**Hurricane Katrina- 2nd Lowest Pressure Ever?**

[Guest beana51]

>Yep, natural selection at work, sad as it may be, its>happening. :( HI, well I guess It matters who's selected.Not "WE" I hope.Of course we all agree this is a major disaster. Luckily ,and so far, the numbers of people gone don't compare to some recent events in the world.Things will get put back.No one will walk away from this,but will rather go back and fix it. Thanx for your comment,I appreciate itVIN PS I'm here in Fla ,on the Gulf coast, awaiting the next one MMMM! natural selection?;-)

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!This is simply syptoms of an endemic problem. New Orleans itself is an archaic hangover from when man thought he could conquer nature with technolgy, and it is far past time FEMA adopts a more realistic policy. I am all for people in areas especially vulnerable to have their homes and businesses rebuilt- somewhere else. At the least should be limits on aid to rebuild houses and properties that meet certain criteria as to location. There are just too many people putting million dollar home 300 feet from the beach, and this is not just wastefull financially, it costs lives. And the same is true for structures on any inland flood plain as well.It could have been far, far worse. A CAT 5 (which Katrina wasn't at landfall) in the right spot (which it wasn't)could have pushed the waters of the lake over the levees even if they had held. 145 knot or greater winds means no effective emergency response to flooding that could have occured at devastating speed.Hopefully, this tragedywill be bad enough to cause a more intelligent aproach and respect for nature in development planning so as to save many lives in the future.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[Sonar5 3]

From:http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/...=1081633&page=1"Aug. 30, 2005

[Dillon 2,197]

I totally agree Donny...As things are now I don't think Man (United States) is ever going to get it until a full economic crises befalls the nation for bad planning. There is absolutely no excuse for a city like New Orleans to be in a location such as this or face this kind of devastation solely because a few key people found every reason to put these matters off. Quiet as its kept New Orleans was never kept up and properly taken care of anyway let alone the levees being poorly updated and attended to. Considering all the important history and heritage this place has, it

[btacon 1,790]

It's like a Steven King Novel.bt

[Rottenlungs 0]

Unfortunately many of the most vulnerable cities were founded before the longer term natural threats were really understood. LA, Seattle and San Francisco were all begun before the (potentially) destructive mechanisms of nature were really understood, as were Tokyo, Auckland, Hilo, Taipei, Miami, Mexico City, Naples and many othersEven after serious warnings, eg 1906 SFO, Hilo in the 60`s, Mt St Helens, it is a very, very big ask to suggest that a city be moved, even in a country which has space and money. Can you imagine trying to rehouse Japan`s population out of earthquake / tsunami risk ? Oh dear, there`s nowhere in Honshu or Hokkaido that`s risk free - best leave Osaka where it is then!What is important is that we become better at mitigating risk. Most countries in earthquake zones (I live in Wellington, NZ which is very active) have building codes which are effective at dealing with all but the most significant quakes. Also, despite the terrible problems we are seeing now in New Orleans , Biloxi etc, what was impressive is that they managed to move as many poeple as they did. Civil defense planning (and drills) are another good way to mitigate risks. Hear hear the poster who said "if you`re told to evacuate, do so.". He heightens another important point about risk mitigation. Prepare yourselves. I have water , food, radio, basic tools and a communication plan mapped out for when the 'big one' hits. Being prepared my be as simple as knowing which route you`re going to use to get to the freeway and where you`re gonna reconvene 'on the other side' if you need it. Unfortunately many governments and humans in general seem to have short memories. Look at Turkey where recent quake at Ismet (excuse my spelling) was made much worse because corners had been cut when building apartment blocks. Equally, in many built up countries, as pressure for greenfield residential building sites increases, we see more and more countries choosing to build on floodplains. This is particularly prevalent in the UK (where I grew up). This, in a time of both natural and human-accelerated global warming, is budget-driven , short-termist madness.Our thoughts are with you people suffering on the Gulf Coast. NZ had its worst flooding in 40 years last year and, I think, 2 people died and it cost about 1/2 a Billion NZ dollars to clean up. Small fry compared to what`s happening in the States. Sorry for wordy post. Civil Defence is such an important topic.CheersLungs (Edited to correct my shoddy spelling!)

