The
New York Times has an interesting article today pointing out other disaster
prone areas this country has. It seems that Katrina has awaken most of the
country to look into their deteriorating infrastructures and high risk areas and
are now more worried than they were this past summer. Some of those possible
disasters waiting to happen are:
- Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers aging levee system
- Seismic vulnerabilities of the Alaskan way, which is an elevated
highway, in Seattle. - A volcanic eruption in Yellowstone which at the least would have
devastating effects on Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.
These are just a few of the problems this country faces. After Katrina we
realized that we can not depend on our federal government to help out that much.
That means we must look more into preparation and prevention. The first two on
that list are items that can be fixed by our country. The last item will rely
solely upon recovery.
With our record deficit spending, there is no doubt money will be a key
argument in these projects. When you look at the geographical locations of these
items and consider the number of people that could be involved, it does seem
like this should take precedence over other items such as the “bridge to
nowhere” in Alaska. Of course no one in Senate would say that or Ted Stevens
might have another hissy fit on the floor of Senate.
The problem is we are not dumping enough money into our nations
infrastructure. We need to start worrying more about our country and less about
others. Just consider how much we could do with all the money spent on the Iraq
war. The top two items on that list would be gone and the levees in New Orleans
could have been reinforced. Instead it was more fun for Bush to go to war –
after all being a war time President sounds much more prestigious than being a
building time President.
These are the kind of things that Democrats do worry about. Republican’s call
it run away spending, but is it really? Preparation and prevention are the keys
to surviving disasters. Its not a matter of if a major earthquake hits the west
cost, but a matter of when. With increasing seismic activity around the globe
that time could be sooner than we think. That is why we should prepare now.
Imagine how less costly and devastating Katrina would of been if those levees
were upgraded to hold back the storm surge. At least there is a silver lining to
the very dark cloud of Katrina – it has awaken the rest of the country to its
disasters in waiting.