My Katrina

I am one of the refugees this country does not want to call refugees. I evacuated before Katrina hit and I didn't lose any family or friends. All I lost was my home, my possessions, my neighbours, my city, my community, and my proximity to friends and family.

This blog started out as a series of emails to family and friends. I decided to blog these emails because I fear that the general public's interest in Katrina is likely to wane well before its effects on the victims. I hope that by writing about my experience -- and remember, I was one of the lucky ones -- that people outside the disaster zone and the surrounding areas will keep thinking about the broader and deeper implications of this disaster and do their damndest to ensure nothing like it can happen again. We can't stop a hurricane, but we can prevent the social tragedy that ensued.

If you're wondering about the strange lingo and Australian slant to the posts, I grew up in Australia and moved to New Orleans in 1997.

By the way, if you're not familiar with reading blogs, the entries are posted in reverse chronological order, so you should start from the bottom and work up. The earlier entries are archived, so to read the whole thing from the start, you should click the August 2005 link under the Archives section on the left, then work your way up. The first post in this blog is The Approaching Storm.

Comments

[rob vines]

Looks good this way. Just talked to Mum and your messages should soon be on their way to Ascham!