The occasional scrivener

Heavy Weather

The coverage of Katrina reminds me of Sterling’s novel Heavy Weather. Obviously, Sterling himself has made the connection too.

The whole situation is making me pretty glum. It’s really shown a dark side of the United States, a country that’s prepared to spend billions to invade and then “rebuild” a foreign country, but that apparently feels that if its own citizens can’t get out of the way of a hurricane, they only have themselves to blame. Sauve qui peut, indeed.

I thought the whole point of Homeland Security was the security of people in the homeland. But maybe the (black) South isn’t part of the homeland?

Update: none of this was unexpected:

In the aftermath of such a disaster, New Orleans would be dramatically different, and likely extremely diminished, from what it is today. Unlike the posthurricane development surges that have occurred in coastal beach communities, the cost of rebuilding the city of New Orleans. dramatically damaged infrastructure would reduce the likelihood of a similar economic recovery. And, the unique culture of this American original that contributed jazz and so much more to the American culture would be lost.

Should this disaster become a reality, it would undoubtedly be one of the greatest disasters, if not the greatest, to hit the United States, with estimated costs exceeding 100 billion dollars. According to the American Red Cross, such an event could be even more devastating than a major earthquake in California. Survivors would have to endure conditions never before experienced in a North American disaster.

Update: that’s not all, the survivors are now “insurgents” too.

Updated on Sunday, 2005-09-04. Posted at 11:05, in the alt » katrina category. Comments [0]
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