Wow. I didn't imagine that Hurricane Katrina would be so bad. You hear about natural disasters in other parts of the world, but you don't think it can/will happen in the US, given our resources and ability to predict and prepare for these things. But now, as the death toll and level of damage are becoming known in the areas hit by the hurricane...wow.

I'm also concerned, as I tend to be, that the response to the hurricane will take attention and resources away from other needy places in the world. Not that we shouldn't contribute to hurricane relief (including bc one of the things that I'm starting to appreciate is that a lot of the area hit by the hurricane included some pretty poor parts of the country), but I think that such things tend to completely cloud out other issues going on in the world. The hurricane is being likened to the tsunami of last December, but I wonder if tsunami relief (which I already fear has long faded from the minds of Americans) will further decrease as people and companies and organizations (and maybe government?) divert attention and resources to hurricane relief instead. Or crises that we were just becoming aware of, like hunger in Niger-will we lose the focus that we started to have on these situations. And even when its not an issue of a direct tradeoff of resources, but just us not paying attention-for instance, apparently hundreds of people died in Iraq today in a stampede on a bridge that was started by rumors that a suicide bomber was about to strike. Normally this would be a huge story given the massive loss of life (its supposed to be the deadliest single incident since the war started), but having checked CNN its a relatively minor headline.

I don't think we should focus on other parts of the world to the detriment of our own country, but I so wish that it didn't have to be an either/or situation. If only we could focus on more than one thing at a time.