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HispanicVista Columnists |
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To
Rebuild Or Not |
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By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com
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September 19, 2005
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- Of course, I refer to the city
of New Orleans and the unprecedented Katrina disaster in that city and
area at the end of August. At this writing the size of the disaster is
still unfolding and the true size of the damage is yet to be known.
This may not be known for months. But there are those who question the
advisability of rebuilding a city hemmed in on one side by a river,
substantially higher than the city and on the other side a lake
(really part of the ocean) that is also above the city level. On the
other hand there is a place (The Netherlands) that has a substantial
part of the entire country that is below sea level. Of course, New
Orleans will be rebuilt. It probably will not look much like the
original city, but it will still be there.
Cities grow because of location. New Orleans is at a critical junction
of the vast interior waterway (the Mississippi River) and the Gulf of
México. In addition, there are many oil refining and chemical plants
in that area. The new city might not have a French Quarter, but its
importance to the national US economy will force rebuilding.
History teaches us that cities do rebuild. In the ancient world it has
been found that in some cases as many as seven layers of cities are on
the same spot. War, natural disaster of whatever, destroys the city
and the city gets rebuilt because of the location. My city of Chicago
had the entire central area burned to the ground in its early years.
This led to a more orderly street system and the most advanced fire
and building codes in the nation. San Francisco was destroyed in 1906
by both earthquake and fire. But, because of location, it was rebuilt.
The fault zone is still there, but so is the location. The city that I
now live in (México) suffered a major earthquake in 1985. The
causality toll was somewhere around 10,500 dead. We still have small
earthquakes frequently (to remind us), but the city is still there.
And, as always, there are lessons that were forgotten and lessons to
be learned.
Consider the Netherlands, which in 1953 was inundated by a "once in a
hundred years" storm. Dikes were broached and thousands were drowned.
In rebuilding the dike system, a triple dike system was installed to
provide back up for a failure. They have prepared for the worse
possible storm, not just a very strong storm. The Netherlands, like
Louisiana is at an important river mouth to the sea, which serves as a
transportation hub for much of Europe.
But looking at what has happened in New Orleans, we note some clear
lessons of the past that were ignored . . . at great human cost. First
of all, the levee system was built to sustain a hit from up to a
category 3 storm, as if cat 4 and cat 5 storms never happen. Second is
the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers (who are responsible for
levee construction and maintenance) has been asking for greater
funding for years than Washington has allocated. One project to shore
up levees dating from 1965 that was supposed to take 10 years is still
not completed. As one engineer at Louisiana State University said, "If
you need to spend $20 million and you only spend $4 or $5 million,
something's got to give." We should note that this transcends the
present administration.
And speaking of doing things on the cheap, both the local government,
the state government and the federal government have made
contributions here. A police communications system that collapsed is
one. Just like what happened in New York on 9/11. And the New York
system still has work to be done at this late date. It remained for a
private news organization (FOX Cable) and ham radio operators to help
fill the gap.
All three levels of government failed to recognize what always happens
with a total systematic breakdown of law and order. We keep forgetting
how thin the veneer of civilization really is. Both state and federal
military forces should have been instantly put into mobilization at
the first hint of disaster. When all but the lowest marginal elements
have run for their lives, you have the makings for an uncontrollable
breach of any semblance of law and order. And this should be no
surprise as it always happens in these cases. In 1906, it was so bad
that the federal troops in San Francisco had shoot to kill on sight
orders for looters. And look at what happened in Baghdad at the fall
of the Baathist regime. The Bush administration didn't respond fast
enough then and neither state nor federal governments learned these
lessons for New Orleans either.
Also remember that the entire US National Guard system is under severe
strain with the war in Iraq that was not prepared for in the beginning
with sufficient troops and they are still playing catch up. The
National Guard is the first line of defense for national disasters.
But a lot of the Louisiana guard (around 5,000) is now in Iraq. If
nothing else is learned here, it is that some things can't be done on
the cheap. It will always cost more in the end. And once the process
has gone wrong, just shoveling massive amounts of money without good
planning into a money pit can't help it. Again, learn from Iraq.
Looting usually starts this way: People need food and basic supplies
to stay alive. We commend Wal-Mart on throwing open the doors of some
of their stores to the hungry. But soon, it escalates. It quickly goes
from food to anything that can be grabbed. And beatings, murders and
rapes and mayhem follow. And the gangs then take over.
To those who thought that the new bureaucracy called the Department of
Homeland Security would really do some intelligent planning should
think again. As it is, the "blame game" in the US is in full force. It
almost looks like the same type of thing that we have with the Mexican
politicians. Personally, I was hoping for better.
Five days after Katrina hit, National Guard and Federal troops finally
started arriving in New Orleans.
The DHS has just had its initial test and it failed to do its job in a
timely fashion. Even with a lot more warning than any terrorist would
have given.
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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/)
contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail
at:
R1041643422@aol.com