Gulf Coast States

[bayoubengalzta]

I'm an LSU student and I'm from New Orleans. The semester before Katrina hit, I declared Disaster Science and Management as my minor. Truth is, there is nowhere in the country that is not at some constant risk of a major disaster. Yellowstone National Park is a gigantic volcanic crater, any coastline is at potential risk for a tsunami, both tornadoes and earthquakes can happen just about anywhere (yes, there is a faultline closer to the Gulf Coast than the San Andreas out in Cali), and of course, all of us here along the Gulf know hurricanes are fairly commonplace. The trouble always happens because people become complacent and stop testing and improving their response plans or rely too heavily on technology(when the power goes, you're screwed). This stuff is going to happen, we're always a lot closer than we like to think to the next big disaster. I got really angry when there was talk about not letting people rebuild in certain areas. It's everyone's responsibility to be prepared and the failures during and after Katrina were not entirely FEMA's fault. A lot of that was on the local agencies. I'm not worrying about Gustav yet, it's way too soon to really be able to predict where it will make landfall with any kind of accuracy, it could head to Mexico as easily as it could hit the Gulf Coast.

[AGDee]

You forgot one disaster... Detroit has it's Mayor.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by bayoubengalzta

I'm an LSU student and I'm from New Orleans. The semester before Katrina hit, I declared Disaster Science and Management as my minor. Truth is, there is nowhere in the country that is not at some constant risk of a major disaster. Yellowstone National Park is a gigantic volcanic crater, any coastline is at potential risk for a tsunami, both tornadoes and earthquakes can happen just about anywhere (yes, there is a faultline closer to the Gulf Coast than the San Andreas out in Cali), and of course, all of us here along the Gulf know hurricanes are fairly commonplace. The trouble always happens because people become complacent and stop testing and improving their response plans or rely too heavily on technology(when the power goes, you're screwed). This stuff is going to happen, we're always a lot closer than we like to think to the next big disaster. I got really angry when there was talk about not letting people rebuild in certain areas. It's everyone's responsibility to be prepared and the failures during and after Katrina were not entirely FEMA's fault. A lot of that was on the local agencies. I'm not worrying about Gustav yet, it's way too soon to really be able to predict where it will make landfall with any kind of accuracy, it could head to Mexico as easily as it could hit the Gulf Coast.

Thank you for this response - yes, if you try to live someplace that is not threatened by one sort of natural disaster or another you will end up having no place to live.

I do hate that so many in New Orleans are not raising their homes because of the delay in funding. Yes, rebuild, but rebuild so you aren't in the same sort of danger. I know Florida tightened building codes after Andrew because they found much of the damage was the result of slipshod construction. That, I think, is the answer - require residents to build in anticipation of natural disasters.