Why Natural Disasters Are More Expensive—But Less Deadly

Reader Comments
Back to article

When is the actual new iphone 5 ( or the successor of the iphone4) likely to be released? I personally lost my iphone a month ago, and I was thinking if I must get the apple iphone 4 at this moment or maybe wait for the apple iphone 5... In addition, I discovered the i phone 4's display screen shatters quite simply if you ever fall it w/o in a situation. Can be that correct?

release date new iphone of AL 3:04PM May 27, 2011

I agree that this is an interesting article. The damage that occurred on August 29, 2005 was indeed the costliest in US history.
But in New Orleans, it was not a natural disaster.
According to Dr. Ray Seed, co-chair of the Independent Levee Investigation Team, the damage was the worst civil engineering disaster in US history, and the worst in the world since the Chernobyl meltdown.
http://www.lasce.org/documents/RaySeedsLetter.pdf
The damage was a man made civil engineering disaster. And responsibility for the disaster belongs primarily and overwhelmingly to the federal Army Corps of Engineers.
Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org
www.levees.org

Sandy Rosenthal of LA 4:17PM March 25, 2010

Very interesting article from an economic standpoint however it should be noted that Hurricane Katrina was not a natural diaster for New Orleans. It did devastate much of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi but it was the failure of the levees, which were the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, to withstand a Category 3 storm that did the bulk up the New Orleans damage. Most of the deaths and damage in NOLA was thus due to an unnatural disaster.
Had our priorities been to safeguard our infrastructure then we would have saved billions over the long run, not to mention about 1500 lives in New Orleans.
Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

Paul Harris of AR 3:58AM March 25, 2010