Diaster Vulnerbiity

This weeks presentation was great. Seeing what happened in New Orleans from people who have actually visited made the presentation that much more enjoyable. I thought the video was great, it really showed the whole time line and powerfulness of the storm. I did not realize that there was still so much work to be done in New Orleans. This reinforces the inequality that exists in that region. It makes you wonder if the Hurricane had hit a rich neighborhood if the cleanup would take so long.

Another question i had is why the levies were not built stronger to begin with. It seems as if everyone knew the flood could happen if a powerful storm came by. It makes me wonder why they didn't build up the levies earlier in order to prevent certain disaster. This probably has to do with the people living in the disaster area. Again race, ethnicity and socio-economic status may be the reason nothing was done.

I found the article to be very interesting this week. The Social Vulnerability Index seems like a very useful tool for understanding where disaster vulnerability is likely. Areas with lower vulnerability scores tend to be occupied by wealthy, highly educated white people. Areas of high vulnerability tend to be occupied by lower social classes. Another fact i did not know was that some of the most vulnerable areas in New Orleans were build on flood plains. It seems as these people had nowhere else to settle and got one of the worse spots. I don't understand how the government can sit back and just watch as these individuals suffer. More definitely needs to be done to rebuild New Orleans, and to make sure that this type of disaster wont happen again.