Article – September 2, 2006
Posted/Updated: 2008-04-17 12:15:25
HURRICANE KATRINA: ONE YEAR LATERHurricane Katrina: One Year Later—What America Failed to Learn
As homes and lives along America’s Gulf Coast continue to be rebuilt in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, there are vital lessons waiting to be learned.
BY BRUCE A. RITTER AND JUSTIN T. PALM
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina unleashed havoc and destruction throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area and the Mississippi Gulf Coast region. One year later, with homes, schools, businesses and lives still struggling to be rebuilt, the storm’s effects remain an open wound longing to be healed.
Source: MCT
Widespread damage was caused to schools, hotels, casinos, government buildings and churches throughout Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. Scores of thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Disaster declarations were issued over an area of 90,000 square miles. New Orleans was hit the hardest after breached levees put the majority of the city underwater.
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At an economic cost of more than $80 billion and causing more than 1,800 deaths in seven states, all remember the days following Hurricane Katrina. Just over a year later, the population of New Orleans is only half its pre-Katrina size. Remains of the dead were still being found eleven months after the storm, and approximately 700 people are still categorized as “missing.”
With only a few victims yet to be identified and debris still being cleared away, people are beginning to move on. In July, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released $3 billion in public housing and rebuilding grants. Homes and lives are slowly being reconstructed.
Yet the images of bloated bodies in the streets and outrageous tales of violence and bloodshed, generated by panic and fear, offer a sobering glimpse of what lies ahead for America.
A Broken Society
In the aftermath of Katrina, with 80% of New Orleans underwater, society quickly broke down. Highways and roads were closed. The causeway that stretched across Lake Pontchartrain was broken into giant disjointed slabs. Tens of thousands of people waiting to be evacuated in the Superdome and convention center became restless. Food and water quickly became scarce. In a matter of hours, the situation descended into despair.
You may wish to read:
- Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later—The Greatest “Katrina” Lies Ahead
An immense “storm” looms over the horizon, amassing strength and rapidly gaining speed as time advances—and the initial effects of this catastrophe-in-waiting are already evident. - Katrina’s Wake-Up Call
Human nature usually ignores warnings—even the most obvious. How many will recognize this wake-up call—or greater ones to come? Then, how many will heed? Read and learn the cause of this disaster, and how everything will change—and soon! While it is always darkest before dawn, hope lies ahead! - Two Years After Katrina
Twenty-four months have passed since the powerful storm devastated the Gulf Coast. Will New Orleans and the rest of the region ever recover?
Under such extreme and desperate circumstances, human nature was put on raw display along America’s Gulf Coast. Vehicles were carjacked. One man shot his sister over a bag of ice. Hospice workers allegedly euthanized the stranded sick or elderly. Looters freely roamed New Orleans, stealing from stores and homes. Temporary jails were constructed in a vain attempt to restore order. Police officers quit or committed suicide, unable to cope with the breakdown of law and order.
National Guard and federal troops moved into New Orleans to patrol a world-renowned city that came to resemble a war zone. Rescuers in boats and helicopters reportedly had to suspend rescue operations when their heroic efforts were met with gunfire. In just days, society collapsed.
It was a disastrous event never seen before in America; a time most will never forget. Nations around the world were stunned at the havoc taking place in the U.S. Not since 9/11 had America seemed so crippled, so vulnerable. How could a region deteriorate—and so quickly?
Katrina’s wide-reaching aftermath has produced many life lessons—lessons America has failed to learn.
Lesson 1: There Is a Cause for Every Effect
After the storm came and went, New Orleans’ crime rate dropped dramatically. But this is not because criminals decided to stop stealing, murdering, etc.—they merely moved with the mass exodus of evacuees to other parts of the nation.
Today, cities such as Houston and others, which welcomed thousands of displaced survivors, are now struggling to cope with the criminal element that came with them. According to authorities, about 150,000 people moved to Houston alone, the most of any U.S. city—which the Houston police believe is responsible for the city’s 17% spike in homicides. Of the 232 homicides in Houston (from December through July 25), 21% involved an evacuee as either a suspect or a victim. A local judge said that Katrina evacuees arrested in the Houston area have cost the county’s criminal justice system more than $18 million.
As some of the same evacuees trickle back into New Orleans, the city’s crime rate is going back up, and is affecting the recovery process. A Washington Times article reported that “six fatal shootings…occurred within 24 hours,” causing the Louisiana governor to send the National Guard into the city once again. A month earlier, five teens were killed as they sat in or stood next to their vehicle. A New Orleans City Council member said, “Such sensational slayings have a crippling effect on the city’s struggle to rebuild its tourism industry and persuade evacuees to return.”
Murders, thefts and vandalism thrive in a city struggling to rebuild. According to a New Orleans CityBusiness article, “A national security firm will be in New Orleans…to assess security at New Orleans Public Schools, said Recovery School District Superintendent Robin Jarvis. Many district schools have been open and vandalized since Hurricane Katrina, she said. For example, all copper was stripped out of Drew Elementary School on St. Claude Avenue. Jarvis said the district will eventually have security 24 hours per day, seven days per week, which she said could cost ‘a lot of money.’”
