This image comes from When The Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina:

Dan Gillmor thinks Speaker Hastert made a good point when he questioned the wisdom of rebuilding an-under-sea-level New Orleans: “Too bad he’s being pilloried for it.”

There’s a time and place for everything, but this wasn’t the time for the Speaker to suggest bulldozing New Orleans. It would have been a good time to question the federal rescue effort. You know, focus on first things first.

But Dan’s point is a good one, especially when he puts it in the context of rebuilding the San Francisco Bay Area following the big one. Whether and how to rebuild should—and, of course, will—be on the table. But even there, the focus should be on learning the lessons of New Orleans so we can put in place the planning and resources so we can recover. For example, is the Bay Area vulnerable to the kind of emergency response we are witnessing in New Orleans?

After we save as many lives as possible, after we provide food, shelter and medical attention to those in need, after we restore water and sewer service, then would be a more appropriate time to talk about rebuilding. And when we do, recognize that it is as much a political as financial question.

Politics? Hastert is Speaker of the House, a person who just helped dole out $Billions of transportation pork. Or was that energy pork?

Frankly I prefer President Bush’s answer about rebuilding New Orleans: Let’s listen to some experts first.

And let’s make sure the execution is better.

My heart goes out to all those suffering the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin’s stunning radio interview provides a compelling, emotional window into the situation. Compare his comments with those of FEMA director and other officials and it’s clear that local, state and federal government officials are not on the same page.

As shown by the links below, the effects caused by this hurricane have been predicted for years. So you have to wonder how and why we have arrived at the monumental failure that is ongoing in New Orleans.

The Big Easy On the Brink: If it doesn’t act fast, the city could become the next Atlantis (Time, July 2000):

“A Category 5 hurricane would come barreling out of the Gulf of Mexico. It would cause Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans, to overflow, pouring down millions of gallons of water on the city. Then things would really get ugly. Evacuation routes would be blocked. Buildings would collapse. Chemicals and hazardous waste would dissolve, turning the floodwaters into a lethal soup. In the end, what was left of the city might not be worth saving.”

The foretelling of a deadly disaster in New Orleans: FEMA ranked hurricane scenario highly likely in ‘01 (Houston Chronicle, December 2001):

”...earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country. The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.”

Big Blow in the Big Easy (US News & World Report, July 2005):

”’If a hurricane comes next month,’ says Ivor van Heerden, director of Louisiana State University’s Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes, ‘New Orleans could no longer exist.’”

Also see: Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans.