Katrina images echo developing world disasters


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Date: 02 Sep 2005 08:51:57 PM
Object: Katrina images echo developing world disasters
Katrina images echo developing world disasters
Fri Sep 2, 2005 5:22 PM ET
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Images of desperate people clamoring for food
dropped from military helicopters, armed soldiers in the streets and
bodies floating in fetid water are usually associated with the world's
poorest countries.
But this time, the scenes of death and despair are coming from a major
city in the world's richest economy.
The suffering of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has
shaken even hardened development experts at the World Bank, who deal
with extreme poverty and disaster daily.
"In many ways this is turned into a developing country," said Margaret
Arnold, the World Bank's natural disaster expert, who has dealt with
some of the world's biggest natural disasters, including the Asian
tsunami.
"I am shocked that this is happening in the U.S."
Arnold said Americans must take a hard look at how events have
unfolded in the past few days.
"When all of this has calmed down, a lot of U.S. cities will have to
do some real soul-searching," she said.
Arnold, whose sister lost her home in the hurricane, said it was clear
the city was unprepared to weather the storm, although officials had
long warned such a disaster was inevitable.
She believes that even in some of the world's poorest nations, where
disasters are commonplace, government officials would have moved more
quickly to evacuate people.
"One thing we tell our client countries is to have clear institutional
arrangements in place for having rapid response and effective
coordination," Arnold said.
"This has been the first real test since FEMA (U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency) was put under Homeland Security and obviously it
didn't work and I think they will want to reexamine how they respond
to disasters."
Just as in the developing world, it is the poorest residents who have
suffered most this time.
"It is the poor that are hit the hardest and they have the least
coping mechanisms and probably don't have insurance," said Arnold.
"Their homes are completely gone and they probably won't be able to
rebuild and regain their livelihoods."
Experience has taught the bank that rebuilding after disasters can
take years and billions of dollars.
"This is going to take some time and the poorest will not recover,"
she said, estimating economic costs could be well above $25 billion.
"With disasters, the poor are kept in this kind of cyclical poverty,
because even the smallest events that don't register on the
international scene impact them tremendously."
One positive in the rebuilding of New Orleans is that it should give
authorities a chance to correct faults in the system that allowed the
floodwaters to spill into the city.
"In (the) tsunami-affected region, we are trying to do that, to say
'This is an opportunity to go about things the right way and take the
time to do it right,"' Arnold said.
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