One year after Katrina, human nature has not changed. Most do not understand there is a cause for every effect. In this case, crime is the effect of man’s unchanging nature. Few understand that though man was made after God’s image physically, human beings are to become like God spiritually—take on His nature, His divine character.
One Year Later: Thousands of displaced Gulf Coast residents still live in temporary housing, while prolonged clean-up efforts continue in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and elsewhere.
Source: MCT
Source: MCT
God says that He is love (I John 4:8). But if this is the case, then why, many wonder, would He allow such mass devastation and the suffering that followed to crash down upon a major U.S. city and the surrounding region?
When the storm struck, The REAL TRUTH published an article titled “Katrina’s Wake-Up Call.” It pointed out that insurance companies categorize damage resulting from natural disasters as “acts of God.” This led us to ask a simple question: Was this God’s doing?
The article also noted that as residents and tourists evacuated the city, someone left behind a giant hand-painted sign that read, “Please pray for New Orleans.” This led to more questions: How would the God of the Bible answer such a prayer—what would be His reaction? Would He ignore the city’s centuries-long history of lasciviousness and its countless tales of debauchery and lewdness? Does God simply accept people “as they are” and not require a change of heart?
In “Katrina’s Wake-Up Call,” we used several examples to show that there is a cause for every effect. When law and order disappeared in New Orleans, human nature was unleashed. When there is no law, there is no government; when there is no government, peace is impossible. The same is true in churches around the world, and accounts for why there are thousands of competing churches and denominations, all speaking different things. No law equals no peace, and peace is the byproduct of righteousness (Jms. 3:18). The biblical definition for “righteousness” is found in Psalm 119:172: “All Your commandments are righteousness.” Commandment-keeping is righteousness!
Yet most professing Christians are quick to proclaim that God’s Law was “done away” at Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and, therefore, no longer needs to be kept. But the apostle Paul—who many religious leaders claim taught the New Testament Church to put aside God’s commandments, statutes and judgments—wrote this: “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12).
Sin is defined as the transgression of God’s Law (I John 3:4), and the love of God that preachers endlessly talk about is described in chapter 5, verse 3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.”
God’s Law was not “done away” at Jesus Christ’s first coming—rather, He came to “fulfill” and “magnify” it (Matt. 5:17; Isa. 42:21).
Naturally, our article generated numerous emails—some positive, but the vast majority negative.
Lesson 2: Personal Responsibility Must Be Taken
Though Congress provided $68 billion in relief, people started pointing fingers immediately after the storm had struck. Cries of a lack of preparedness and a slow response were heard throughout the media. Some blamed the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for not responding fast enough. Others blamed President Bush, declaring him personally responsible for not granting the city needed funds to prepare for an event like Katrina. Investigations and inquiries were launched, bringing more questions than answers.
State of Emergency: As thousands were stranded across New Orleans, police were pulled from rescue operations to combat looting and other crimes.
Source: MCT
Source: MCT
Source: MCT
Today, Americans live in a “nanny state.” The government has long intervened to help the needy with food, money and medical assistance. But what was once viewed as gifts soon became entitlements, and entitlements are now seen as “rights.” Instead of taking personal responsibility for their lives, millions today expect the government to take care of them, to provide virtually all their needs and wants—from the womb to the tomb!
Gone are the days when people responded to John F. Kennedy’s presidential call, “My fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
When Congressional lawmakers, for instance, propose to limit the annual increase of Social Security, political opponents spin this as cutting Social Security itself. Senior citizens across the nation contact their representatives to vent their anger, believing the spin that the mainstream news media recklessly reports as fact. Pundits who remind the public that Social Security was not originally intended to be the main source of one’s retirement nest egg are vilified, called harsh, cruel, unfeeling and inhuman—all for revealing the facts. Politicians have been guilty of feeding into and nurturing the “nanny state” mentality by passing “pork barrel” legislation that caters to the whims of local constituents at the cost of federal taxpayers across America.
Likewise, churches and religious leaders have been guilty of teaching parishioners a similar philosophy of shirking personal responsibility. Calls of “Just give your heart to the Lord” and “The Law was nailed to the cross” and “Jesus loves you just as you are” are smooth and reassuring—and utterly void of biblical truth! Such soft purring lulls the unsuspecting into believing that all they need is grace and faith; works need not apply.
Yes, billions of people across the planet profess to believe in God. But the Bible says their belief is empty without works to back it up.
Notice: “You believe that there is one God; you do well: The devils [demons] also believe, and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? See you how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Jms. 2:19-26).
The God whom millions profess to worship—but do not obey—has strong words for religious hypocrisy: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:6-9).
Lesson 3: “Rumors Are Fueled by a Shortage of Truth”
During the first week or so after the hurricane struck, a “Pandora’s Box” of violence and mayhem was reportedly let loose in the streets of New Orleans. Multiple rapes. Up to 200 corpses piled in the Superdome. Snipers shooting at the police, then later rescue helicopters and National Guard units. Mass looting of television sets, alcohol and other luxuries. Total anarchy. Even the mayor reported this on national television.
