Reporter's Notebook In New Orleans, Getting Back to Business October 11, 2005 • Just as tens of thousands of people lost everything to Katrina, so, too, some will make a quick fortune off its aftermath. But there are also stirrings of the honest enterprise that will be so necessary to bring New Orleans back to life.
Reporter's Notebook A Confederacy of New Orleans Characters October 1, 2005 • In his reporter's notbook, NPR's John Burnett writes about the eccentric collection of characters he's met in the course of covering Hurricane's Katrina's impact on the New Orleans area.
Will Rita Help Cities Prepare for Terrorism? September 30, 2005 • The response to Hurricane Rita, on the heels of another Gulf Coast hurricane, leaves questions about how ready the United States is for a major disaster –- natural or man-made.
Q&A: U.S. Evacuation Plans, Post-Katrina September 30, 2005 • The landfall of two powerful hurricanes on the Gulf Coast within weeks of one another led to one of the largest relocations in U.S. history. For analysis of that and future evacuations, we spoke with Joanne Nigg, who has studied disasters for more than 20 years.
An American History of Disaster and Response September 23, 2005 • Massive reconstruction efforts in the wake of catastrophes aren't without precedent in America. A number of U.S. cities have had to rebuild from the rubble.
New Orleans' Floodwalls Remain Vulnerable September 20, 2005 • The Army Corps of Engineers has patched-up the floodwalls in and around New Orleans, but the system remains vulnerable. As Hurricane Rita threatens the region, engineers warn that even a few inches of rain could cause big problems in the city.
Opinion Reporter's Notebook A Happy Ending for Lady and Sasha September 19, 2005 • Reporter Scott Horsley was with two fishermen who saved some four-legged survivors of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana's flooded St. Bernard Parish. He follows up on the happy reunions between two families and their best friends.
Reporter's Notebook A Race to Save the Dogs of New Orleans September 16, 2005 • Four volunteers from Minnesota search for canine survivors of Hurricane Katrina -- careful to leave before nightfall, when roving packs of ravenous dogs rule the streets, sometimes eating smaller dogs who survived the New Orleans flood.
Temporary Hospital: Scenes from Terminal D September 12, 2005 • NPR producer Anna Vigran spent six days at the New Orleans airport in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The airport served as a hospital for the sick and frail, a jumping off point for rescue teams, and a place of refuge for thousands of hurricane survivors
Q&A: Draining New Orleans -- Sept. 9 Update September 9, 2005 • The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that more than half of New Orleans is still flooded, although they are making slow but steady progress in draining water from the city. NPR Science Correspondents David Kestenbaum and David Malakoff, and Reporter Nell Boyce provide an update on efforts to drain the floodwaters.
Opinion Reporter's Notebook Something Else That Was Lost in New Orleans September 8, 2005 • NPR's Greg Allen reported on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. In this essay, he worries that along with untold lives, there may have been something else lost when Katrina devastated New Orleans -- the blending of cultures that's at the heart of the city.
Makeshift Medicine in New Orleans September 8, 2005 • FEMA photographer Michael Rieger followed an disaster medical-assistance team that deployed to New Orleans, where they set up a makeshift triage unit at the city's international airport. For npr.org, he shares photos documenting the first day at the hospital.
Opinion A Doctor's Message from Katrina's Front Lines September 7, 2005 • Dr. Hemant Vankawala, an emergency room physician from Dallas, describes the helplessness of watching New Orleans evacuees die as overtaxed medical crews at the city's airport, lacking even basic supplies and facilities, could do nothing but ease their passing and unload helicopters.
Q&A: Contaminated Waters in New Orleans September 7, 2005 • New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered that any residents still in New Orleans be forcibly removed, citing the risks of toxic floodwaters. Environmental Reporter Elizabeth Shogren and Health Editor Joe Neel provide an update on the risks posed by the polluted waters.
Q&A: Returning Young Hurricane Evacuees to School September 6, 2005 • Many school districts along the Gulf Coast have stopped functioning, at least temporarily. Getting the youngsters back in school -- wherever they are now -- is a huge challenge. Claudio Sanchez, sorts out some of the key questions about the task.
The Other New Orleans September 5, 2005 • In New Orleans, some residents still cling to the joie de vivre that made the city a benchmark for music and nightlife. But there are ever-present signs of the storm that tore the city apart.
Aerial Images: Katrina Remakes the Gulf Coast September 5, 2005 • When it comes to the marshes, beaches and barrier islands along the Gulf Coast, big storms give -- and they take away. That's the lesson made clear from satellite and aerial photos.
Opinion Reporter's Notebook Are Katrina's Victims 'Refugees' or 'Evacuees?' September 5, 2005 • Hurricane Katrina created thousands of refugees who were forced into states throughout the South, and beyond. But not so fast. Media outlets have been deluged with complaints about the term "refugee."
Opinion Reporter's Notebook Lost and Found in the Louisiana Diaspora September 5, 2005 • Some white Louisianans are finding common ground with the mostly poor and black evacuees from New Orleans that they are now taking into their communities. Many evacuees will have to start new lives in new towns across the South.
Media Circus Reporters Give Voice to Post-Katrina Desperation September 2, 2005 • You don't have to listen very closely to the news to register the striking tone coming from many of the journalists involved in covering the floods along the Gulf Coast. They're passing along public anger.
A Gulfport Family Surveys the Damage September 1, 2005 • A Gulfport, Miss., family takes NPR on a tour of their damaged home, which is littered with branches, baseballs, even a casket. The family counts themselves lucky.
Media Circus Media Sounded Early Warnings of the Worst August 31, 2005 • How haunting it must be for a news organization to fulfill its core function by sounding the alarm as the public's watchdog – and then to go unheeded. That's what has happened to the The New Orleans Times-Picayune.