MindSpinner

As I watch suffering magnify in New Orleans, I am thinking about the next time a category 4 or 5 hurricane bears down on a vulnerable coastline such that we can clearly foresee catastrophe about to unfold. I am thinking about the people who stayed not because they wanted to, but because they did not have the means to leave or a place to go. If we had had a plan for rapid mass evacuation and the means in place, how many willing evacuees could we have gotten out of New Orleans before the storm? And why didn’t we have food and water stockpiled at refuges of last resort? Why was it only “Bring your own disaster relief”? We knew New Orleans might fill up like a bowl of water, consequently cutting off essential resources and services for more than three days.

We can do nothing now but react as quickly as possible to this disaster, but perhaps we can learn from hindsight. We need to devise some means of acting on the national level to assist when proactive measures can make a difference and not just when disaster has been fully realized and declared. Admittedly, as hurricanes go, the window for action is narrow, just a day or two or three, but that’s enough time to do something that will make a difference.

I feel only incredible gratitude for people who have acted and continue to act to save lives, no matter what their role. I fervently hope that we, as a nation, will make use of every lesson we might learn from Katrina.