New Orleans — Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, the ‘Big Easy’. The latest world meeting of the I.C.O.I. (International Congress of Oral Implantologists) was held at the end of April in this historic city. It was evident that it has still not fully recovered from hurricane ‘Katrina’. A tour of the area revealed many areas still in disarray. The ‘privileged’ population’s homes sat on high ground, and seemed unaffected by the push of the Gulf. Those who were unable to attain this more elevated real estate had nestled their families and small homes quietly along the river beds and in the lower elevations. This was obviously the segment of the population most affected by hurricane ‘Katrina’.
Most of New Orleans is below sea level, and their way of living day to day illustrates the precautions necessary to live under these precarious conditions. The cemeteries are all composed of raised tombs, and most are owned by individual families. Because they are above the ground, when the newest member of the family is laid to rest, they are placed in the top compartment of the tomb. Through the passage of time, the tomb acts as a natural crematorium from the heat of the sun. After a period of one year and due to some very extreme summer heat, the body gets broken down and dehydrated like a natural crematorium. The ashes are then placed in an urn and shuffled down to the lower internal level for permanent (and compact) storage with previous family members. This process allows a greater number of family members to be buried in a very small area which not only keeps the family together, but decreases costs to successive family members for burials. This is a great testimonial to human ingenuity and ‘necessity being the mother of invention’.
Getting back to the city itself, it was amazing to see high water marks at the level of outside porch lights. Many homes are built elevated — with stairs to the front door. The water mark on the outside of the houses was some ten to twelve feet above the ground. After nearly five years of rebuilding in the city, there are still some homes with trailers parked on the front lawns — used as temporary shelters while the family rebuilds their home. Unfortunately, some of these people can’t afford to rebuild and are using the trailers as their permanent homes. This was quite an eye-opener for me, since I thought everything was ‘back to normal’.
The French Quarter was not affected by the high waters and only suffered slight wind damage from the hurricane. Since most of the tourists visit and stay in the French Quarter, most of what I have just described often goes unnoticed. And as if hurricane ‘Katrina’ wasn’t enough, they have now had an oil spill from an ‘Ocean Rig’ which is threatening the eco system in the Delta area. Not only will it affect the wild life, fish, and wetlands — but it will hurt the local economy by polluting the sea bed and contaminating the bounties and harvests of the local fisherman. Lobster, crawfish, clams, mussels, and oysters are a mainstay of the economy of the region. Without this income and natural resource, there will be even more people bearing greater hardships. The oil companies reassured the local people (and the government) that deep sea oil drilling was safe, and that there were many backups to rely on should there be an emergency. Of the three backup safety valves that they had always talked about, not one worked. How would we feel if we had a similar problem and our Great Lakes became a disaster zone?
It is my opinion that if the government had more control over the safety features necessary to be employed at each site, there would have been a better chance at shutting down this constant flow of oil. How can the executive branch of the oil company be so completely wrong over the number of thousands of gallons a day the well is spewing out into the Gulf? As I am writing this, there is no relief well that has been completed yet to even reduce the flow of oil. The skimmers and collector ships are a definite help in reducing the total effect of the disaster, but what will the long term affects be?
The French Quarter had just begun to recover from Katrina, and was as lively and vibrant as ever. I believe this was due in part to the miraculous win of the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl. The city needed a boost of energy. It needed an influx of financial help, and the Super Bowl seemed to be just what the doctor ordered! The restaurants were back on line, and bustling with energy. This was my first trip back since Katrina, and the French Quarter was back at full throttle. There was a tremendous amount of celebrity support for rebuilding the city’s inner structure and it was all becoming very visible. And then the Gulf disaster!
I realize that over time, the human race has been very resilient, and has recovered from disasters over and over again, but for the people of New Orleans (and the whole Gulf Coast for that matter) this is a very difficult ‘one-two’ punch to overcome. They almost recovered from Katrina, and they got hit again!
The convention turned out to be very successful with over twenty countries being represented. The lectures were great, and the attendance was over the top. This was the type of support New Orleans needed. What they did not need was another hurdle to get over. My thoughts and prayers are with them…..again! oh
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