Before August 29 the only Katrina I had heard of was Katrina Kaif.

Now Katrina would take the same place in lexicon as tsunami.

Katrina a level five downgraded to level four hurricane that lashed an area roughly the size of UK (90,000 sq miles) on August 29 has caused countless lives, wiped away thousands of houses and destroyed the infrastructure of the United State’s 27th largest city with an estimated population of 1.34 million (67.25% black) in its greater area.

The networks and papers are covering every aspect of the disaster.

This is a compilation of their coverage blended with personal observations. On a personal level it is not possible to escape the immensity of the flooding, the sense of urgency and loss, the spread of misery and anarchy. But the overwhelming affect is that of shock. And helplessness followed by frustration.

All this talk of suffering and of helping, of troops and guards sent there along with supplies, of not enough troops sent or money spent in the past, of looting and rape and murder, of insensitivity of the present administration and its lopsided priorities, of doing enough and of not doing enough, of sending relief and of not sending enough relief: all this is enough to fog the inside of the titanic.

Let us stand back and take a look.

  
[AP photos of August 30th. From "Hurricane Katrina and Bush: A Tale of two photos" by David Corn http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-corn/hurricane-katrina-a nd-bus_b_6618.html]


The US has an agency for just such purposes. It is called Federal Emergency Relief Adminstration (FEMA) http://www.fema.gov.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that he thinks the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies have done a "magnificent job" under difficult circumstances, citing their "courage" and "ingenuity."

“This hurricane has caused catastrophic devastation across areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama,” said Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response and head of FEMA. “FEMA, along with our federal, state and local partners, is working around the clock to get live-saving assistance into the hardest hit areas. We need everyone’s cooperation to keep passable roads clear and to prevent those returning from placing additional burdens on the limited shelter, food and water in the heavily impacted areas.”

But in a criticism of FEMA’s approach Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal writes, “The response to Hurricane Katrina suggests we are not very good at it. The stark images of bereft people in New Orleans and Mississippi are said to reveal inadequate preparation by the agents of government--from elected officials to bureaucracies--whose duties include commanding the vast resources and authority of government to provide help when it is most needed.

A public role is unavoidable and political leadership is necessary. But if we’re going to live with First World threats, such as the destruction of a major port city, let’s deploy the most imaginative First World brains--in the private sector and academia--to mitigate those threats. Laughably implausible? Look at your TV screen. The status quo isn’t funny.”

New Orleans is like a bowl, below sea level, surrounded by the sea, a lake and the Mississippi River. It is highly vulnerable to flooding and a 2002 report speculated on the break of the levies in New Orleans.

The US behemoth has been caught sleeping.

While President Bush and other Administration officials alluded that most agencies in their thinking factored in massive flooding they did not envisage a situation where the levies would give in.

“Don’t say that a hurricane destroyed New Orleans. Hurricanes don’t drown cities. It was a "perfect storm" of a different kind that put that great city underwater: Bush-era neglect of our national infrastructure, combined with runaway global warming and a deep contempt for poor African-Americans.

The result: catastrophe. The flooding was not a result of heavy rains. It is a result of a weak levee -- one that was in mid-repair when the storm hit. And that levee, which has held back floodwaters for time beyond memory, collapsed for one simple reason: Bush refused to fix it last summer, when local officials were begging him to do so. Instead, he diverted those funds to the war effort.

In other words, the dollars that could have saved New Orleans were used to wage war in Iraq instead. What’s worse: funds that might have spared the poor in New Orleans (had the dollars been properly invested in levees and modern pumping stations), were instead passed out to the rich, willy-nilly -- as tax breaks.

Had the levee repairs been completed in a timely manner (two years ago), Katrina would have hit hard, destroyed buildings and probably taken some lives. But it would NOT have cracked open the floodwalls and submerged an entire CITY. It took Bush’s criminal neglect of his domestic duties to produce that outcome.” Wrote Van Jones in Huffington post.

While this lays the blame straight on the President it ought to be distributed more evenly. But that is understandable and will come later perhaps when he and others examine this in the light of Dubya’s agenda and how it was hijacked by the neoconzix. And for long into the future the American Public would have to suffer the consequence all over the world for this fallacy.

“Who lost New Orleans? Our cities are the greatest treasures of our civilization. So why were the levees and the pumping stations emplaced to protect New Orleans from the sea so technologically obsolete?” Asks Rep. Major R. Owens.

In the initial days of the aftermath estimates of the damage and rebuilding costs escalated from 10 billion to $26 billion to over $ 100 billion according to ‘Risk Management Solutions.

Congress authorized $10 billion in immediate temporary relief. Other States are opening their purses and stadiums and buildings.

Foreign countries and leaders including PM Martin of Canada have expressed sympathies and dispatched three naval vessels and some Sea King helicopters to help with the rescue operations . Even publicly held Air Canada has sent a plane with crew to help with transporting victims to other states.

But apparently not enough is filtering down to the disaster area fast enough.

In an interview with a local radio station Mayor Ray Nagin almost broke down in rage and anger. "We’re getting reports and calls that [are] breaking my heart from people saying, ’I’ve been in my attic. I can’t take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don’t think I can hold out.’ And that’s happening as we speak."

He added, "You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on man."

While people are dying and relief is not reaching them, the doctoring and spinning game has begun. Those of you who are following CNN must have seen Anderson Cooper in tears.

Quoting the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency CNN said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates. Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands. "Unfortunately, that’s going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.

According to another report in wikipedia the mandatory evacuation called on August 28 made no provisions to evacuate homeless or low-income and car-less households, as well as large numbers of elderly and the infirm. In 2000, a census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households were without any means of privately-owned transportation.

There are other fault lines that have come into focus that have not been discussed here.

Another intangible is the image loss that the US suffered globally. The perception created that even the super power can be helpless in some situations.

The suggestions that Katrina would be good for the GDP in the short run. And the persistent rumors of an increase in the already run-away deficit.

The tenuous state of oil supply, both world wide and in the US. The Oil refining and processing capacities. External preoccupation of the US at the cost of neglecting its backyard. Its treatment of minorities and blacks. As hinted in a quote earlier, the car-less and poor had no option but to face the wrath of Katrina.

An anguished person emailed from Texas, “Are you guys aware of what is going on in New Orleans. CNN is showing people dying at the convention center left and right with no help in sight. All the authorities have left them to die. There are dead babies all over the floor and bodies. What the Hell is Bush doing!. I am shocked the local channels are not showing what is going on. Why aren’t the Citizens in an uproar!”

Uproar? I was in shock. Numbed. Only now some of the fog is lifting. Rescuing will take weeks. Restoring and rebuilding years. Placing the blame would be easy. God and this Administration.



Sources:

CNN, Google News, Int’l Herald Tribune, NYT, Post, Toronto Star and more.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/? id=110007201
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050902/cm_h uffpost/006634
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/02/news/katrina _estimates/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpo st/20050902/cm_huffpost/006627
http://www.opinionjournal.co m/editorial/feature.html?id=110007202
http://www.infoplease .com/ipa/A0108477.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orl eans%2C_Louisiana
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/cont ent/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090102305.html?sub=new
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/02/news/response.php
ht tp://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-corn/hurricane-katrina-and -bus_b_6618.html