not so easy

For some reason its nickname was always “The Big Easy”. It is far from easy now.

I am talking about New Orleans. The effects and after effects of Hurricane Katrina have virtually destroyed the southern American city and killed thousands of people.

The Governor has ordered the total evacuation of the jazz capital of the world. About one hundred thousand people defied the original order. Some with fatal consequences. People who sheltered in the Louisiana Superdrome football stadium are now being shuttled in buses to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas – more than 500 kilometres away.

New Orleans has always been at risk of such a tragedy. It was built on swamps metres below sea level. It’s safety and viability supposedly protected by an intricate series of levees and dams and water pumps.

This time, under the brute force of Hurricane Katrina, several levee banks broke and New Orleans was hit by a mini tsunami. Some people drowned while huddled in their attics – trapped by the rising water.

Latest reports say that the city may not be viable or liveable for one or two months.

It’s ironic. Back in the 1860s New Orleans was the wealthiest city in the United States. Fortunes were made from cotton and coffee.

In recent years it has achieved a different reputation. A reputation for mayhem and murder and carjackings. That’s why reports overnight of armed looters roaming the streets and a Nationmal Guardsman being shot did not surprise me. Somebody even took a shot at a military rescue helicopter.

One thing that did surprise me was the slowness of the military intervention. And some locals have been scathing of President George W Bush because of the speed in which they rushed into Florida during a natural disaster. After all, his brother Jeb is the Governor there.

When I survived Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii, in Kaua’I, some years ago, the military were magnificent. They set up tents for people to stay in and fed us Army rations within 24 hours. Not so in Louisiana it seems.

Friday, September 2, 2005

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2005