Helping out in New Orleans

How you can help, today 

New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity located in New Orleans, LA

New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity is mobilizing for an unprecedented rebuilding effort. In 2007, NOAHH plans on building hundreds of new homes in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes. NOAHH was voted by readers of New Orleans Magazine as "The Best Work Accomplished by a Charity, Organization or Group". I hope to volunteer with them one day soon.

Common Ground Collective | Solidarity not Charity

Common Ground's mission is to provide short term relief for victims of hurricane disasters in the gulf coast region, and long term support in rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area. Common Ground is a community-initiated volunteer organization offering assistance, mutual aid and support. The work gives hope to communities by working with them, providing for their immediate needs and emphasizes people working together to rebuild their lives in sustainable ways.

Katrina Information Network

The Katrina Information Network is an information and action clearinghouse. KIN shares expert viewpoints and action from the communities that have been devastated by Katrina, with up-to-the minute news and analysis.

Katrina Help

Katrina Help: The complete resource to search for missing persons, find or offer resources and help, and donate for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina, three years later 

The Threatening Storm - Hurricane Katrina - Two Years Later - TIME

How years of misguided policies and bureaucratic bungling left New Orleans defenseless against Katrina — and why it may happen again

MOLDY CITY: John Barry Katrina Anniversary Column

A look back at a John Barry column, which is worth repeating.

Still Singing Those Post-Katrina Blues

In a funky, crowded, smoke-filled bar in the French Quarter, locals are passing a tip bucket 'round the room, while singer John Boutte whoops and hollers, banging on his tambourine, crooning tales of regret and rage over the havoc wreaked by that witch Katrina. Adding his own spin ...

After Katrina, A Lonely Homecoming - washingtonpost.com

As a few residents move back into their neighborhoods, they're finding out they're among the few who intend to return.

Reckless Abandonment - washingtonpost.com

Over the past two years since Hurricane Katrina, I've seen waves of hardworking volunteers from nonprofits, faith-based groups and college campuses descend on New Orleans, full of compassion and hope.

Bush Says Gulf Coast Isn't Forgotten

President Bush marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by trying to reassure the people of the Gulf Coast that they are not forgotten... But the president appeared on the defensive as he was forced to contend with cynicism in the region about his administration and with a barrage of criticism from Democrats that the administration had not done enough to help speed the area's recovery from the storm's destruction.

Bureaucracy 

Finger pointing everywhere

Eugene Robinson: A 'Road Home' to Lunacy

Maybe the president can explain why policing a civil war in Iraq takes priority over resurrecting a great American city.

Gulf residents wonder, where is all the money?

So far, only about half the $110 billion allotted by the federal government to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina has actually been spent. Officials at all levels complain that bureaucratic red tape has choked off the recovery. NBC's Lisa Myers investigates.

NOLA comeback hasn't happened yet

Feb. 6: The big comeback many had hoped to see in New Orleans hasn't happened. NBC's Martin Savidge takes a look at the reasons why.

FEMA Wants Over $300M in Katrina Aid Back

In the neighborhood President Bush visited right after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government gave $84.5 million to more than 10,000 households. But Census figures show fewer than 8,000 homes existed there at the time.

Eugene Robinson: No Words for the Gulf

More infuriating than anything George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address was what he didn't say. Congress and the nation heard nothing, zilch, nada, not a single, solitary word about New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and the devastation that remains from the worst natural disaster in United States...

Katrina continues to inflict damage

New Orleans is a city on a knife's edge. A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina, an alarming number of residents are leaving or seriously thinking of getting out for good.

Additional Reading 

Reconstruction of New Orleans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans was catastrophic. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history. By August 30, 2005, one day after the once-Category Five storm made landfall as a Category Three, 75 percent of the city of New Orleans was flooded. Over 150,000 properties in New Orleans were damaged or destroyed by wind, water, and fire in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Bring New Orleans Back Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bring New Orleans Back Commission was established by Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, Louisiana, after the flooding caused by a major civil engineering failure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.[1] Aside from one Hispanic, the membership of the commission is half black and half white. For reference, and because race has been a contentious issue, the race of the members is indicated.

The goal of the commission is to advise, assist, plan and help the City of New Orleans develop recommendations on all aspects of rebuilding. The Bring New Orleans Back Fund is also a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Civil engineering and infrastructure repair in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a result of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, there were extensive failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana and surrounding communities. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MR-GO") breached its levees in approximately 20 places. The major levee breaches in the city included breaches at the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.[1] There were three major breaches at the Industrial Canal; one on the upper side near the junction with MR-GO, and two on the lower side along the Lower Ninth Ward, between Florida Avenue and Claiborne Avenue. The 17th Street Canal levee was breached on the lower (New Orleans West End) side inland from the Old Hammond Highway Bridge, and the London Avenue Canal breached in two places, on the upper side just back from Robert E. Lee Boulevard, and on the lower side a block in from the Mirabeau Avenue Bridge.

Flooding from the breaches put the majority of the city under water for days, in many places for weeks. The Army Corps of Engineers made emergency repairs to breaches and pumps worked at draining the city. Hurricane Rita brushed the city nearly a month later, causing reflooding of some areas, most significantly from water flowing through incompletely repaired levee breaches.