"The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina"

We’ve all been awe-struck in recent days watching the coverage of the rescue efforts in the South following hurricane Katrina. But I think there are some important lessons to learn -- and questions we must answer -- all be them at the expense of those tragic victims.

1) Transportation Means Survival: The difference between those who lived and died in New Orleans was based on access to transportation. When told to evacuate, those with cars did. Those without were stranded. The lack of public transportation along the Gulf Coast left the “disadvantaged” as just that… dis-advantaged, and maybe dead.

I wonder why every available rail car, bus, plane and helicopter wasn’t called into service to remove people from Katrina’s path. Worse yet, I wonder how those living along the Connecticut coast would evacuate if a category four storm were threatening us. Join the crawl on I-95? Take Metro-North? Or hunker down at a local mall.

2) Our Classless Society Isn’t: The victims of Katrina aren’t characterized as much by race as by economic class. Access to housing away from the flood plain and access to private transportation both cost money. You don’t have to be Black to be poor. But a week after rescue efforts began, with hundreds of mostly black bodies still floating, uncollected let alone unburied, one wonders if it’s not also a matter of race.

During an NBC fund-raising telethon for hurricane victims, black rap artist Kanye West said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” (only to have those comments censored by the network for its West-Coast feed). The President’s mother, Barbara, on touring the refugee camps in Houston commented that, given the squalor of their former New Orleans homes, these victims of Katrina were actually better off than before. She added “it’s kind of scary that they might all want to stay in Texas”.

Where would Connecticut’s refugees flee after an evacuation? Gold coasters perhaps would drive their SUV’s up to familiar ski country in New England. But where would the Hispanic, Haitian and Black populations of Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport flee… and would they also be made to feel like so many dust bowl Oakies?

3) Our Government Is Incompetent: Four years after 9/11 we’ve seen once again that our government can’t do a damn thing to protect its citizens. One might excuse a surprise terrorist attack, but a long anticipated, well-scenarioed hurricane? Not a chance.

As Katrina hit, George Bush was enjoying week five (!!!) of his summer vacation at his ranch, while his political appointee cronies at FEMA fiddled as New Orleans burned and flooded.

Seventy-five percent of FEMA’s budget is spent on terrorism, even though acts of nature present the real danger to most Americans. Gobbled up into the Homeland Security Agency, FEMA has lost all clout, competence and most of its budget.

We have already spent almost $200 billion fighting in Iraq. For what? And what will the final cost be for reconstruction of the South? And will those billions be spent on no-bid contracts for Halliburton?

I’m not ashamed to “play the blame game”. But my comments are not about partisan politics. There’s plenty of blame, and responsibility, to go around for all the pol’s at all levels of government. Because, if we don’t address these horrendous mistakes and answer these tough questions, aren’t we likely to also fall victim to a Katrina-style disaster?

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JIM CAMERON has been a Darien resident for 14 years. He is Vice Chairman of the CT Metro-North / Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, and a member of the Coastal Corridor TIA and the Darien RTM. You can read a full archive of his columns at http://talkingtransportation.blogspot.com/ .