No, New York, Sandy Was Not Katrina

[jsr]

http://observer.com/2012/10/no-new-york-sandy-was-not-katrina/

No, New York, Sandy Was Not Katrina
By Patrick Clark

The storm that rocked the Eastern seaboard this week was a monumental event by any measurement. The death toll in New York City alone was 26 at last count, and dozens more died along the coast, as wind, water, fire and, often, falling trees claimed lives...

As the inevitable comparisons between the two storms gather force, it bears remembering that 1,833 people died in the U.S. during Hurricane Katrina, according to the National Hurricane Center, and that the economic costs related to the storm topped $74 billion...

To be sure, Sandy wreaked extensive havoc on the area, and the losses sustained are tragic on the personal and community levels. But it’s worth considering Sandy with a little bit of perspective. Insurance companies paid $41 billion in claims on damages incurred during Hurricane Katrina, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and about $40 billion on the tsunami that wrecked Japan last year, per Munich Re via Bloomberg.

Catastrophe modeling firm Eqecat, meanwhile, is forecasting $5 billion to $10 billion in insurance costs on Sandy. (Estimates for the five boroughs are not yet available, the firm told us.)

[hedgehog]

1. Before getting into comparisons of the storms,

I think we need to take into account government response ahead of the storms and immediately after. How many people died in Katrina because George Bush handed FEMA over to a buddy?

[FarPoint]

4. You are exactly correct

Absolutely ...

[LynneSin]

5. Katrina was as bad as it was because they screwed up before the storm even landed

and even moreso after it happened.

[nolabear]

2. That's true and I know it well, but this is a true disaster and we shouldn't compare.

Each death is a death, each loss a loss, and quantity means little when it's your horror. I hope those who went through the horrors of Katrina are in the best position to feel compassion for the awful, awful losses being felt afresh right now and can give some hope that this will get better.

[graham4anything]

3. N.O. was akin to an ethnic cleansing, therefore

but since when is it a contest???

remember those killed by cops on Danzinger Bridge, only crime was trying to get to dry land

The was NO riot in New Orleans (and there are no riots in NJ and NY, no matter if Fox is saying so(as we have no tv, can't tell, and only library or Walmart internet).

one thing is for sure

Obama is marvelous
Bush sucked.

and Katrina made a 50-50 electorate there, into 80-20 republican it seems.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. People shouldn't compare the two disasters.

Katrina destroyed a larger area, but this storm has affected many more people. Queens alone has more people than the New Orleans area and the MS gulf coast combined. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if the northeast had been hit by a storm with the same intensity as Katrina. We would be seeing much of New Jersey and NYC annihilated and tens of thousands dead. This is a terrible tragedy, but thank the gods that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And thank goodness we have Barack Obama in office for this disaster.

[wildeyed]

7. Also, FEMA and state and local government has it together.

That was not the case with Katrina. The density of population where this storm hit, it could have been much, much worse as far as loss of life. Also, be interested to see how much productivity is lost due to having the infrastructure of such a densely populated area hit so hard.