Hi Todd. The New Orleans hurricane is indeed a catastrophe, but it doesn’t measure up to the Sumatra quake in terms of area affected and the known dead to date. Some people that were killed by the quake didn’t even know there had been a quake. Of course the quake it self didn’t kill them, but the tsunami it caused did.

As tragic as the hurricane was it won’t matter to the people in the Bay Area when they have their major quake. That will be their tragic event and all others will be immaterial. The event will be theirs in the here and now. They won’t be thinking about what occurred in the past at some other location. It isn’t going to matter to them how small or how big their catastrophe is. All they know is that they are a part of it and want out of it.

However as you so aptly pointed out we can learn from our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others. Look at what was done right and what was done wrong. Enforce those done right and change those that were done wrong. If the guidelines need to be changed then change them. Take Care…Don in creepy town