Lessons for (and from) rebuilding

Numerous events of the last several weeks have called up our national collective memories of what took place in New Orleans at the end of August 2005. First, in January an earthquake struck Haiti.

The natural disaster destroyed entire communities, and images of pain, desolation and hope touched people all over the world. The media brought reports of government helplessness and massive displacement reminiscent of the days after the levees broke in New Orleans.

A month later, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. It’s probably not popular to remind any Indianapolis Colts fans reading that the country rallied around this underdog team and their city.

New Orleans cheered “Who Dat” and paraded as only New Orleans can. In stark contrast to the devastation in Haiti, everything we saw on TV after the football game suggested the city was experiencing a well-deserved happy ending.

While recovery seemed far off in Haiti, the Saints’ victory and the ensuing celebration led many to think that closer to home, in New Orleans, recovery had been a success.

New Orleans and Haiti weren’t really the same story. In Haiti, the destruction was due to a natural disaster. In New Orleans, while we still refer to the event as Hurricane Katrina, it was really the failure of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that caused massive flooding, tremendous destruction of property and loss of human life.

The federal government hesitated less in responding to the crisis in Haiti than it did in the days immediately after an American city was submerged. This is still shocking, but perhaps it is evidence of a lesson learned.

There are more lessons to be learned. Four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Project reports that 11,000 New Orleans residents are still living in temporary housing, with 1,000 families continuing to dwell in carcinogenic trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Recovery is slow. Contrary to the triumphant media frenzy, there is much work left to be done in rebuilding the Gulf Coast. At the current pace of rebuilding in New Orleans, it will take 10 to 15 years to restore housing for those who lost it in the floods and have since returned.

There are long years ahead in Haiti, as the initial international consciousness dies down.

On the other hand, the Saints’ victory was a lesson for those who work toward recovery or fight against poverty and especially for those who take a cynical eye toward prospects for development and recovery in Haiti.

The work is slow; New Orleans was a poor city before the catastrophe, and it is still a poor city. Haiti was among the world’s poorest countries, and development there will take several years.

But the people of both devastated areas continue to find joy and cause for celebration.

This resilience should encourage those who have engaged in efforts to rebuild Haiti and New Orleans to continue the work long after the media and general public forget that it needs to be done.


E-mail: swilensk@indiana.edu