Letter: How do you rebuild after Katrina?

Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 | 8:42 a.m.

I feel badly for all those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Never having suffered anything more than a severe ice storm and a slightly damaged roof, it is hard to imagine losing everything. It is especially hard on those who can never recover because they are too sick or too old or just too poor.

This tragedy brings to the fore some of the practical aspects of rebuilding after severe natural disasters. Must our government continue to repeat these bad decisions?

I doubt that very many of the poor living in New Orleans carried flood insurance, probably living in an older, already paid-for home or were renting. While the desire for many of these refugees is to return to their homes and their neighborhoods, it will never come to pass. Friends, relatives and neighbors are dispersed, have no job waiting and many will never return.

What should be done with a large geographic area that is not only below sea level but also has lost its protective barrier islands, has marginal levee protection and is prone to flooding and hurricanes? Rebuild inland on high ground and let the federal government reclaim and clear those areas that can no longer be protected.

Over time this reclaimed land could become a national park, productive farms or just a nature preserve. Our government would in return justly compensate all landowners in the reclaimed area, providing seed money and perhaps additional land away from the coast, thus enabling a new start.

Areas that were either less affected or not at all would remain. Roads, bridges and public transportation would still connect the old with the new and life would go on, just not quite like it did before.

Richard Rychtarik

Las Vegas