Rebuilding America's Atlantis, part one New Orleans' coming "second disaster" Before writing anything about hurricane Katrina, it would be remiss of me not to say that my heart goes out to any and all affected by the tragedy… And although there's plenty of blame to go around, both for the preparedness of the City that Care Forgot for a disaster it KNEW was one day coming and the response to it at all levels, there's entirely too much finger-pointing going on - while not enough credible voices are offering solutions or information that can help save lives now that the disaster has struck. That's why I'm writing this today. If the estimates hold up, Hurricane Katrina will most certainly prove to be the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history to date. Even though the 1906 San Francisco earthquake will likely remain the biggest in terms of loss of life (they still have nothing more than guesses for Katrina, which range from a few hundred to several thousand), the storm that drowned New Orleans will no doubt dwarf the '06 Frisco quake in property loss, adjusted reconstruction costs and number of displaced people. But it may well end up America's most deadly disaster also if those who are filing back into the New Orleans area to try and rebuild their homes and lives aren't especially careful about controlling their disease risks - or if the Louisiana state and local health departments aren't vigilant in trying to get the message out about basic sanitation and disease prevention. According to a recent Reuters online article, New Orleans-area doctors are bracing themselves for what they're calling a potential "second disaster" of infections, poisonings from water contamination, and accidents as people contend with fallen trees, downed power wires, water-weakened roofs and walls in their homes, and debris in the streets. Currently, there are only four hospitals up and running in the metropolitan area - only one of these is actually inside the city limits (not that going to the hospital is always the best thing to do in an emergency - in fact, it could kill you if you're not lucky). And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about 90% of the New Orleans water supply is currently contaminated with various toxins - including human and animal waste, diesel fuels, petroleum products, heavy metals like lead and mercury, and deadly chemicals like arsenic. CDC officials are concerned not only with the water itself, but with residual toxins in the mud left behind after the flood waters are finally all pumped away. In other words, besides being lawless and anarchic, right now the Big Easy is a giant cesspool AND toxic waste dump. So what can people who are returning to bail out their homes do to keep safe while they regroup, clean up, and try to get on with their lives? They're some of the same kinds of things I recommended to Indonesians after their Tsunami last winter (Daily Dose, 1/18/2005), but with one uniquely American exception. I'll elaborate in part 2 of this essay, in the next Daily Dose… **************************************************** Razing and re-raising I've been reading a lot of people in the mainstream press and other sources who suggest we should just give the "city that care forgot" a proper burial-at-sea and be done with it. But I disagree. And although it'll be a project rivaling the construction of ancient Rome in complexity and expense, I think it's unquestionably in our best interest as a nation to rebuild New Orleans, and PROPERLY this time… Here's why: New Orleans is a symbol. More even than the Big Apple, the Big Easy is the original "melting pot" - a strange, volatile, and wonderful mix of peoples of European, Hispanic, Indian, and African descent. A place of almost surreal diversity, the Crescent City has been a stronghold of both Catholicism and Voodoo-ism (can anyplace else in America make THAT claim?), and every faith in between. It is a city in which pirates and U.S. soldiers banded together to defeat the invading British at the Battle of New Orleans. In other words: New Orleans is a place of opposites and extremes made to work together. Like America. Even the city's brave (if foolhardy) defiance of natural catastrophe echoes the spirit that made the U.S. great: Disparate people of every shape, color, means, and background forging prosperity in the face of adversity on all sides, and forced to tolerate and appreciate each other for survival. Beyond this, no one could argue that any place has added more to our culture - both from an artistic standpoint and one of equality - than the song, story, and struggle of this mighty stronghold of the American south. It just wouldn't be right to let her drown… I say, let the good times roll there once again someday. Thinking - but thankfully not sinking, William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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