Return to Katrina's 'Ground Zero'

By Matthew Davis
BBC News, New Orleans

Many parts of the city are still uninhabitable

When the residents of New Orleans finally return, they will discover what is left of their homes and their livelihoods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

But, at present, they cannot come back to anything that resembles normality.

Some areas of the metropolis have enough to satisfy the basic mechanics of life - power, water, food and working telephones.

Great swathes of the city are still uninhabitable, however, and will need to be bulldozed before they can be rebuilt.

The city-wide healthcare system is barely functioning, many schools have been destroyed. Fears of disease will grow as crowds of people head home to the dirty and damaged city.

Fetid floodwaters have subsided, leaving behind mud-caked streets and concern over "toxic dust".

Being 'realistic'

Yet as storms brew off the coast of the US, no-one can say whether the city's pumps and patched-up levees can withstand even a lesser onslaught than Katrina.

First returnees are still relying on handouts from charities

After urging people to return, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has decided the risk of another storm is too great a gamble to take, and has retracted his advice for now.

Many of those who stayed here throughout the disaster have eked out an existence, enduring days of anarchy and uncertainty.

It is hard to see how thousands will cope if they are allowed to return in the near future from the far-flung cities where they and their children are already adjusting to new lives.

President George W Bush says he shares the mayor's dream of "a city up and running".

But he has urged New Orleans to be realistic about the "hurdles and obstacles" it will have to confront.

Fresh setback

Looking over the still-curfewed city at night, vast areas of darkness show where people have yet to return.

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The city has a dozen hospitals, but none have resumed normal operations.

Few of its schools will reopen for several months - at the earliest. More than 20,000 pupils have already enrolled for education in other parts of Louisiana or in Texas.

Before the mayor's U-turn, businesses were slowly opening up again.

But many have lost everything - merchandise, records, equipment and customers. Now they face a fresh setback.

Essential services like supermarkets and pharmacies are badly needed, but even in areas to which residents were being urged to return, people were still relying on handouts from charities.

'Blessing'

Before Katrina struck, New Orleans was already plagued by social problems like poverty and violent crime.

Now, more than ever, it is no place for the very young or very vulnerable.

Some fear a return to lawlessness once the military disappears from the streets.

The city's police force is not yet in a position to cope. More than 500 police cars were lost to the floods. Buildings were destroyed. Hundreds of officers are still unaccounted for.

The areas worst hit by the disaster were largely home to the poor, and black. Some see the devastation as an opportunity to right some of the social wrongs.

Many of those displaced cannot live in their damaged homes, despite their strong desire to return from unfamiliar refuges.

How the city and the government helps them to manage their future will be closely observed.

It may be that the delay in re-populating New Orleans is a blessing, despite the great upheaval for those who have already returned or were on their way.

The work of bringing essential services online may proceed faster without tens of thousands of people using the amenities.

Some argue the shared experience of coping with the hurricane and its aftermath has strengthened a sense of community in those from the worst-affected areas.

And the response from the wider US - most visible in the scores of rescue teams that descended on the region, and in the public's generosity - is being hailed a positive sign amid the gloom.

With the fallout from Katrina expected to last for years, not months, that solidarity will be a crucial factor in the rebuilding of communities and lives.