The hurricane was a terrible disaster that has permanently altered the lives and landscape of Louisiana and Mississippi. The death toll is still unknown and won't be for a long time, though this event will be remembered for many years to come.
What surprises me the most is the reaction to the hurricane by residents and the government: in the streets of New Orleans, there is chaos. People are looting businesses and taking advantage of other's misfortunes, even if under the guise of "survival". The government has been unacceptably slow to react (even the president acknowledges this) and thousands of lives are depending on it. Things have gotten so bad that thousands of soldiers on relief duty are now acting as law enforcement in the anarchic cities.
This got me thinking: Are Americans so different from Africans? When there was chaos in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993, we saw the images on television and thought, "oh those Africans, so primitive... that would never happen here". Now, we see a similar situation in New Orleans, (albeit without the warlords) and we are left to eat our words, watching civilized people act like barbarians. It just goes to show: no matter where we live or how well off we are, when the situation becomes dire, desperate people do desperate things. God Save America.
Here's an interesting thought, courtesy of the CBC:
"Thursday night, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin lashed out at federal officials, telling New Orleans radio station WWL "they don't have a clue what's going on down here." Nagin said he was "pissed" at the lack of help.
"We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickety split. After 9/11 we gave the president unprecedented powers, lickety split to help New York and other places," he said. "You mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through ... that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need," said Nagin."
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