Most of the destroyed property in NY was businesses covered by insurance or not covered and they survived accordingly.

I still fail to see why because it was larger scale that US taxpayers should now pay to rebuild the houses of people who refused to get insurance.

In our city, we have flashfloods and when a house is damaged, it is up to the owner and their insurance to clean it up and rebuild. No govt agency is oging to step in and clean up my mess or give me $$ to fix my house or give me $500 in credit cards.

Without insurance the homeowners in New Orleans now open land and sadly enough so be it. Otherwise they should do what the rest of us do and pay for insurance if they wanted to be able to rebuild their houses.

For that matter, why are we going to allow substandard rebuilding in a flood prone area? How stupid can the local govt get?

All those areas in NO that flooded should allow no house to be rebuilt unless it meets flood standards for height off ground.

Missy--Thanks for the wonderful, thought-provoking response.

The problem with government officials--as with the news media--is their short attention spans.

Hence the fact that the government, while it supported the 9/11 survivors, has not done the same for Katrina survivors even though they still need help--nor assisted cash-strapped communities in Louisiana and Mississippi the way New York City has been helped.

Here's a FEMA atrocity: When New York City held mayoral elections soon after 9/11, FEMA funded them--yet, when New Orleans held hers after Katrina, even though it was more complicated to get them organized because of needing to register evacuees in Houston, etc. who still considered themselves New Orleanians and wanted to vote, she got no such funding.

It's the sort of double standard that makes my head explode. I often wonder if what happened in New Orleans, her surrounding areas, and in Mississippi had occurred in New York City, her suburbs, and Connecticut, we would still be facing the same apathy on the part of the news media and the federal government.

And that's quite a wake-up call about the Al-Queda tape that says the Gulf States are a target. Before you mentioned that, I hadn't heard any news coverage that said anything about that. Isn't it a sad commentary on the state of news judgment today that, while to the media, Gulf States such as Louisiana don't seem to matter much, apparently in the eyes of Al-Queda they're very important indeed.

We need to find a way to refocus media attention on New Orleans and her need not only to be rebuilt but also protected from harm (both from new flooding and from terrorist attack), the rest of Louisiana's storm-ravaged parishes, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the rest of the storm zone.

We need NBC Nightly and other broadcast news outlets to regularly show by means of gripping human-interest stories Katrina survivors as sympathy-worthy human beings (the way they have been for the past few days regarding 9/11 survivors) in order to educate government officials and the American public as to why they need--and deserve--more help.

Then, maybe, the government might pay more attention to the Gulf Coast--and provide the increased aid that is needed for survivors, recovery, and security in that area.

Wow. What an interesting debate going on between Katrina and 9/11. Being from the Katrina area I find compassion for both. I don't feel one should rates one suffering any greater than the other. Suffering is a personal journey. In both incidents, whether manmade or natural the suffering was still intensive and real. My heart breaks for each incident. As I watched the replays from 9/11 today I cried as I remembered the loss of safety that I felt that day. I cried for those lost. I cried for the children. I do the same for Katrina.

To Bklyn: I understand your frustrated. The first responders here are dealing with PTSD just as your NY's first responders have and are. Many lost their lives in Katrina as well as homes, family members and sense of feeling safe and sound. A year later they are still dealing with the same thing. The suicide rate on first responders have risen 28%. As for as the long lasting effects on their health after treading through toxic water saving lives is yet to be known. In a real incident, our first responders were under gun fire many times and faced unbearable circumstances just as did those fire fighters and police that ran into the world trade center on 9/11.

Olivia, I see your point as well. There are times it seems as if we are all alone down here and no one is EVER looking at the good when it comes to the news. Yes, we do still need help. I believe the difference that you are seeing comes from the fact that on 9/11 there was sense of unity among everyone in the US. Although we have seen an amazing outpouring from indiviual citizens, we have not seen the support from the government that was granted to the 9/11 victims.

I would like to point out a fact to some of you that don't seem to think New Orleans is worth rebuilding. We are one of the 3 largest ports in the United States and over 1/3 of the oil is produced here. New Orleans is not just important for its culture and historical purpose but also for daily activity (like driving to work, etc) in all of America. Per the tape by Al-Queda today the Gulf States are one of their targets. (Not much left here..but makes me worry) I worry when I hear that Saudi Arabia is a haven for terrorist like Al_Queda and that they will be bringing cargo into a town less than 40 miles from my home. I wonder if the US government is more prepared for today's attack than their were for 9/11. I wonder if the fact that they have really been saying "An attact is intiment" is their way of telling us they have proof of something.