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I am not advocating moving entire cities to respond to threats that *may* happen. I am saying that if a structure is damaged or destroyed that is located below sea level next to a lake, on land that "gels" during an earthquake, that the burden should not be on every taxpayer to keep it up. I say give them only X much if they want to rebuild on the spot, but X much more if they relocate to a plot that meets general logical criteria as to safety. As for new construction, limit aid to rebuild even more severely and make those restrictions clear. Values will drop dramatically, and development plans may start to make sense. Nothing else will stop the rush like lemmings to build on flood plains and coastal areas.Not to mention land that will "gell" in an earthquake-prone zone. There are spots like this blocks away from relatively "firm" ground even in San Fransisco.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[Guest Philip Olson]

It is funny at 10 years old I had more sense than many people do. I grew up in Colorado Springs, an area that has little in the way of threats from mother nature but as we were driving around one day I asked my dad why someone would build a house where they were building a new one. It lay within the bounderies of a hundred year flood plain. I did not know that at the time but I could see that water did cut out banks at some time in the past and hen in the 80's that house was damaged by flooding. Not too long after that we took a trip to California and it really bothered me that so many houses were built in areas that were so prone to costal erosion and landslides. Why do people take the chance at losing all of their possesions and then sticking us with the bill in the way of higher insurance premiums just because they think the area is pretty? To this day such things grab my attention as I am traveling, I just wish that more people will learn that mother nature can not be conquered, she will always win. Wake up people it is not worth it to risk your finances and those of other people just so you can live in a really cool place. Sadly most people don't even give that risk a thought, they just look at the beauty or status of living in some of these areas. Even with all that said my heart does go out to all of those that suffered loss in this terrible incident, I just hope that some people learn a lesson for the future. Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[tf51d 284]

The thing I don't get is why it's taking so long to get these people to safety! I could understand the people still stranded in the flooded areas, but the people in the Superdome and Convention center should have been airlifted out instead of bused to Houston. That's a 5:30 trip one way, So those buses are tied up atleast 12 hrs. The Military Airlift command has C-5's, C-17's and C-130's and C-141's at their disposal. If needed, they could even commandeer some Comercial Airliners. They can move hundreds each at a time. The buses could bring the people to the airport, While the plane in enroute, the buses can go back and pick up more. Houston is only about 1 hour flight time so the planes can come back in about 2:30 hrs, and pick up more. They could have had everyone out of there (Superdome and Convention center) already. Then they can concentrate on rescuing the people still stranded in the water. I'm afraid our government is doing too little too late, and a lot of people is going to die, that may have lived, if the government had moved faster!!Tom

[Bob Scott 7,720]

No such thing as the Military Airlift Command. Not since 1992.The last C-141 left the Air Force inventory a few years ago.Take a look at the ramp at an airlift base right now and you'll see it's nearly empty. They've been flying the tails off those planes to/from the Mideast for a while now. The planes you assume are immediately available probably aren't.I have no idea how the roads are between the Dome and Kenner, which is where the airport is, and which was hit hard by the hurricane itself. To set up the airlift you describe would require staging facilities at both ends and a fleet of busses at both ends as well.The NO airport is also probably swamped with inbound cargo flights bringing in relief supplies from afar. Because of the road network problems, they have to move it close as possible by air. That may well be a higher priority than outbound personnel movements that can be done by vehicles.Undoubtably the good people trying to make the best of this have looked at all these options...and as is always the case, there are tradeoffs and priorities that have to be decided. Wouldn't make sense to me to use the airport if ground transportation was an option.If the bus lift isn't going fast enough, it's probably a better idea to get more busses.I think it's possible that some people may die who might have lived if THEY, not the government, had moved faster. Truth is, they didn't move at all. A pity that governments are judged by so many on their ability to save people FROM THEMSELVES.I watched an able-bodied man interviewed on the news media speaking harshly about how he wouldn't leave a dog out in the sun to rot like a corpse that was lying nearby. That man...and many like him...were sitting around doing nothing and quite comfortable in their state of expectation that somebody else should get in there and bury that person and make things better for them. They were doing nothing while standing around moaning about how nobody else was doing anything. I personally don't care if that particular man has to wait another three days for a bus and a meal for which he's willing to do nothing in return.Bob Scott

[tf51d 284]

Thanks for setting me straight on the C-141's and MAC, however we still have a Military Airlift capability, I visited my parents up in Newburg NY as recently as last Sunday, and there were atleast 4 C-5's and a couple of C-17's on the tarmac at Stewart field. As I also said, Comercial Airliners could have been used for this purpose. This is an emergency, and the government does have the power to commandeer them, not that it would be neccessary, as I'm sure the airlines would volunteer their services if asked too. Those could have been sent down. As for access to the airport, it is obvious since they are able to drive them to Houston exit out of the city is possible. Even if the road to KMSY was blocked, there has to be other airports close by they could use. Having buses at both ends are better then tieing them up for 12 hrs to move a small portion of at a time. Blaming the victims don't help. Yes a number of them could have gotten out, but a great number didn't have the means to get out. Remember Disaster relief is something we pay taxes for. That is part of Governments function to protect it's citizens.