Is a big quake coming?

A strong majority of Californians believe a strong earthquake is coming and will affect them, but few say they are prepared for it. It seems instead they are counting on local, state and federal assistance.

from the AP via the Mercury News

Rough season ahead

Max Mayfield director of the National Hurricane Center said yesterday at a meeting in Puerto Rico that 2006 is likely to be " an above average season" but unlikely to be as bad as 2005.

from the Washington Post

River Sliver

Researchers at Tulane and Xavier Universities are collaborating on projects to see how housing pressure is affecting the uptown neighborhoods along the river. Will rising housing prices reduce neighborhood diversity?

read more

GAO on New Orleans' Health Systems

The government accounting office reports that New Orleans' health care systems are still in shambles. They also suggest that Charity and University hospitals--the flagship hospitals for the state's health system-need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

from CNN

from the Times Picayune

Levee estimate doubles

Donald Powell, the White House administrator in charge of Gulf Coast recovery announced that his office's estimate of the cost to repair the levees has now doubled to $6 billion.

more from the Times Picayune

Differential outcomes

Research by James Elliott of Tulane University shows that African Americans experienced on average more serious effects than whites in the aftermath of the hurricane.

more from Tulane

Hurricane in New England?

Meteorlogists suggest that conditions might be right this year for a hurricane to make its way up the east coast to New England.

from the Washington Post

Flood maps

This article describes the wait for FEMA's updated floodmaps and what they might mean for homeowners.

from the Times Picayune

Good and bad

This report is by a travel writer, on how New Orleans is recovering.

from MSNBC

Not that different?

A new study suggests that most former New Orleans residents live in LA, and the the racial make-up of the greater New Orleans area is similar to what it was before the hurricane.

from theTimes Picayune

Another analysis says that black residents are less likely to return, so that the city will no longer be majority black.

from the
Times Picayune

Hurricane warning

This essay emphasizes the importance of learning from the post-hurricane Katrina disaster, especially since the storm itself was not as strong as could have been, and did not directly hit New Orleans.

from the Washington Post

Questions about levees

Civil engineers are questioning the safety of New Orleans' levees as designed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

from the Washington Post

Not all parts of the city may be protected:

from Reuters

An Army Corps of Engineers review panel says all the levees need to be tested for safety.

from the Times Picayune

Role of wetlands

Researchers point to the role of wetlands in protecting levees from dangerous storm surges.

from the Times Picayune

Northeastern Hurricane

Weather forecasters discuss the possibility that a major hurricane could hit the Northeastern United States this season.

from Newsweek

from the NY Post

Flood insurance in greater New Orleans

This article discusses the percentage of homeowners in New Orleans who carried flood insurance on theri homes. The percentages are higher than in other regions damaged by hurricances, and are correlated with income not with risk.

more from the Times Picayune

1936 flood

This report details a flood in the Pittsburgh area in the year 1936. In the years before the St Patrick's day flood there were warnings that the levees needed repairs and upgrades.

read more

"Rebuild at your own risk"

Mayor Nagin prepares of the release of the final report of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission tonight.

more from the Times Picayune

more from the LA Times

Reconstruction layers

This article discusses the levels of contractors FEMA hires and how this bulks up the cost of recovery and reconstruction.

from the Washington Post

Focus on infrastructure

This editorial, on CA's failing levee system, explains the importance of infrastructure, and details government's tendency to underfund it.

from the SF Gate

Mental toll

This article describes the federally funded programs to address the mental health toll of the hurricane disasters, and the challenges these programs face.

more from the LA Times

Higher ocean temperatures = stronger hurricanes

A study published in today's edition of the journal Science confirms the suspected link between ocean surface temperatures and larger hurricanes. Since ocean temperatures are increasing every year this does not bode well.

more from Bloomberg

Architectural differences

This article discusses differences in architectural design philosophies of the state's (Louisiana Recovery Authority) and the city's (Bring New Orleans Back Commission) redevelopment groups.

from Architectural Record

all the Hurricane stories from Architectural Record

Predictions of population size

The Rand corporation has completed a preliminary study predicting the future population of New Orleans.

from the NY Times

from the Times Picayune

1986 test predicted levee failure

The National Science Foundation team investigating the Post-Katrina levee failures says that a 1986 Army Corps of Engineers research project predicted the levee's failure.

read more

Two perspectives

This NY Times article discusses the very different perspectives on rebuilding that exist in Ocean Springs and Biloxi. Small, community centered planned communities versus multi-lane highways, high rises, and casinos.

read more

Katrina's Mississippi impact still felt

Even 30 miles inland, the effects of Hurricane Katrina on Mississippi's forestry and farming are still very apparent.

more from the Washington Post

NSF grant to study effects on kids

Dr Manuel Sprung, assistant professor of psychology at USM Long Beach, is studying how the hurricane disaster has affected young children's ability to concentrate.

more from the Clarion Ledger

Newsweek's Katrina page

Newsweek has gathered all its Katrina stories with links in one page

read more

Chertoff to view levee system

Michael Chertoff, head of the Department of Homeland Security will visit CA to view the state's levee system and evaluate what help from the federal government they need.

