SPEA to work expertise with hurricane teach-in

Today the School of Public and Environmental Affairs is hosting a Hurricane Katrina teach-in discussion, incorporating several diverse panelists in all areas of the disaster. \nWhy?\nBecause it's a natural thing for SPEA to do.\n"When Hurricane Katrina hit, people walked around thinking, 'What can I do?'" said SPEA director of marketing and communications Debra Kent. "It just seemed natural for us to pull this together."\nTitled "Hurricane Katrina: The SPEA Perspective," the informal teach-in will feature at least seven faculty panelists, said Kent, who organized the discussion. Panelists will provide insight on several different issues involving the disaster, including public policy, homeland security, public health, hydrology, wetlands preservation, city management and forestry. \nThe teach-in begins at 5:30 p.m. today in the SPEA atrium.\n"I hope to avoid all the incriminating and finger-pointing and blame games we will see in the press," said Bill McGregor, a SPEA professor and panelist focusing on operations management during major disasters.\nSPEA professor and panelist Matt Auer said the panel will "set the stage" for an open discussion. Auer will provide his expertise on hydrology, the study of the effects of water on the earth's surface. The public as a whole perpetuated a flooding myth, Auer said. He said most people went to bed Aug. 29 thinking New Orleans had skirted a potential disaster, not realizing that much more flooding can occur in the hours after a major storm moves through an area.\nHe also said the issue of race has been ineffectively illustrated by the media.\n"It's always more complicated than the media presents," Auer said. "The richness of that culture is not being presented."\nOrville Powell, a panelist focusing on city management during disasters, said he dealt with two hurricanes while acting as city manager in North Carolina. He said the federal government's response to the disaster is "unbelievably poor."\nThe SPEA professor said he's had to rearrange a class syllabus to spend time on Katrina.\nLouisiana marshland is suffering from silt depletion caused by the levees along the Mississippi River, said panelist Chris Craft. He said the marshland is a critical stretch of land that can help mitigate storm destruction -- but added that the Mississippi River delta is a "poster-child of wetland loss." \nThe panel is nothing if not diverse, and McGregor said hurricane relief is a long process that requires analysis on many different levels.\n"This is a disaster that requires we throw everything we have at it," he said.