Katrina Leaves Her Mark

The full legacy of Hurricane Katrina which lashed New Orleans over a week ago is now becoming apparent with the flood waters being pumped out of the city as newspaper photographs show bloated corpses floating amongst general waste through a waterlogged city.

Nature dealt harshly with this city, reknowned for its parties and carnival atmosphere. However, the lawlessness and anarchy which marked the days following its impact was a grim contrast to the spirit of Mardi Gras. In times of hardship, a highly-evolved social species might be expected to band together and cooperate in helping each other for collective survival, which was generally the case here.

Reports of robberies, killings and rapes show the darker human side and perhaps some might argue that more basic animal instincts prevail in these situations in the fight for survival. However, the lootings which went on were reportedly in the two distinct categories of essential (food and water) and non-essential items (who needs a 30inch TV when your house is submerged?).

The speed with which things descended into anarchy and chaos as aid failed to arrive (the disorganisation displayed was not expected of a developed nation such as the USA) is frightening; yet another example of how fragile our allegedly sophisticated human society is. Survivors who were stuck in the city's Superdome with the thousands of other people to take refuge there spoke of gangs roaming the building as they banded together in groups for safety, describing the scene and events as 'something out of the Lord of the Flies'.

Of course, it is impossible to account for certain people in this world and their selfish behaviour, but it is sad to see that in a disaster zone which affects everybody equally, some people will only think of themselves and the gratification of their needs above others (the reports of shooting at a helicopter airlifting people out made me mad). In these scenarios the instinct for survival is understandable, but taking advantage of the situation to rape and pillage is unforgiveable.

At least most of the people have been evacuated from the city and the clean-up can begin - now we'll see the full extent of the damage as the bodycount will surely mount.