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Originally Posted by Yuskevich
...but I was taken aback when a local mayor (of Biloxi, I think) spoke of this event as "our tsunami," according to a CNN headline. Isn't that statement somewhat over the top and, in a way, arrogant? There is a qualitative difference, not just a quantitative difference, between an event that kills perhaps 200,000 people, and an event that kills perhaps 100 people.
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As an outsider, I kind of do think of this as "America's Tsunami"... the potential of Katrina would have been absolutely devastating in terms of human casualties if not all the timely warnings, evacuations and protective measures..
The difference between the Tsunami in Thailand etc in December and Katrina, is that the Tsunami came without any warning.. no one was prepared for the absolute catastrophe.. no weather-reports had warned off the people on the beaches, no national disaster warnings had gone out on TV etc etc.. However, imagine what would have happened to New Orleans et al if no warnings whatsoever had come.. So I personally view this as "America's Tsunami" in many ways.. not the least in the way that I think several thousand lives could have been saved if the people in Thailand had been warned.