what could have been done to prevent the dikes in new orleans from failing???
142447
It has recently been discovered that the levees were built with a substance derived from sugarcane.  New Orleans is infested with Formosan termites, which can eat through cement to get to sweet-smelling stuff.  They are finding   areas of the underground part of the levees that were eaten away.  The levees need to be rebuilt properly.  Also, the levee closest to my house broke because of a barge that was not properly secured before the hurricane; it drifted into a levee and broke through.
836064
I also remember that a Dem mayor and a Dem governor had no time to help the citizens of New Orleans. They also had no policemen available to protect these citizens or to supply them with food or water.\nHowever the same Dem mayor and Dem governor had plenty of time and policemen to go out and confiscate the guns owned by law abiding citizens.\nAnd of course plenty of time to blame Bush for causing the Hurricane. Go figure.
1023670
No.  If government does anything, it should help to make more rental properties available to increase the supply.  This will reduce rents and help restore the city.  The city owns/holds many properties considered blighted.  This is from before Katrina.  Sell these off or clean them up and rent them out.\n\nTake other abandoned homes and do the same.  Encourage small business contractors to renovate rental units with grants, SBA loans, etc.  New Orleans banking is unique and steeped in history.  Maybe these local businesses can also help with easy loans and expedited processes.\n\nHow about take some of the empty projects (which are neat buildings) and partner with developers to renovate them into mixed-use housing?\n\nNew Orleans cannot afford any more government handouts, as they take decades to identify much less remove.
76631
no, New Orleans was a hazard waiting to happen and nothing substantial should have ever been developed there, the people who lived there were in danger the whole time they've been there, it was just simply overlooked
439690
Check out what was done on the World Trade Center buildings. They had about the same problems with water in the soil but they are a lot farther away than 1.5 meters. I'd start with a pile-driver to hit solid earth and build the entire thing above sea level. Mother Nature's Ocean will get in.
1058142
There are a lot of reasons, but let me try to list some:\n1) the city is below sea level, so it is a huge challenge to get it dry.  The soil is saturated and that makes every effort a hundred times harder.\n2) The money involved is staggering.\n3) Government inefficiency, though perhaps no organization could deal effectively with such a huge task.\n4) Corruption and fraud, as some people use the situation to their personal advantage.\n5) The war in Iraq splits attention and resources.\n\nI do not think it is a government conspiracy to keep New Orleans down, due to race or politics.  The above reasons are enough to explain the troubles without adding conspiracy theory.
6911
I believe walking around with a heavy metal detctor will help. And there is no repetive movment, so that will help too.
33414
That depends if the government decides to make the same mistake again. It's the sad truth that very rarely does mankind actually learn anything from there mistakes. I find that rather pathetic. But maybe that's just me. I just wonder how many times that place is gong to be flooded and rebuilt before they remember their physics 101. When you build a city below sea level chances are, it will flood in a hurricane!!!
476972
I don't think it was preventable at all.\n\nIf you piss off a large proportion of the world for long enough then someone is going to do something crazy.\n\nEven with the somewhat police state methods now being used we're still due for more terrorism. \n\nHurricane Katrina couldn't have been prevented as it was caused by weather, but the reaction in terms of getting people out could have been better. So could actually rebuilding the levies properly before the hurricane. bit of a pity most of the national guard  and army engineers who were supposed to be working on it were out of the state relieving other national guards sent to iraq or sent there themselves....
230829
If I lived in New Orleans, absolutely not. He and the Governor Kathleen Babineaux are the biggest contributors to the inability of getting proper warning and aid to the victims of hurricane Katrina. Their continued incompetence is causing unnecessary suffering among Louisiana residents.
1186559
I'll just add that significantly than failing to protect the libraries and antiquities, they also failed to protect the water and electricity supplies as well as munitions in favor of solely protecting the oil interests, permitting much of the looting to occur that left Iraq's infrastructure in shambles, then allowing only American firms to participate in the reconstruction, resulting in a 67% unemployment rate during the first year of the occupation.  These conditions contributed in no small part to the insurgency.
290714
1)More visibility to the weaknesses of the current Administration; 2)Perception that the socio economic classes were hit "more" equally in MS than LA 3) New Orleans looked at as major tourist industry... my question would be How much money is being spent in each place? Who is it going to? and What is being done? So far, from what I've seen there's a whole lot of nothing going on in either place, except to try to make Bourbon Street presentable for Mardi Gras (only 6 months after the disaster)
1125131
I lived in New Orleans for a while, never had anything happen to me or any of my neighbors.  I lived in a "bad" area of Nawlins, and nothing ever happened in those three years.  Right now, however, there is a lot of stuff happening in and around that little city, but they are still fumbling the effort at the rebuild.  Tulane is as safe as anywhere safer than most.  Mardi Gras is the peak time for crime and most is petty.  Hope this helps.  I love that town, and will go back!  The link below is objective about things.\nhttp://www.nola.com/\nOh, no no Tulane, I went to UNO!
828968
God didn't.  Mother Earth is trying to restore balance to the ecosystem in New Orleans.  I have nothing against New Orleans or the people that live there, but the measures we've taken to make a swampland habitable has left the area with basically no natural protection against the elements.  What happened with Hurricane Katrina is entirely mankind's fault.\n\nBright blessings!\n)O(
992547
They need to get rid of their ghettos and shanty towns.  The city is still very segregated.  Those problems could be helped by careful town planning.
153378
The people that lived in New Orleans voted down - Multiple times- raising money/taxes to upgrade the levees. They were stupid to not improve their defenses when a huge section of the city was below sea level.
1135379
It messed up Saint barnard parish, and orleans parish....  It turned new orleans into a lake.  We had bukue people become homeless.  alot of people lost homes, it took out one bridge that connects over lake pontchatrain....  And traffic sucked for months....  Give me your email, and Ill send you a few pics  Oh and we got every lazy bumb that didnt want to work....  Beleive me now there is no excuse for "I cant find work"  Oh yea Minwage, went up from 5.15 to 8.50- 9 an hour  (cause nobody wanted to work, since they had fema money)