What was the point in rebuilding New Orleans??

Question

why would we rebuild a city that is right next to the ocean but is under sea level....

thats stupid

no offense to refugees, but its yalls fault for living in a danger zone,

its like if I lived on the san andreas fault and then an earth quake happned and my house went down a crack in the earth and I got pissed at the government

so then they give me a bunch of thousahdn dollar credit cards so i can go get alcohol and rims and bling bling for myself

i mean i wish i had lived inb New Orleans when katrina hit i coulda got so much free stuff, then looted all the nice business in New orleans whose owners were smart enough to evacuate, then I could move to ATL or texas then cause more crime there and get more money on top of the free credit cards i got to get my bling bling

woulda been pretty sweet, jsut sayin, its gonna happen again, and billions of tax bucks gonna do down the drain to rebuild it, then it will happen again and again and again......

Answer 1

While your at it, lets not rebuild all those cities that can and do suffer earthquakes,San Francisco,LA,all of Chile or anywhere else where disaster strikes. New Orleans vulnerability is due to extreme changes in water temperature particularly in the Gulf of Mexico.If the levees were raised as it was long advised, New Orleans would not be  vulnerable to flooding. The levees are not  finished.They are not high enough to protect the city today.

Answer 2

It's to prevent further destructions from happening.

For example, in the case of hurricane Katrina. The levees broke due to the immense stress from the water contained that are unable to be flushed out to the sea due to opposing storm surges that simple 're-fills' water flushed out; it broke in the end, flooding the whole of new orleans.

After the wake of hurricane Katrina, designers & architects have redesigned & strengthened the new levees making it taller and much more resilient.

So, it might well prevent a catastrophe from happening again.

Answer 3

there are some places people just aren't meant to live  

Answer 4

i think that this and san francisco show that people are very much creatures of habit and tend to return to areas they are familiar with rather than take a risk in striking out somewhere unfamiliar

perhaps that ought to be the point to take into consideration when allocating support after an event in the future?

Answer 5

They have to have a major shipping port that permits cargo to go up the central portion of the nation, from ocean going transports!  

Answer 6

I'd venture to guess that you are from an area where few disasters happen. This is a common reaction where I live, here in CT, because the people here simply don't have the life experience with natural disasters to understand how others feel.   Typical Northern self-absorption from people who are only first or second generation Americans.

There have actually been plans for Category 5 hurricane protection for the low-lying areas that could have been acted upon nearly 20 years ago had the federal government decided to do so. I heard that on WDSU-TV this morning, as I'm watching the coverage via DirecTV and they're carrying their signal nationwide right now.

Answer 7

New Orleans is not optional. History, architecture, culture, and the fact the city is home to many people are usually mentioned when the topic of the city’s future is discussed.  However, those factors (while significant) are NOT why NOLA is important to the rest of the United States.

First, New Orleans is a metro area of almost 1.4 million people – not some small town that could be easily relocated somewhere else.

More than 35% of America's energy is either produced in Southeast Louisiana or imported through here, and the infrastructure is focused on New Orleans. What may be the largest oil field on earth was discovered offshore of Louisiana in 2006, and it will be exploited via New Orleans.

The Port of New Orleans is the largest or second largest port in North America each year (tons of cargo) and one of the top ports in the world each year. The Port of New Orleans is not replaceable.

More than 25% of America's petroleum refining capacity is in the New Orleans area. That percentage will increase due to a new refinery already under construction and the planned expansion of existing refineries.

A large percentage of America's non-petroleum chemical industry is here.

New Orleans is one of only three principal east-west transportation points for the USA, and the resulting convergence of water, rail, pipeline, electricity, and highway links is not replaceable.

A large percentage of America's ship building & repair industry is in New Orleans.

NASA builds essential parts for the space shuttle in New Orleans, and will build components for the next generation of spacecraft here. Other manufacturers (ex. Bell-Textron) have factories in New Orleans.

A large percentage of America's seafood comes from SE Louisiana, and the distribution network is focused on New Orleans.

And so on….

It is theoretically possible to move the industry and the population, but only at horrific cost. The Mississippi river, Gulf of Mexico, and the oil fields cannot be moved. To even attempt to replace New Orleans would cost Trillions of Dollars and the attempt would fail.

In contrast, New Orleans can be protected from future hurricanes with the expenditure of about $15 Billion (that should have been spent before Katrina) spread out over a period of a decade.

Note that New Orleans is NOT "prone" to hurricanes or being flooded. The last one to hit before Katrina was in 1965 and before that was in 1947. Neither of those flooded the city proper like Katrina, which was the strongest storm ever recorded to strike North America (size + storm surge).  Gustav was a near-miss.  

There is a widespread myth that New Orleans is "built below sea level”, but that is not true.

Realize that nowhere is without risk. NYC and Miami are at more risk from hurricanes than New Orleans. Los Angeles and San Francisco are at risk from earthquakes and fires. Seattle is threatened by volcanoes and Tsunamis. The Midwest is hit by tornadoes every year. However, I don’t hear anyone claiming New York, Florida, California, Kansas, or Washington (state) be abandoned, or even not rebuilt after the next disaster.

However, people routinely claim New Orleans should be abandoned, or that we somehow don’t deserve help after Katrina.

Why is that?

Answer 8

There isn't any point in rebuilding there. Building a new city on dry land above sea level would be many times cheaper than repairing the damage.  

Answer 9

Check a map dude-- then come back and tell us all which Ocean N.O. is right next to-

Answer 10

People always rebuild when disasters strike. By your way of thinking there would be no where in America where people could live. Fires, tornadoes, floods, mudslides, inner city crime, terrorist attacks, and other dangerous conditions.

Answer 11

I think it's stupid to, but you cant just tell people that have lived there all their life to suck it up and move on. New Orleans also has a great culture which would be lost.