Hurricane Katrina - What have we learned?

Hurricane Katrina has came and went, yet the impact will be felt for years to come. Most can look at the picture and see utter devestation and destruction of the city, the coastline. Most can cite this natural disaster for the outrageous gas prices (many thanks to those who took this opportunity to gouge the consumers!). Most are revolted by the resulting looting, violence and anarchy. What a shock! Not!

Did it ever occur to those who made "plans" to evacuate that a significant portion of the population is homeless and approximately 20% of the population has no transportation or means to gain transportation, much less in 20 hours. Given this premise, with an approximate population in excess of 500,000 people (extrapolated from the 2000 census), did they really expect 100,000 people to just walk out of New Orleans (a re-enactment of Exodus?)? What options did these people have? What options do these people have? Current news states approximately 10-15,000 people remain in New Orleans. Where on earth have the other 85-90,000 people gone?

We look on in horror at the crime yet what were we expecting with the infrastructure, as tenuous as it already was, dissolving, people devolving into a more primitive social structure, "survival of the fittest". Mix this with escaped, roaming criminals and those with criminal disposition.... This was inevitable given the right circumstances and situations.

("The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding was a book many of us read in school. Perhaps, we felt utter disgust or read with morbid fascination. Regardless, it is real, it is their here and now down in New Orleans. Go read it with a new and more somber, sobering perspective!)

Ask yourself... What is the incentive for these people to leave the only place they have ever known as home? What other opportunities do the people have? With the infrastructure and society in ruins, what other options do these people have? Do these people really understand the options presented to them? It is like asking a goldfish if it wants to leave its bowl, the only home it has ever known, the only safe place it has ever known and telling it to go live in the ocean. They cannot even begin to fathom the options and opportunities in the manner others might given a less hostile and stressful environment (not to mention the inherent distrust of officials by many of those they are trying to evacuate).

Before you pass judgment, just remember that these people stranded, staying put are NOT operating with the same frame of mind, same perspective. Remember all the times you've done and said things and said to yourself in hindsight, "I could have done this... I could have said this....". We demand explanations, heads to roll, accountability, whatnot yet...

Be careful what you wish for, and even more careful what you ask for!!!

Many times it was not for lack of caring that we did not plan careful enough but instead was from lack of organization, communication, information etc... Given this tremendous oversight and the consequent fallout from it, if there is any lesson to be learned, I would hope that the government would move towards the first responders, local, state and federal governments working together, hand in hand under the auspices of one authority, homeland security. Here is one parting thought:

Yes, the levee's broken, but it's far bigger than the 17th street levee....and the terrorists know this. What are WE going to do about it?