- Jordan117
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- Exalted Legendary Member
I think a lot of the jerks on here don't realize the magnitude of what's going on. This isn't just another hurricane - it's the single costliest natural disaster in American history. And it hit in the worst possible place. I mean, think about it:
- A major American city (New Orleans) is completely underwater.
- That means that countless homes, shops, factories, schools, etc are totally ruined. Imagine your house filled with twenty feet of water for a period of weeks. It wrecks the walls, the foundation, the furniture, the electronics, and anything else not watertight.
- This isn't seawater. It's filled with sewage, dead bodies, oil, garbage, and all the detritus of a dying city. And it is going to fester and rot there for the next several weeks.
- Over a million people are homeless, jobless, and have no possesions but what they took with them. Everything else is gone.
- Any people who stayed behind and survived are now trapped in a nightmare world of rampant crime and total destruction
- The region's economy is ruined and will take years to recover
- Tens of thousands lack power, water, and food
- Hundreds are dead or missing
- Hundreds of billions of dollars in damage
- The loss of countless historic buildings and places (The French Quarter, The Cabildo, St. Louis Church, etc)
Keep in mind that these effects are playing out not only in New Orleans, but along most of the Gulf Coast. There are some smaller towns that don't even exist anyomore because every structure was washed away.
There is no way to underestimate the cost of what has happened. It's almost as bad as if terrorists had exploded a nuclear bomb in the city. It is a nightmare, a disaster, a catastrophe of the highest order. People will read about it in history books for decades to come. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been irrevocably ruined.
Seriously people, quit acting like egotistical jackasses and attention whores and recognize this disaster for what it really is.
PS: Thanks to everyone who's shown true sympathy and concern for the people affected by this tragedy.