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worth of food, water and medicine. "What happened during Wilma should not happen in any state. That was not a devastating hurricane," according to FEMA Director, David Paulison.

We can point fingers at each other and the government, but I believe ultimately residents must accept responsibility for not being prepared in this type of emergency. People were warned. I had friends and relatives living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and they did what was expected they purchased emergency supplies, boarded up their homes, packed necessary belongings, fueled up their vehicles and left the city.

Many have said that residents didn't leave the city because they had no transportation or funding. With all of the finger pointing that went on after Hurricane Katrina, I don't recall hearing anyone say that they had asked for a ride out of the city (when they were first instructed to evacuate) and were refused transportation. One thing I do know about the city is that people are very friendly and neighborly. Towns are divided into parishes because of the church prevalence there. Anyone wishing to leave the city (prior to the mass exodus the day before), would have been able to contact a friend, neighbor, church or other relief organization to assist them leave. The fact is that most of the people who did not leave the city didn't want to leave. Even after the city was flooded and uninhabitable, there were citizens who refused to leave.

We all watched in helpless amazement as the situation unfolded on the television after Hurricane Katrina descended on New Orleans. Everyone wishes that more had been done to assist people who were trying to get help after the fact. We saw the misery of down at the Superdome where people simply needed food, water and other basic necessities. How could something like this have happened in the greatest country in the world?

First, we have people who did not prepare for the emergency or leave the city when they were told to. They didn't ask for help either until it was too late to assist them. Next, we have city officials who thought they had planned for the emergency by offering shelter. They were unprepared for the onslaught of people who were in dire need of basic necessities and supplies. Then there's our own government who could not support the unplanned logistical operation of an entire city in despair.

Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city of New Orleans one year ago, was the costliest U.S. hurricane on record, with losses officially estimated at some 80 billion dollars and over fifteen hundred lives lost. According to the Associated Press, a Harvard University survey (released July 23, 2008) states that nearly one-fourth of people in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina would refuse to evacuate for a storm if told to.

Did they really learn a lesson after all? Hurricane Gustav is presently headed to the New Orleans area with other tropical storms not far behind. Will residents heed the warning and evacuate? Perhaps they will just wait it out and then ask the government to come to their aid

Learn more about this author, Gail Kerry.
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