from the SF Chronicle

Corps of Engineers report

The Army Corps of Engineers has released a report on the failure of the levees in New Orleans.

download the full report

analysis from the NY Times

analysis from the Times Picayune

Hurdles for returning businesses

This New York Times article uses case studies to describe the complexities of a business' return to Post-Katrina New Orleans.

read more

Katrina, Racism, and Poverty

An academic article by two Stanford researchers suggests that media coverage of Hurricane Katrina did not reveal to Americans the existence of racial and economic divides in our country. Rather, they say, most Americans knew of this divide before the event, and distasteful media coverage may have led to a distancing from the issue.

read more

Levee reconstruction

Concerns over levee reconstruction, particularly about the use of outdated weather models to estimate storm strength and the use of sand to rebuild the MRGO levees has been voiced by scientists overseeing the efforts.

from the Times Picayune

from the LA Times

from the Washington Post

Green River levees

The Green River's levees are also failing, and this system near Seattle WA is facing a $112million funding shortfall.

from the Seattle Times

Public land for levees

One of the concerns in the Greater New Orleans area is the private land that may need to be taken over to make stronger levees. This point came home strongly with the land at West End that the Army Corps of Engineers has taken over to make floodgates at the mouth of the 17th street canal. This concern has now arrived in California where private land may be taken over to strengthen levees in the Sacramento River delta.

from the Sacramento Bee

IT managers work for resiliency

Those in charge of websites and online databases in the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico region are using last years events as a learning experience and trying to develop means to make their systems operational during crisis. Labor shortages are making this more difficult.

read more

First homes demolished by the city

The program to demolish homes damaged by floodwaters and which cause public risk began yesterday. The list of homes to be demolished was published months ago, and the first to be targeted lay at an odd angle across a street, 1.5 blocks from its foundation.

from the Times Picayune

Levee reconstruction methods and materials

A National Science Foundation funded observation team says that in order to rush levee repairs the Army Corps of Engineers is sacrificing quality of construction methods and materials.

via the Washington Post

the White House and the Corps respond

Mixed results

The impacts of the storm and floodwaters from the city on coastal waters is unclear, as studies so far show mixed results, and have yet to identify high levels of toxins in wetlands or off-shore.

Times Picayune

Mixed results

The impacts of the storm and floodwaters from the city on coastal waters is unclear, as studies so far show mixed results, and have yet to identify high levels of toxins in wetlands or off-shore.

Times Picayune

Communications plans

This article discusses plans to overcome communications problems that occurred during last year's hurricane disasters.

Times Picayune

Education reform

New Orleans' public school system is completely different than it was before Hurricane Katrina. Due to the demographic changes after the storm and a set of state takeovers of struggling schools, the once large and centralized system is now primarily a set of autonomously run charter schools. A series of news articles discuss this transformation.

Times Picayune

USA Today

via the AP

Southeasterners not prepared

A survey of citizens in the Southeastern US found that though coastal residents were more likely to have made preparations for a hurricane, few have made any plans at all.

read more

Aging, haphazard levees

This report from Wisconsin and Minnesota shows that Louisiana and California are not the only states worried about aging and questionably constructed levees.

from Duluth News Tribune

Hotspots

This report discusses environmental contamination following the hurricane, and the causes and consequences of these problems.
read more from the Times Picayune

Dancing with Katrina

Three years ago, Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig came to New Orleans and fell in love with the city and its environs. This spring, they are back as visiting artists in the Department of Theatre and Dance and planning a new salute to the city they have come to love.

read more

Weighing Mr Go

This article evaluates the arguments on both sides about Mr Go (the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet), which is very unpopular among residents of southeast Louisiana, unless their livelihood depends upon it.

more from the NY Times

Final meeting for commission

The Bring New Orleans Back commission's final public meeting will be March 8th, and its final report will be published soon after.

more from the Times Picayune

the BNOB website

Future by the river

This story covers the potential real estate boom on land near the Riverfront in New Orleans.

from Time online

Damage in the Gulf

These stories describe the damage that still has to be fixed in Gulf of Mexico facilities.

from the NY Times

from the UPI

Mardi Gras Indians

The tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians survived another year--a very hard year. African Americans participated in carnival in New Orleans dressed as Indians. There are many versions of why--to honor their native American blood, to participate where "negroes" weren't allowed.

read more from the Times Picayune

more from NPR

Fresh Air on New Orleans

The NPR radio show Fresh Air focused on New Orleans, history, current status, and culture, in its Mardi Gras episode.

listen to the episode

Rebuilding a Healthier New Orleans

Tom Farley worries about footprints. Not just the need to shrink the footprint--the city-limits area--of post-Katrina New Orleans but also the missing pitter-patter of children's footsteps on playgrounds and city sidewalks.

Farley is professor and chair of community health at Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. On Wednesday (Feb. 22) he presented a seminar, "Opportunities to Rebuild Healthy Neighborhoods in New Orleans," as part of the Prevention Research Center seminar series. Farley directs the center, which receives funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has as its mission the promotion of healthy neighborhoods and the combating of obesity in the city of New Orleans.

read more from Tulane's New Wave