The bottom line as I see it is the government failed both the 9/11 victims and the Katrina victims. We should be and I expect more out of the government officials that we put into office. What do you think?

Bklyn,ny--NEITHER 9/11, nor Katrina, nor their victims, nor the need to rebuild and recover from both calamities, should be forgotten.

"Katrina was an horrific event caused by mother nature but 9/11 was an horrific event caused by terrorists..." This sounds similar to the "On 9/11 we were under attack, but Katrina was just a big storm" school of thought.

Which is a callous discounting, if not trivialization, of what people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and the rest of the storm zone had to endure. Saying that would be as insensitive as it would be for me to say, "Katrina took out a whole city, her surrounding area, and a bunch of villages. 9/11 just knocked down two tall buildings and damaged part of the Pentagon."

Katrina may have been a big storm, but she obliterated whole once-charming towns on the Mississippi Gulf Coast which will now take many years to get back to normal and also sent a huge storm surge up the MR-GO canal towards Lake Pontchartrain, causing the first breaches in New Orleans' levees and the massive flooding that destroyed 80% of that fine city. There's no telling when New Orleans will be O.K. again--if she ever is, and that makes me very sad. As my Louisiana correspondent has said, New Orleans has lost her heart and soul.

Everyone who has seen New Orleans first-hand says that TV pictures don't do her justice. Devastation extends for miles and miles not only in New Orleans, but in Jefferson, St. Bernard, and other adjacent parishes. Water, power, and sewerage systems are in war zone conditions. Her streets are full of potholes, Her hospitals, mental health system, school system, day care, etc. are insufficient even for a city of her diminished population. Is it any wonder that people hanging in there trying to rebuild in that part of Louisiana have been under great stress and other mental anguish?

(I was aware of the fact that 9/11 first responders have been suffering from a myriad of pulmonary and other ills, by the way. Not only have I seen that in newspapers, there was a detailed report on NBC Nightly on that heart-breaking story last night.)

The sad thing about Katrina coverage is that prior to the anniversary, there was almost nothing on NBC Nightly on the storm for about 3 months. Which is shameful because people in both Louisiana and Mississippi are still in a world of hurt as they valiantly struggle to rebuild.

The Bush Administration needs to come up with a "Marshall Plan" for Louisiana, MIssissippi, and the rest of the storm zone. If you visit the blog "Rising From Ruin", which is about Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, you'll see that the Gulf Coast still is experiencing a great deal of hardships and needs a lot of help--which they probably won't be getting much more of because "out of sight, out of mind," and "no news is good news." I'm now wondering--had Mississippi and New Orleans been hit by terrorist dirty bombs instead of a hurricane, would they have any better luck getting the attention and help they need?

Olivia from Peoria are you kidding? Last week we unfortunately lived through Katrina again as we marked the 1st aniversary. Are we actually in some sort of a media war as to whether Katrina and 9/11 are getting the same amount of coverage. Katrina was an horrific event caused by mother nature and 9/11 was an horrific event caused by terrorists so perhaps the coverage is on a broader scale because of the international aspects. If you want to go further, Katrina did not pop into the tv picture and knock down a building, there was some warning from the national weather service. Unfortunately there was absolutely no warning ( to the public at least) that we were going to be attacked. There were plenty of stories about the innocent children of Katrina but you seem to think they are more important than the 9/11 victims. Also if you have read a paper or watched more news you would know that the first responders from 9/11 are suffering from a myriad of pulmonary ailments, in addition to cancer and other diseases. Where does that leave us in this contest New Orleans versus NY versus PA versus DC. We are one country and one disaster does not rate over another because it happened in one part of the country over another.....

Last night's 9/11 coverage was excellent. Especially heart-wrenching and thought-provoking was Dawn Fratangelo's report on the 2 children who'd been given a camera and asked to share memories of their father who'd dies on 9/11. I could not help but notice all the caring and empathy that Ms. Fratangelo put into this piece and with which she spoke with these children, with their still-raw wounds.

