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“Who bungled this? The state of Lousiana and the City of New Orleans, no more no less. Quit blaming the Feds and grow up!!”

So it’s the fault of Louisiana or NOLA that a pine tree fell on my aunt’s house (she did evacuate, so she wasn’t hurt)?

It’s the fault of La. and NOLA that the canal levees broke and destroyed tens of thousands of houses?

If you’d read more carefully, you’d see that this thread isn’t about the evacuation or non-evacuation of New Orleans. I’m not blaming the feds or anybody else for the people trapped in NOLA right after Katrina. This thread has nothing at all to do with that. We’re talking about aid long after the hurricane. Help rebuilding homes, businesses etc.

I hear this crap all the time. "where is the govt? Where is the tax-payer's money." My answer is " What are you doing for yourself?"

In 1994 a major flood hit the Koyukuk River in Alaska. It wiped out three villages, and damaged seceral others. The villages of Alakaket, Alatna and Hughes were the hardest hit.

While the various govt agencies were deciding who would be responsible for the recovery effort, the people of Hughes got tired of waiting and chartered a plane home.(They are at least 100 miles off the road system).They rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

They reaslised that a disaster of this magnitude was beyond their ability to handle, and asked for help.

By the time I arerived to run the housing effort, they had the worst of the rubble removed, not to the street, but to the dump.(There was only one running vehicle in the village, a well worn 1984 Ford pick-up.)

This village gets virtually all it's supplies by air freight, at a cost of $1.00 per pound. Yet, they were dogged in their determination to get the village livable before winter, less than six weeks away.

I worked alongside some of the best people in the world on this project. Their ability to cope, to make do, was and continues to be an inspiration to me. I worked there five months and was sorry to see the project end, but it was satisfying to see the village back up and running. THEY DID MOST OF IT THEMSELVES. I hope I was able to leave Hughes a little better than I found it. I know I am better for having been there.