the inner city population demographics. Maybe the Whites tend to live in the suburbs and either are more likely to have a car (because life in the suburbs is impossible without a car), or maybe they are too far from the center to reach it. As for the inner city dwellers, owning a car is something of a mixed thing, as parking it is likely to be difficult, so their option of fleeing by automobile was much reduced.
The second image is that of a city that is dying. Is this unprecedented in modern times? I can't that of anything like this has happened since the abandonment of Machu Picchu orLeptis Magna. Only time will tell if the city has been killed or if it rebuilds and becomes a New New Orleans.
True other cities have been massively damaged in the past; London (the great fire), San Francisco, Tangshan and Kobe (Earthquake), and Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden (War), are just a few that I could name.
Those that were destroyed by war or fire were rebuilt because the chance of such a major catastrophe hitting them again is almost nil. Those destroyed by earthquake rebuild because either the damage isn't total, or because the damage was down to inadaquate building.
New Orleans strikes me as different. Those levees should have easily withstood the big bad storm that was Katrina, but they failed. They should have withstood the overflow of water from the storm surge, but they broke. At worst no more than a few neighbourhoods should have been affected, but because there were no secondary defences almost the entire city flooded. This was a problem borne out of the failings of the city authorities, and where there is someone to blame, theres a claim. Its the lawyers that may well inflict the killer blow to the big easy.
The second image is that of a city that is dying. Is this unprecedented in modern times? I can't that of anything like this has happened since the abandonment of Machu Picchu orLeptis Magna. Only time will tell if the city has been killed or if it rebuilds and becomes a New New Orleans.
True other cities have been massively damaged in the past; London (the great fire), San Francisco, Tangshan and Kobe (Earthquake), and Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden (War), are just a few that I could name.
Those that were destroyed by war or fire were rebuilt because the chance of such a major catastrophe hitting them again is almost nil. Those destroyed by earthquake rebuild because either the damage isn't total, or because the damage was down to inadaquate building.
New Orleans strikes me as different. Those levees should have easily withstood the big bad storm that was Katrina, but they failed. They should have withstood the overflow of water from the storm surge, but they broke. At worst no more than a few neighbourhoods should have been affected, but because there were no secondary defences almost the entire city flooded. This was a problem borne out of the failings of the city authorities, and where there is someone to blame, theres a claim. Its the lawyers that may well inflict the killer blow to the big easy.
posted by Snow Jester at 7:47 pm
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