Thursday, September 01, 2005
A City Dying
New Orleans has been virtually destroyed by flooding in the aftermath of Katrina. Other bloggers are commenting on what appears to be a horrible response to the catastrophe by local and federal government, still others are commenting on what appears to Bush's inappropriately low-key response, while still others are commenting in shock at the scale of the disaster. I don't really have much to add to it, except to say that the situation is beyond belief. That such a catastophe could happen to a modern American city is itself unthinkable(even if our belief that such things happen overseas is unjustifiable); that people would simply be stranded in the streets or their homes with little or no help is unconscionable. Amazingly, getting all of the people out of the city alive is only the beginning of the headaches; the question after that is, how do you rebuild an entire city sitting under water?
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4 comments:
Rebuild the city ABOVE sea-level.
That's not possible. The fact is the city will be rebuilt, as I believe it should be. The real question is, will we take the necessary steps to protect it from this happening again?
Don't rebuild there at all! After hundreds of years of manipulating the river's banks, the La. coast is losing its marshes and any figment of a buffer between N.O. and the Gulf. I loved that city and I'm a huge fan of historic preservation, and my heart is breaking -- but don't rebuild. This is not the last time this will happen but it won't be as deadly if people aren't living there to be killed by it.
Well, whether it's foolish or not isn't the issue. Americans choose to do lots of stupid things even though they should know better. I think the city will be rebuilt. As to Xanthippas' question, I don't know. It will take billions just to get NO standing again, but a technologically and environmentally sound way of doing it will take billions more. Will Americans choose the cheap and easy way, or the expensive right way?
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