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We will build 'NO' Again!

VatulBlog» Maitri a New Orleanean is giving update on New Orleans on a day to day basis. The blog gives most comprehensive update on the Katrina Disaster. She says:

It took centuries to transform New Orleans from a mosquito-infested swamp into one of the world’s unique cities. And in a day long rampage, Hurricane Katrina demolished it.

Are they talking about the same city that I just left and to which I plan to return? New Orleans wasn’t demolished; it has been flooded and is in disrepair. Parts of Moss Point, Biloxi, Pascagoula, Bay St. Louis and other towns in Mississippi were demolished, but not New Orleans.

As for New Orleans soul, it doesn’t merely waft from colonial architecture in the French Quarter and red beans & rice in the Treme. The soul of the city is in the beating hearts of its people. As long as residents of the Crescent City believe in their city and each one helps rebuild, where is the room for loss? 80% of New Orleanians evacuated and are starting to help the 20% that didn’t.

For true inspiration, read the Tribune editorial written after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, “The ability of cities to survive and thrive after disaster depends on large part on what they aspire to be, and whether they can reinvent themselves to meet that goal.”

If Chicago did it in 1871, London and Paris did it in 1945 and Kuwait City did it in 1991, New Orleans can do it in 2005. We have all kinds of soul.

Go on New Orleaneans, bring your souls together and we will be here for you.

Read more about Katrina here