The approach of Hurricane Gustav has no doubt brought back the much emotion and finger pointing from Hurricane Katrina that may have subsided over the last three years, but certainly has not been resolved.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have canceled their appearances at the Republican National Convention। New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has reentered American homes via our television, and no stones are being left unturned as everyone prepares to not receive the blame of the media.
However, the mistake has already been made by all parties involved at the cost of all American citizens, the rebuilding of New Orleans in the first place. Throughout history Americans have had a desire to control Mother Nature. With that desire we have developed a mistaken confidence in our ability to do such. We continue to build gorgeous homes on the edge of cliffs only to be in shock as they fall to the water below amidst a heavy rain. Time and time again we are shocked by the destruction of earthquakes. Yet, our earthquake prevention technology is far advanced compared to our sandbagging/building levees approach to flood prevention.
New Orleans was built from swamp and marshland। From its French infancy through its American growth following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, residents of the great city only resided on land that was above sea level, which in the area was very rare. Even upon those lands flooding was a major concern.
Technology advanced and with our increased desire to conquer Mother Nature, in addition to the rest of the world, the people of New Orleans looked towards gaining more land by installing numerous levees and water pumps। These worked well protecting the people of New Orleans until August of 2005 when Katrina arrived taking the lives of nearly 2,000 people and causing at least $80 billion dollars worth of damage.
Chaos descended and the blame game began। Everybody was looking to blame everyone. Americans were suckered into rebuilding New Orleans with their tax money instead of simply learning from the mistake of trying to conquer Mother Nature. While it is residents own faults for not only living below sea level right by the sea, but for staying put as the Hurricane approaches, help by all means should have been offered. It should have been offered by assisting them in relocating to a higher elevated portion of southeast Louisiana or to a nearby major city like Houston or Dallas.
The Unites States government answered the cry of its peoples and the “gotcha” crazed media decided to rebuild the city that should never have been built. As Gustav descends on New Orleans as possibly an even stronger storm and a more direct hit, we are looking at a very poor investment. It does appear as a country we learned our lessons in preparing for disaster relief. The best case for all would be the storm weakening in strength. If not, I only hope that New Orleans residents learned a lesson and decided to flee instead of remaining and risking death. And hopefully the country has learned its lesson and won’t look to rebuild for the 2nd time in three years. There is nothing wrong with admitting a mistake.
