The reality is one no one wants to admit publicly and that is you simply can't evacuate a city the size of Greater Houston/Galveston in 48 hours, and you are correct -- it was an over-reaction. The reality is Houston mostly got wet, so just the people living in the low-lying areas could have simply evacuated to other parts of the city. There are simply limitations of government in even the most wealthy countries. In a free society, you also can't control the reaction/panic of the citizens. I don't think you can avoid chaos in any major disaster.

A major earthquake in LA will make New Orleans look mild by comparison. There will be no warning. You'll have every major freeway rendered impassable by wrecked cars and crushed pavement, water and electricity cut off and people basically trapped in their homes with no way to get out of the city, except on foot. We're talking about millions of people. No amount of careful government planning will be able to cope with a disaster of that size and scope, but if it happens, Americans will blame the government for not doing enough.
Brook | 09.24.05 - 1:59 pm | #