Mark's Notebook


	Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Eager Few Try to Reclaim Destroyed Parish

New York Times

Tuesday 17 January 2006, 4:41 pm
Keywords: Katrina Hurricane Relief , News Articles

by Susan Saulny

The Robinsons are living where few people even dare to drive, here in the midst of a vast stretch of desolation on the banks of the Mississippi River east of New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish. In all of southeast Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina was the most vicious and thorough in its destruction here, and some streets remain impassable nearly five months later, blocked by houses that the storm surge lifted, twisted and deposited as wrecks. One home in Chalmette had water over its roof for 15 days and was coated in crude oil from a nearby refinery spill.

Now, the Robinson family members have come back to their front yard to live in a government-issued trailer, determined to make a home again on what seems like the edge of civilization.

Except for her cellphone and weekly church services, Ms. Robinson has little connection to other people apart from her family in the trailer. It is a 45-minute drive to the Wal-Mart in Gretna, the best option for groceries. There is no mail service, shopping mall or movie theater. And there is just enough electricity to light her trailer and part of the street.

Officials estimate that 8,000 people like Ms. Robinson have begin to repopulate St. Bernard Parish, which used to have close to 70,000 residents. The repopulation is mostly an independent movement, with residents saying they have received little guidance or help from the local government as they clean, gut and rebuild on their own.

What is left of the local government is doing what it can; most streets have been cleared of debris and fallen wires, and the major intersections have working traffic signals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/national/nationalspecial/17bernard.html