Anyway, I’ve just posted a very lengthy new entry to My Diary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the implications of it. I focus mainly on the Bush administration’s handling of it (and a few other related matters), but one particular aspect of this disaster I thought might be an interesting topic for discussion.Here’s a quote from my diary entry:

“…am I the only person who was shocked and appalled by how the people of New Orleans themselves handled this disaster? It is interesting to contrast this situation with the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster earlier this year. That disaster was on a far greater scale than Hurricane Katrina, killed many times more people, was totally unprepared for and devastated entire countries. Yet while there was some looting, the level of lawlessness there was far less than in New Orleans.

For example, emergency workers were actually being shot at while they were trying to help people and get them out! At least in the countries devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami, emergency workers were able to go there without fearing for their lives. And many of the people in these countries are Muslim, the same people many westerners like to think of as ‘uncivilised’. Yet they were a lot more civilised than the people of New Orleans. What does this say about America today?”

I give my own opinion in my diary entry, but I’d be interested to know what other people think about this. Why was there such a disastrous breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?