Friday, September 02, 2005
in the aftermath of katrina, i still agree that hurricanes are the best case natural disaster. hurricanes you can predict and evacuate - earthquakes, tsunami, and tornadoes cannot be predicted.
at first glance, i figured that the hurricane was the same as every year - the people who die are those to ignore the evacuation orders. but with 1000 deaths and 100 000 people still in flooded new orleans, it seems that officials had no preparations in place even though they had a few days warning. they made no attempt at an evacuation. it seems to me that the white and affulent evacuated by themselves, leaving the poor predominantly black population behind.
its amazing to see how society has broken down in new orleans over a few days. (althought a washington post editor points out that society in the "ghetto" is broken to begin with) those of us who live in cities are so dependent on the infrastructure around us - water, electricity, etc. we would be screwed in the event of a disaster. i think everyone who lives in a city should stock up on supplies like water and canned food.
at first glance, i figured that the hurricane was the same as every year - the people who die are those to ignore the evacuation orders. but with 1000 deaths and 100 000 people still in flooded new orleans, it seems that officials had no preparations in place even though they had a few days warning. they made no attempt at an evacuation. it seems to me that the white and affulent evacuated by themselves, leaving the poor predominantly black population behind.
its amazing to see how society has broken down in new orleans over a few days. (althought a washington post editor points out that society in the "ghetto" is broken to begin with) those of us who live in cities are so dependent on the infrastructure around us - water, electricity, etc. we would be screwed in the event of a disaster. i think everyone who lives in a city should stock up on supplies like water and canned food.
# posted by epn : 11:42 AM
