I wish we would all just stop the blame game and realize that Mother Nature does what she does. We can do nothing to defend ourselves from Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, etc. We can only be prepared....
When you live in the city most vulnerable to hurricanes in the country - and are surrounded by water and below sea level - and realize you may only have 48 hours to react to one - you need a comprehensive disaster plan to evacutate anyone who wants to leave and doesn't have a car.
There has been study after study about what would happen if NOLA flooded. Despite that, the state and local government had no plan for getting out people without cars. Guess what? They still have to get them out. And now it is exponentially harder and thousands are dead and order is gone.
That is where we need to look - and to make disaster planning a much greater priority and not accept excuses - Texas has a COUNTY JUDGE activating a plan to make the Astrodome available within 48 hours for 25,000 people with cots and supplies and transport - but NOLA and Louisiana doesn't have a mayor or governor capable of doing anything resembling that. We need to see why disaster planning in Texas works - and why it failed so horribly in Louisiana. Or else we'll do this all over again someday.