Thats true about being able to mitigate some of the dangers of living a tinder box. Has anyone heard of "Shelter in Place Communities"? They're (admittedly very expensive) subdivisions with all mason/concrete house exteriors with tile roofs, golf course/fire break around the out side and several other mitigating factors. From what I've heard of these communities, they survived pretty well with the exception of a few houses that were built at the top of draws or other reasonably preventable mistakes. Sounds like a sound idea if you live in the area (and have the money to build your own house).

One thing not often reported about Katrina is that the citizens actually did a pretty good job of evacuating. They probably had a higher percentage leave than you'd see on Texas or Florida. It was the government officials who did nothing and apparently made no preparations - the large majority of the citizens did the right thing, and managed to do it in time.

The result of this is that there was a selection effect: those who remained behind were those unable to care for themselves, or those too trusting of advice from local officials. These are the people who appeared in the news reports.

And SoCal people complaining about lack of leadership there simply don't understand Louisiana, or the fine examples the Mayor and Governor. There are things that could have been done better - why not schedule a call-up of air crews a week earlier when the wind storm was forecast? - but in no way does the official behavior appear to have been as clueless and inept as the Blanco and Nagin show.

+1 , dead on target.