While viewing Ms. Frantangelos's story, I wondered: Why, during Katrina anniversary coverage, wasn't a similarly-compelling report aired about still-grieving young people in Louisiana or Mississippi who'd lost a parent or parents in the storm. I wonder why NBC Nightly didn't think to air such a sensitive piece. Maybe unlike the children of 9/11 about which NBC cares very much, the wounded children of Katrina must get over it and move on--because Katrina's old news and NBC Nightly doesn't care.

Seeing Ms. Fratangelo's piece, I couldn't help feeling sad for Katrina survivors in Louisiana--who, as officials put it, are suffering from "Katrina brain"--generalized fatigue brought on by the disruptions in their lives, involving difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and mild depression. Not to mention the statewide epidemic of people afflicted by worse ills--and NBC Nightly doesn't seem to think this important enough to merit coverage.

Also, at last count 49 bodies recovered in New Orleans have not been identified. It makes me very sad to think of their poor families who still don't have the closure of knowing if a loved one is dead or alive. For these unidentified souls once had lives, and homes, and loved ones...

Did you know that even with her diminished post-Katrina population, New Orleans' death rate is proportionally higher than it had been before the storm? Evacuees--often frail and/or elderly simply could not stand the stress of being uprooted from homes in which they'd lived for many years and going to distant places. So they'd become ill, conditions they already had would worsen, or, depressed, they'd stop taking their prescription meds--then "pass" and come home in boxes. Older and otherwise-sickly folks who stayed in New Orleans and are despondent over what has happened to their beloved neighborhoods and city are also "passing" at an alarming rate...

I wonder if anything like the above has happened among 9/11 survivors?

When I look around, I see a society that is completely unprepared for anything but a storybook life of summer barbeques and Sunday football. It's as if by making contingency plans or taking precautionary measures a person is challenging the very justification for the entire society's accepted way of life, rather than stepping in line and keeping quiet. We live more to impress the Jones’ next door than to actually get more out of life or to secure our families. Few people even have a garden these days let alone a basic survival kit, an economic car, or alternative solar or wind power. It’s unfathomable how much we’ve pretended doesn't exist or believe “could never happen to us!” We literally are an accident waiting to happen - likely to die off from our own stupidity long before some terrorist has had a chance to blow us up!

The news coverage of this event is necessary so that no one will ever forget. As painful as it is to relive the events of 9/11/01, we should not turn away. So far the coverage has been tactful and thankfully there has been a minimum amount of footage shown of the second plane hitting and the subsequent collapsing of the towers.

5 years later, and there is still no OFFICIAL EXPLANATION as to why building 7 fell (the same as the Twin Towers). Especially, when NO PLANES crashed into building 7.

5 years later, and the press DOES NOT PUSH for an OFFICIAL EXPLANATION!

Would you give a compliment to Tom Brokaw for me? The special he did on the air traffic controllers looked familiar -- perhaps mostly the same report he did five years ago. It was spellbinding then, and it was just as amazing the second time around. I watched it again on the edge of my seat, perhaps even more engrossed this time because now I know the story of each jet and could imagine was happening while the air traffic controllers were watching the hijacked aircraft go off course. Thank you a million times over for putting that special back on the air. It's still some of the most telling coverage of how that day unfolded.

How can NBC and the Washington Post run the same news story by the same reporter and come out with such opposite depictions?

The article in the Post said:

Bush pulled out most of the troops and CIA agents hunting for Bin Laden six months after 9/11 and sent them to prepare for the war in Iraq.

In 2003 the Bin Laden hunters knew that Bin Laden would be going down one of three trails, but the hunters only were only supplied with one drone plane to go after him. Bin Laden, possibly a half hour from capture, escaped.

Rumsfeld started turf wars over who would get to pull the trigger on Bin Laden if Bin Laden was located. Communications between the intelligence community and the FBI still had problems years after 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act.

No one person is in the government is in charge of the hunt for Bin Laden.

NBC's depiction of the Post story sounded more like an apology for Bush. NBC mentioned how hard it is to find Bin Laden and reported that Bush had sent more people in the last three months. Not much more than that was said. Hardly the same story as the Post.

Dick Cheney was let off the hook tonight too.

CBS News decided to go with celebrity over substance. The ABC network is dropping all pretense tonight and running a right wing propaganda film. Many will quit watching ABC News because of the film. This would be a great time for NBC to pick up viewers. All it would take would be a little courage.

Most of the time NBC does a great job and I hope ratings go up for NBC.