03 September, 2005

The Flood of 2005, Katrina

I look at the Great City of New Orleans, and I cry for its soul. The finger pointing has started in the aftermath, but too little too late. Last year, when a storm nearly hit, everyone was concerned over what would happen if the Big One hit. Well, after it didn;t, peope went on about their lives after a couple of weeks.

Now the big one has hit. No one even imagined a disaster of this proportion, or the logistics disruption. We always play the discussion of why couldn't we connect the dots, why didn't we do more to alleviate the issues: it is just like at my job - we present worst case scenarios, then the price tag. We get the look of the indulgent parent from our leadership: you know the one, where they say that' snice, but we really can't spend the money on something that may never happen.

Then the event happens, and things go to hell in a handbasket. The questions inevitably come to the point of "Why didn't you do something to prevent this?"

This is exactly the case on the Gulf Coast.

We will rebuild: we don't give up and walk away. That's not who we are; that's not what we do. It' s time to quit the bitcing and move on.

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