KATRINA

The Forgotten Disaster

On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's in late August, the Gulf Coast received a flurry of media and political attention. The White House launched a "public relations blitz" and President Bush promised to "make sure this good area recovers." But by the next week, the attention had largely faded. Currently, in the week before the midterm elections, few, if any, candidates are focusing on Katrina reconstruction. The nation needs to do more than simply commemorate the 1,697 people who died in the hurricane. The one-year anniversary is over, but reconstruction hurdles remain. Survivors all over the nation continue to struggle. Many are unable to return to their homes on the Gulf Coast and those who do face a lack of basic services. Columbia University geophysicist John Mutter estimates that hundreds of Katrina evacuees have since died from related health issues, putting the real death toll "well in excess of 2,000."

NOT QUITE HOME: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected more than 90,000 square miles and caused more than $80 billion in damage. The Government Accountability Office estimates that approximately 600,000 households were displaced from affected areas. While some neighborhoods have been reconstructed, much of the region remains a shell of what it was before Katrina. The population of New Orleans is 57 percent smaller than it was in 2005, with just 187,525 residents. Additionally, the people who have returned to the Gulf Coast still lack adequate basic services. Fifty percent of New Orleans's doctors and nurses have not returned, and just two out of 10 hospitals have reopened. Approximately 125,000 local residents lack health insurance. Just over 60 out of 130 Orleans Parish schools have reopened. In late September, residents of the Lower Ninth Ward protested that they still had no clean drinking water, and likely wouldn't for awhile. "We can't get trailers. We can't start working on our homes," said resident Gwen Adam.

A POOR PUPIL OF THE LESSONS OF KATRINA: The government response to Katrina was a lesson in mismanagement. Through Feb. 2006, "FEMA made about $600 million to $1.4 billion in improper and potentially fraudulent payments to applicants who used invalid information to apply for expedited cash assistance." A federal audit found that much of the $2.6 million the Agriculture Department gave to victims of Katrina and Rita was "unnecessary" and the department "overlooked some basic controls to make sure the right amount of rental assistance went to disaster victims, and that only victims got the assistance." In August, Bush stated, "[A] year ago I made a pledge that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover. I've come back to New Orleans to tell you the words that I spoke on Jackson Square are just as true today as they were then." The Bush administration hasn't learned those lessons yet. "Despite a promise to rebuild the area higher and safer, the Bush administration has avoided committing to hurricane protection much beyond what was in place when Katrina, a Category 3 storm, shredded New Orleans' levees and floodwalls. "The cost is far outweighed by the maybe $300 billion in losses from Hurricane Katrina," noted Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA). In 2005, the 9/11 Commission blasted the Bush administration for also forgetting the lessons of the 2001 terrorist attacks. "Hurricane Katrina pointed out serious flaws in our emergency preparedness and response. And what is frustrating to us is that [these are] many of the same problems we saw in 9/11 and the response to that disaster," said the commission's chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean.

A NEW BLUEPRINT: Members of the House Katrina Task Force recently released a report with recommendations for legislative action on hurricane reconstruction. "Better levees, reforming FEMA, and fast-tracking coastal restoration and comprehensive hurricane protection projects are all included. This report is also a blueprint for how we can better respond to disasters in the future, wherever they may strike," said Melancon, who spearheaded the effort with Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS). Topping their list is reform of the insurance industry, where according to Taylor, there "is a built-in, anti-consumer incentive for insurance adjusters to claim that storm damage falls outside the policy guidelines." The report proposes eliminating the antitrust exemption enjoyed by the insurance industry and mandating "that companies sell policies that cover all hazards including floods and create federal oversight of the industry, which is currently regulated by the states." The insurance industry has donated $36 million in political contributions (68 percent to Republicans) during the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

USING TRAGEDY FOR POLITICAL GAIN: While candidates haven't used the campaign season to bring attention -- and meaningful action -- to the status of Katrina survivors, the Bush administration has used the situation for its own political gain. The IRS commissioner has ordered his agency to delay collecting 2005 back taxes from Katrina survivors until after the Nov. 7 elections. But he didn't make this decision to be kind. The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, "who has close ties to the White House," said that the decision was made in order to avoid negative publicity right before the elections. "We are very sensitive to political perceptions," said Everson. While Everson said that delaying collections because of an election was a normal procedure, four other IRS commissioners disagreed. "Oh my God, that is unthinkable," said former commissioner Jerome Kurtz, who served under President Carter. Vice President Cheney also recently used the Gulf Coast as a backdrop for a Republican fundraiser, in his first trip to the region in over a year. Instead of visiting areas affected by the floods, Cheney "was shuttled into New Orleans in a motorcade" and was privately "briefed on efforts to protect New Orleans from future floods."