Katrina and the Neighborhood

from the September 02, 2005 edition -

The Monitor's View

Concerned about Louisianians stranded in the unsanitary Superdome, the governor of Texas invited all 25,000 of them to the cool, dry Houston Astrodome Wednesday. Thursday, he invited another 25,000 evacuees to San Antonio. "We're neighbors and we're going to pull together," Gov. Rick Perry stated.

After hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are now everyone's "next door." Those states' vast needs require help from across the country -- donations to private charities, offers to open up homes to the displaced, and all levels of government assistance.

The catastrophe is also particularly relevant to those who share the same potential for large-scale disaster or evacuation -- people living in flood or earthquake zones, for instance, or cities deemed terrorist targets. As Governor Perry observed, "we could be the ones that have this extraordinary need."

Dealing skillfully with this current need, therefore, serves a dual purpose: helping the millions directly affected, and teaching Americans how to cope more effectively with disasters.

So far, local, state, and national officials have shown a good measure of competence in handling Katrina before, during, and after it hit.

Last year, local and state officials along the Gulf of Mexico were criticized for poor evacuation procedures in advance of hurricane Ivan. This time, they called for mandatory evacuations early on and opened all lanes to outbound traffic on the two interstates leading away from Louisiana's and Mississippi's most populous areas. More than a million people fled, including about 80 percent of the population of New Orleans.

Because President Bush designated both states disaster areas in advance of the storm, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency could mobilize beforehand, setting up shelters and bringing water, ice, and food.

Rightly, the Bush administration recognized the storm's ripple effect on oil, and temporarily waived key air-quality fuel standards to increase gas supplies after the storm damaged the Gulf's petroleum infrastructure.

The Pentagon has also sprung into action with an unprecedented domestic joint task force, coordinating National Guard and active-duty forces across four states. Meanwhile, naval vessels and helicopters are on the way.

But the death toll; the plight of people too ill, poor, or stubborn to evacuate; the lawlessness; and the billions of dollars in destroyed homes and businesses show just how much officials at all levels -- and individuals -- still have to learn in handling a truly far-reaching disaster.

Response has been quick, but with more prepositioning of National Guard forces and equipment, it could have been faster. Evacuation planning should have served disadvantaged people better. This storm reminds coastal regions that wetlands preservation does matter in controlling flooding (Louisiana has lost 1 million acres of marshland since 1930), and so do building restrictions.

Now, and in coming months of reconstruction, Americans must remember their Gulf neighbors. They need our prayers and donations. And all of us need to learn from their experience.

| Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at

. Hundreds of new articles daily.

*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Christian Science Publishing Society.

For more information go to:

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, we are all neighbors in this thing together. How did Katrina affect you? Well, maybe it made the price of your gasoline more expensive; it surely will make the cost of your heating fuel in the coming winter months more expensive. How did Katrina affect me? Well, today when the Meals on Wheels lady came around with my noonday meal, she said she was asked to announce to everyone she served that the meals in September will be 'a little more skimpy than they are usually.' I asked her why. She said the Kansas Food Bank, which serves SEK-CAP (the southeast Kansas food pantries which in turn maintains our local food pantry and Meals on Wheels) had been asked to provide 'anything extra they could to Louisiana and Mississippi, due to the hurricane damage, and the increased numbers of people being served.' We will get only about 90 percent of our usual rations -- not the best food anyway -- while Kansas Food Bank 'levels off' the resulting shortfall. In addition to her daily vists, I usually go once per month to the Independence Food Pantry for a few items. We're all going to pay for Katrina for awhile it seems. PAT]