Sept. 15, 2005: Preparing for the Unexpected

Sept. 15, 2005 -- -- An entire swath of coastal Mississippi was totally eradicated by Hurricane Katrina. But we focused exclusively on New Orleans tonight because in Mississippi, for the most part, the system seemed to work. At least it didn't fail as miserably as in New Orleans.

To what, if any degree, race or poverty played a role in the New Orleans fiasco, we'll leave for another time.

The object lesson that simply must not be deferred and cannot be ignored is that disasters are always accompanied by the unexpected. Commercial jetliners are turned into guided missiles. Solid levees breach, instead of holding as they should.

What always seems to break down first is the communications system. And if we don't know what's happening, we can't fix it.

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