Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm, landed on August 23, 2005.

Katrina was the third strongest hurricane to make landfall on the United States. Approximately 1,836 people lost their lives in the hurricane and the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the nation since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. Although it has been two years since the storm, the levees are still too weak to protect against a category 3 storm. The table to the right shows some statistics about the condition of New Orleans before and after the storm.

The significance of Hurricane Katrina lies in its exposure of the incumbent social injustices in New Orleans. The federal and state recovery processes, rather than alleviating the disaster, only exacerbated it.

For example, according to an official press release from the White House Hurricane Katrina accumulated a $96 billion damage. Of that $96 billion, the federal government allocated only $7.5 billion. As of December of 2006, only 22 residents have received any actual funds.

Imagine the severity of alienation in the New Orleans community that the government‘s neglect has created.

It is clear that, even 16 months after Katrina struck, the people of New Orleans still need our help.

"The very idea of ‘Hurricane Katrina Relief’ encourages the idea that the problem is just the damage from the hurricane… the status quo pre-hurricane was, and is, the problem. The inequalities and negligence and disinvestment that were a part of that status quo caused this tragedy."

˜Jordan Flaherty

It is important to understand that Hurricane Katrina is a national, not local, disaster. It is merely a microcosm of the deeply embedded social problems such as housing, education, and gentrification that exist nationwide. The effects of the hurricane have even spread to the Alameda County, where 1,750 Katrina survivors are now residing.