It is now March 2007. Post Katrina: How is the rebuilding in Mississippi progressing?

Question

I feel Mississippi was the hardest hit by Katrina. My question is for the people of Missisippi and how they are progressing not how their local governments or cacinos are doing but how are the residents doing.

Answer 1

It's a little slow, but whatever. Many people are back into their homes, which is great. We've gotten used to the FEMA trailers now. My school is still in trailers, but I'm going to the newly restored high school next year. Slow, but steady.

Answer 2

I have been to both New Orleans and Mississippi recently. (I was just in Mississippi two weeks ago and talked to a lot of residents about the rebuilding efforts. And I did the same in New Orleans a few months ago.) My sense is that Mississippi residents feel like things are progressing a bit better than New Orleans residents. Mississippi seems to have more of a sense of hope, while New Orleans seems to feel a bit pessimistic. But the fact that major casinos have opened up again or are planning to seems to give residents a sense of hope. As a main source of income, casinos essentially help people believe that the area can rebuild. For example, some residents have put their land (where their homes used to stand) up for sale, hoping that casinos will buy that land to build on it. Although the casinos may or may not ever buy that land, the hope is still there.

But either way, visiting Mississippi or New Orleans is quite a remarkable experience. Both were hit hard, but in different ways. And many parts of each of these areas have become like ghost towns. Still, I'm optimistic.

Answer 3

Here in the UK we had a TV pro-gramme that featured the above topic. We were most surprised to see how much devastation is still present. We would have thought that the US, being the worlds richest economy and most resources , would have almost cleared the area by now. It seems to be progressing at a very slow pace and must be frustrating to the former residents.

Answer 4

Slow, very slow. It is a disgrace how long recovery has taken.
There are a lot of good people working on bringing the musicians and economy back, but thousands are still waiting for their lives to get started again.