[Vwdiesel] OT post, Hurricane Katrina disaster

[Area31 Research Facility]

Words cannot describe the sadness I feel to see the devastation  and loss of
life that has happened around the Gulf Coast and particularly in the City of
New Orleans.  I cannot immagine the huge hardships that this disaster will
cause those who survived in the months and even years to come. So many
residents have lost loved ones, livelihoods and all that their lives
revolved around.  Their lives have been severely and in many cases
permanently challenged.

I hope that conventional dumb thinking will be avoided and that the big
picture lesson here might be clearly recognized, that re-building a
vulnerable city surrounded by rivers and ocean significantly below sea level
in a prime hurricane target area is most probably a BAD idea.  With the
increasing frequency and severity of coastal storm activity on a global
scale due (likely) from human caused global warming, and rising ocean levels
due to melting polar ice the entire population and government leaders really
need to be taking note of this catastrophy and modify their thinking
accordingly.  For example, insurers and government disaster relief spending
that keep paying out to rebuild destroyed homes on the vulnerable beaches in
Florida might take pause and consider the wisdom of their investment
strategy.

Rob