But the facts were soon revealed: The overwhelming majority of these violent crime reports were false. In its extensive article “Debunking the Myths of Katrina,” Popular Mechanics magazine reported…
• There was only one rape attempt (which was stopped)
• Only six dead bodies in the Superdome (a suicide, a drug overdose, three cases of dying from natural causes, and one had sustained stab wounds)
• Only one confirmed account of a weapons charge (involving a Guardsman who accidentally shot himself in the leg when he was jumped by an assailant)
• And most looters only took food and water in order to live.
Why did so much false information abound? These were the byproducts of human nature. Stuck in a place that was hot, miserable and held little hope, people became frustrated, irritable—which soon gave way to panic. Rumors began to take on a life of their own. Though some might have started with a grain of truth, they were quickly distorted by word-of-mouth. Facts were embellished and spun to the point where they were no longer recognizable. The truth was squeezed out by the overabundance of lies.
“Rumors are fueled by a shortage of truth,” said Ted Steinberg, author of Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disasters in America. Such is the case when law and order are weakened, when the strength of government authority wanes. Getting to the truth of any matter becomes the first casualty when society starts to break down.
Even more telling is that the root of the false reports came from growing panic and frustration, which led people to run their lives as if they were being pursued. This is just a foretaste of even greater panic yet to come: “And you shall flee when none pursues you” (Lev. 26:17).
Lesson 4: Band-Aids Cannot Treat Cancer
America is, in a sense, a tenderhearted nation. Despite its problems and shortcomings, when other peoples or countries are in dire need, the United States is usually the first to respond with help. This is part of its patriotic “can do” spirit. Believing they can accomplish anything if they put their collective will into it, Americans feel there is no natural disaster too great to offer assistance to survivors.
No wonder then so many gave so quickly and so freely to charities and relief organizations. From elementary school students to the mega-wealthy, from the common man to the famous, citizens throughout all walks of life sympathized with what Katrina survivors had suffered and lost—and people wanted to help.
Their motives were well-intentioned, even noble. How could anyone not be moved by the scenes of sorrow and despair broadcast daily by the television news media?
Relief organizations roared into action and raised millions of dollars—yet much of the funds were bilked by con-artists. Officials at the Red Cross are looking into 7,100 possible fraudulent cases. More than 10% of the $19 billion of FEMA’s disaster-relief program was lost to fraud, stolen or misused, such as for lottery tickets and strip clubs! There was one case of a man crying before a news camera over the death of his wife, who he said drowned before his eyes as they attempted to flee rising floodwaters. The story turned out to be false, an attempt to prey upon the kindness of others. One elderly woman was so moved by the misery left by Katrina that she allowed three evacuees to stay with her; but they allegedly repaid her neighborly goodwill by brutally taking her life. Such noble intentions offered in vain, tainted by the ugliness of carnal nature.
Until man’s nature is changed—turned 180 degrees from its basest desires (Gal. 5:19-21)—charity drives and relief funds will only serve as band-aids on cancer! No one wants to hear that physical consequences often result from spiritual causes—that the way people live can bring blessings from God…or curses.
Throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast, business and community leaders are scrambling to resurrect the gambling industry. As soon as Hurricane Katrina had passed, people in the French Quarter rushed to bring back the pageantry of Mardi Gras and all its riotous trimmings. To even suggest that a Supreme Being uses natural disasters as a tool of correction to wake up His people is considered ludicrous—fanatical—uncaring. Yet a “storm” far, far worse than Katrina is in the making (see our article “The Greatest ‘Katrina’ Lies Ahead”); the most caring thing anyone could do is to warn of its arrival before it is too late!
Lesson 5: Warnings Must Be Heeded
The New Orleans Times-Picayune warned about the resulting damage that a Category-five storm might have on the city. Federal and local officials were aware of the aging levees. The residents of New Orleans knew that their city, sandwiched between Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the mighty Mississippi River to the south, was 6 to 13 feet below sea level, and sinking.
Yet almost 1.2 million people inhabited the metro area. They bought homes there, started families there, and made lives for themselves. And for so many, Hurricane Katrina washed it all away.
Facts about the city’s vulnerability were met with shrugs of indifference. Critical information was downplayed. Signs were ignored. Warnings went unheeded—why?
Because New Orleans had “beat the odds” so many times in the past, having survived Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Surely, it could weather through Katrina, the thinking went.
Because New Orleans is known as “The City That Care Forgot,” where residents throw hurricane parties even in the face of the most daunting storms—a city that held the mantle of debauchery and riotous living long before Las Vegas earned the title of “Sin City”—a city that embodies the short-sighted thinking of this increasingly degenerate world: “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die” (I Cor. 15:32).
No wonder, then, pre-Katrina warnings largely fell on deaf ears—as will the warning published here, in The REAL TRUTH magazine.
Read our companion article in the “Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later” series: “The Greatest Katrina Lies Ahead.”
