© 2007 R.Rorandelli/Terraproject. Used with permission of the photographer. Please click here to see more of his work

Hurricane Katrina passed east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Many experts claim that the winds were less than a category 4; some place the velocity at that of a category two when the storm passed by the city. But consistently the storm surge is cited as the equivalent of a category 5. People who could get out of the city did. Those without money stayed-largely older people, poor people and Black people-decided to ride it out. A storm is a storm, they reasoned. We can ride out storms.

By eyewitness accounts, the sun was shining when the water was rising. The levees broke. By August 31, 80% of the city was underwater. The 17th street levee broke, the industrial levee broke and the London Avenue Canal Floodwall. These breaches were responsible for at least 2/3 of the flooding. 90% of the residences were evacuated. Despite this, many remained-primarily elderly and poor. The Superdome was used as a last resort shelter. Many who remained in their homes waded or swam, through contaminated water, or climbed up to their attics to wait to be rescued. The number missing was 595, the number deceased was 1, 295.

The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it was not a natural disaster, it was a human disaster. The city's defenses should have withstood the storm surges, but they did not. When the French built New Orleans in 1718 on high ground along the Mississippi floodplain, there were 4.5 mm acres of wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf. There was no need for hurricane levees. Now the Gulf Coast is 20 miles inland. For many reasons, not the least of which is the desire to put more people in the existing space, The Army Corp of Engineers has walled off the river with dams and floodways and pumped up levees. The river now dumps less than ½ of the sediment it used to in Louisiana.

Those are just some of the environmental facts. According to the Institute for Southern Studies, $116 billion was set aside for Gulf Coast renewal by the Federal Government. Stanley Czerwinski of the Government Accountability Office says 2/3 was spent in debris removal and coast guard rescue. Less than 42% of those funds have been spent at all. He finds the number not useful, therefore. $35 billion was designated for long term rebuilding. $16.7 set aside for community development block grants, one of the two biggest sources for such rebuilding. But as of March 2007, only $1 billion (6%) had been spent.  Following bad publicity, HUD spent another $3.8 billion between March and July, leaving 70% of the funds still unused. Another major source of funds was supposed to be the $8.2 billion given to FEMA. Of that money earmarked for public assistance, only $3.4 million was meant for non- emergency projects like fixing up schools and hospitals. Even $3.4 million would only cover 1/8 of the damage to Louisiana, yet it is meant to be shared across five states: LA, FL, MS, TX and AL, and to cover damage from THREE hurricanes: Rita, Katrina and Wilma.

Katrina was two years ago, this week. But the seeds of that disaster were planted centuries ago. Greed. Covetousness. Colorism. A disrespect for nature. We need to rebuild the city. We are committed to the just rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. Something else needs to be rebuilt: we need to rebuild the foundations of justice, of hope, of a right relationship. We need to tear down the foundations of greed, avarice, malice, fear and prejudice that annihilate the spirit.

We need hammers and nails, but we also need letter writing and phone calls to our leaders. We can do this, we can rebuild. Together.

Love
Jacqui

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