From all the crime and poverty, it sounds like that city was messed up long before Katrina came on the scene. I have a hard time believing the firemen and cops are overwhelmed by what they've seen this last week if they've worked years for the same departments. Heck, just watching what goes on regularly in the French Quarter should've prepared them for all this crap.
It is different to walk into some place you don't know and see devastation vs your street, your home, your neighborhood.