N1cky

At least in Japan they won't just forget about the area. To look at some pictures of New Orleans now makes you think that the US don't care about them, parts are like a third world country, its a disgrace

MrEmjoy

They do love it and people do lap it up when they report it but I don't think they want it to continue. Partly because those viewing will get bored and also some of them might, just might, there's a slim chance, some of them might be decent! Very slim chance!

Michael

The federal government has spent $15 billion on the sea wall and another $3 billion on repairing the levies. They also offered grants and interest free loans.

There are several parishes that the government wants to turn into parks but the local residents are against that and that is now in the court. Those are the ones that still have not have any work done on.

The Japanese governments public debt is currently over 200% of gdp compared to the US public debt which is about 70% of gdp and I suppose if they want to pay the bill, it will be significantly more. You can only keep printing money so long before someone has to pay for it.

Generally that concept works out pretty but because of the the government not wanting certain areas of New Orleans to be rebuilt, that has been slower than usual. After the Loma Preita earthquake in northern California, the Marina area of SF, downtown Santa Cruz,a nd the east bay freeway was completely rebuilt within 5 years and you couldn't see any damage after that.

coastieexpat

The damage was hardly comparable to New Orleans or Japan though.

Michael

I completely agree but there were also other things that held up the rebuilding New Orleans. Because New Orleans is so far below sea level, the Army Corp of Engineers wasn't sure even if they could save New Orleans if another great hurricane occurred and it took about 1 1/2 years to come up with a plan.

Even right now the new levee system/sea wall/flood gates has a 63% chance during a 100 year period that there will be a storm greater than the protection system can withstand.

Michael

You are right. There are 11 of those on the way to the site.

Steerpike

I do think the US Govt. was too slow in its initial response to Katrina (the search and rescue, the feeding of the people in the football stadium, etc) but I also believe that hard questions do need to be asked about the practicality of living in certain areas. It's all very well interviewing some old tearful granny about how she spent her whole life in this house/neighborhood and doesn't want to leave, but if the neighborhood can't be practically protected, we should question the logic of spending billions on rebuilding.

I too am getting more of my news in this thread than anywhere else ... I can't stand watching the news right now. What bugs me the most is the lack of any 'temporal correlation' ... they will have a 'talking head' on one half of the screen, while showing footage on the other half of the original tsunami from days ago. They don't seem to have any concept of letting you know the timing of the images.

SultanOfSwing

Practical solutions don't make for good news, though, do they? Which brings us to:

I agree - I just read Michael's posts now when I want an update, it's much more efficient and shock horror, he's actually posted some good news

Leslie

They love it. They might not love it so much when their crews come back glowing.

I just wonder where Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta will go for their honeymoon.

Sally Redux

Nutmegger

Don't know if you've seen this heartbreaking video showing two of the other victims of the disaster -- the animals. The good news is that these dogs have been rescued and the injured one is being cared for. The love of the unhurt dog for his friend is beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TM9GL2iLI

kimilseung

Has any one else noticed how big the Japanese emperors head is?

Michael

More good news. It has been reported that electrical power has been connected to the site. Now they will need to see if the plants without damaged control panels (likely plants housing reactors 5 and 6) will come up. Recent reports indicated that temperatures in the spent rod pools in for those reactors have been rising so if the power comes up, those plants should be stabilized quickly.

After that, they will likely have to wire the water pumps directly for the plants with damaged control panels.

The biggest problem still appears to be with the plant housing reactor 4. There has been speculation on how that problem could have happened since some say that all that would likely needed to have been done was bring a water hose into the spent pool room to fill the pool. It is possible that they manned reactors 4, 5, and 6 will so few people that it wasn't noticed that the water was low until it was too late or possibly that all the portable water pumps available were being used for the other reactors.

According to a 2001 Japanese NRC report, it was recommend that the emergency generators for nuclear power plants be move to higher ground.

MadRad

Had a huge lump in my throat watching this. I've donated to one of the animal rescue organisations working out there as well as human charity.

Despite all the bad news coming out of this event, there are also stories which are humbling, moving, and which restore your faith in human nature.

coastieexpat

I noticed that too. Reminded me of those wobble head things that went in the back window of a car.