I suppose it depends on what you mean by "long term". I don't think this site has a hard cut-off date of 3 days or anything. Although the area affected by Katrina is large, it's not the whole of America and the rest of America is going to step in and help. This is not "the end of the world as we know it". Civilisation remains. New Orleans survival demands are not long-term in the sense of a needing a new way of life that can be sustained indefinitely.

I'm a programmer by trade. I have only limited interest in preparing for a possible long-term future without computers.