MC Zenitar in New Orleans

[Bob]

Last week Katie and I went to New Orleans on a volunteer work crew to help rebuild. Here are a few. I'll post some more later.
Ironic Flood Street in the 9th Ward. This had the highest casulties.






Most back streets look like this that were in the lower areas. Few people have returned.





9th Ward, feeling here is a void. Nothing left.

[poilu]

Nice to be volunteer Bob!
Good series, the Zenitar have nice colors.

[Attila]

Very sad! Why they didn't build houses from bricks , here in Europe hard to find any houses built from weak materials.

[Fotal]

Good initiative with the volunteer work!

Seems like to Viv give a good balance, nice shots.

[luisalegria]

The NO problems (among many others, and only in parts of the city) are not the quality of construction but the long-term vulnerability of the location. Its just a lousy place to build lots of houses. The required investment in dikes and other flood control to make the area safe for insurance purposes is too high.

Very few if any NO houses were directly destroyed by flooding. The real damage was waterlogging and consequent deterioration of materials and foundations on unstable soil. Brick buildings would be even more vulnerable.

As for construction - wood has always been relatively cheaper in the US than in most of Europe, and in some places (like California) it is much safer. Wood construction has also always been less labor-intensive, and historically the US cost of labor has been very high compared to Europe.

[Attila]

I see! Thanks!

I saw in Florida after big hurricanes like Andrew, wood houses was destroyed, but in brick houses hurricane couldn't make significant damages.
Floods here can make significant damages just in old house what are made from earth not from bricks. I don't know in California house is safest what are made from wood than if made from modern materials what is can be earth quake safe. I saw in Greece many earth quake safe family home all over the country.

[luisalegria]

Yes, construction costs are a big part of it. A lot of housing here is built quick and cheap, labor is by far the biggest expense.

Brick construction won't necessarily save a house in a big blow, the other factors are roofs (that blow off) and flood damage. Most of the Katrina damage really was outside New Orleans on the coast, from storm surge (like a tsunami).

Its has been easier to get permits for home construction in California for wooden houses than for masonry of any kind, because of earthquake problems. But there is a lot more steel-frame and reinforced concrete now, because wood got a little more expensive. Its cheaper again though !

[LucisPictor]

Impressive shots. It is strange to see that there still is such a long way to go...

[kds315*]

Thanks Bob,

your work is seriously appreciated! My wife's family is from there (nearby) and their house was destroyed also. Thanks to people like you it could be rebuild. The worst thing is that the insurances refused to pay, since the storm insurance argued, it was due to flooding. It still looks very bad in the whole area and quite few people never came back.

Klaus