September 1, 2005
Disaster Planning Posted by John Steele Gordon at 12:00 AM EST As far as I can see, the plan developed by the City of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to deal with the imminent arrival of a category 4 or 5 hurricane and its likely aftermath was as follows: 1) Tell everyone to run for their lives. 2) Scream for help. The contrast between New Orleans, 2005, and New York, 2001, could hardly be sharper. New York seemed under control from the start, and the situation-dreadful beyond imagination at first-improved steadily, with the Mayor and other city officials providing constant assurance and firm direction on television and radio, despite the fact that New York's carefully prepared emergency headquarters had been destroyed in the disaster. 9/11 could not have been anticipated-while a category 4 or 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans was just a matter of time. Yet New York’s leaders triumphed and New Orleans’s leaders were almost nowhere seen.
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