maemuki: looking toward the future: Katrina, August 29, 2005

My thoughts and prayers go to the victims and people who are affected by Hurrican Katrina. I hope the rebuilding of lives and homes will be a smooth one. Disasters cannot be compared, but we can only hope that the areas of destruction is as quick as the earthquake of Kobe Japan was.

On January 17,1995, a 7.3 eqrthquake on the Richter scale hit Kobe.

4,571 died,
85% of schools were damaged,
Fully collapsed 67,421 structures,
Partially collapsed 55,145 structures,
Almost all container berths and wharves were inoperable at the ports, The main roads in the harbor area were cut off
Total Damage - approximately 6.9 trillion yen (US$60billion)
debris removal lasted over 3 years.

These before and after pictures tell a remarkable story of rebuilding, revitalization, and moving forward. Let's hope the USA government can get their act together and look forward to a new New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, and its affected borders.