I agree with you people shouldn't panic. But taking prudent individual precautions does not seem to fall into the classification of "panic".
Of course we'll all die someday, some horribly, some peacefully in our beds. We all wish for the latter but shouldn't delude ourselves the former is a distinct option and sometimes we can avoid it. So, why tempt the latter outcome if we have a choice?
Speaking of New Orleans, it seems some of the locals failed to recently prepare for a possible crisis. No doubt they felt it couldn't happen to them. Instead, they either partyed on or figured the government would take care of them. Now the rest of us are paying their bills for their sloth and shortsightedness. To that attitude I would say - and will say (if it comes to that) - "Your failure to prepare for an emergency does not constitute an emergency on my part!".
Actually, we were apparently paying for them for years, just now they are more visible.
If you lived in New Orleans, and owned a house that had been destroyed, would YOU be living off government largesse now? I doubt it. You'd get your money from the insurance that I'm sure you would have had on your house, you'd have found a new job somewhere or gotten back to work where you used to be, you'd have found yourself a place to live, or bought some land, and be building a new house.
People lose all their belongings EVERY DAY in house fires and other natural disasters. Usually not so many at once, but New Orleans is still just the story of individuals, none of which by themselves is experiencing anything particularly unique.
The CITY is of course is in a unique position, at least for modern times. It's hard to jump-start a city, cities grow over the years. Until they have people back they can't afford services, but until they can afford services it's hard to clean up and get people back.