When the Levees Broke

The hurricane Katrina is considered one among the greatest disaster that crossed America after the new millennium but the world was not much in awe upon hearing that significant news where thousands are left homeless and needed to be rescued. The media even snoots why the president didn’t passed by the disaster area when he was bound for India. By glancing at New Orleans pre and post hurricane images, one can easily decipher how great the physical damage incurred by the disaster.

For instance the New Orleans playground of which the lines and images are almost erased, the lines that delineates its physical make-up is no longer vivid which shows that the state physical structures were badly damaged (Military). The cities were 80% submerged in water when the levees broke and making it the deadliest hurricane since 1928. After the levees broke, the press commented that Hurricane Katrina has put an end to the annual celebration of the Southern Decadence which brought thousands of revelers for the homosexual celebration which was even acknowledge by its past city officials (Releases).

Repent America director even concluded that it is the “act of God which destroyed the wicked city (Marcavage). ” Post Katrina victims have to endure depressions which are worsening from 2006 to the present year and psychiatrist often reminds their patients that it is normal to feel that way just like saying men it is alright to feel bad because you loose a job, a wife, a house etc. and it mean that you are not crazy. Sometimes people talked that they will meet in the next Mardis Gras but just to find out that it can not happen that or this year.

Social behavior such as depression is increasing as years go by. Social problems create another problem and life is becoming more problematic not to mention the rising criminalities which are brought by poverty in spirit and in material things. Being the costliest among US calamity, there would be no easy way to solve the crisis. However, years have passed and it seems that there is social and physical distance that makes it difficult to arrest the problem.

Space is defined by Nicolas Nova as distance between people, a marker which explains the kind of interaction or which reveals social relationships (Nova). The prolonged crisis after the hurricane in the New Orleans does not only envelope the lack in material resources but more so in the lack of concerns for the simple reason that man is repealed by holocaust or in other words, man has the natural tendency to run away from destruction than to rebuild.

It is for this reason that the prolonged rehabilitation of the city is not due to the social issue of race discrimination but the inability of those concerns to make a collaborative efforts in rebuilding their state. Since, if it is race related, where are the least of its brethren, the Diasporas, the Africans and African-Americans and the rest with other backgrounds of ethnicity. To rebuild New Orleans after the hurricane is a big job, it must be understood that physically the work is tremendous and socially the barrier is within.

These spaces should be re allocated or distributed within ones environment to his most proximate neighbor and to its leaders. There is a dire need to augment the distance of the physical and social spaces that is ruining or leading the city into decay! There is a need for state leaders who are not just politically inclined but with minds and hands that can work consistently together. Re-building a nation after a great disaster is indeed a very great undertaking and that calls for a man and a woman who can perform an ordinary task extraordinarily well.

Works Cited

Military. “Satellite Imagery of New Orleans.” (2005). 4 March 2008 <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/new-orleans-imagery.htm>.
Nova, Nicolas. “Socio-Cognitive Functions of Space in Collaborative Settings : A Literature Review About Space, Cognition and Collaboration.” (2003). 03 March 2008 <http://tecfa.unige.ch/~nova/CRAFT_report1.pdf>.
Releases, Press. ” Hurricane Katrina Destroys New Orleans Days Before “Southern Decadence” 8/31/05.” 4 March 2008 <http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html#top>.