Catastrophe in the Making: The Engineering of Katrina

Dr. Shirley Laska is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Founding Director Emerita, Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology (UNO-CHART), University of New Orleans

Defining Hurricane Katrina as a natural disaster has been rejected in multiple ways. One striking rejection of that definition is demonstrated by the role played by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in the damaging storm surge that drowned the City of New Orleans. The engineered waterway was an act against Nature rather than an act of Nature. This presentation will consider: 1) how this waterway came to be—the “growth machine,” 2) the “Peter Principle” of construction momentum that led to the creation of a transportation technology ahead of a societal understanding of its negative implications and their mitigation, and 3) the refusal to take heed of the impending catastrophe when confronted with evidence from highly qualified scientists. Prospects for future ‘control’ of technology with coastal restoration will be considered in light of this history.

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