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America 'Powerless In the Face of Nature's Rage'
How could it be that the world's greatest power failed to properly prepare for a storm that for days had been predicted by media around the world? Shocked at the appalling tragedy of Katrina and the plight of the city's poor and largely black population, this editorial from the Korean Herald holds out the hope that, "profound efforts to tackle the urban problems of blacks in America" result.
September 6, 2005
Original
Article (English) 
Watching the tragedy in New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast region in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, one cannot but feel for the world's strongest and richest nation.
With all of its resources and technologies, America was powerless in the face of nature’s rage. Still,
many wonder why relief activities took so long and were so inefficient after
all the work on improving emergency response mechanisms after the 9/11 attacks
four years ago.
For days before the storm hit, every news
outlet in the United States and elsewhere warned of the devastating power of
the hurricane, yet the bulk of New Orleans' black population remained in the city. The city
administration either gave up or abandoned a forced evacuation. In terms of
the loss of human dignity, the result could only be compared to scenes of
African civil strife over recent decades.
It is simply unbelievable that in America, a country of envy for most of the world’s people,
residents died by the thousands in a flood, corpses floated in the streets,
were left on curbs and even astride the entrances to emergency relief centers.
While media crews from around the world dispatched the gruesome pictures,
rescue workers had not yet arrived.
Black community leaders seem to be refraining
from making an issue of racism, but the New Orleans tragedy will go down in history as one of the most
striking consequences of America’s social divide. The disaster should initiate profound
federal and civilian efforts to tackle the urban problems of blacks in America.
U.S. media are now heard wondering why the outside world has been so slow
coming to the aid of a country that has always been most generous helping
other nations in times of calamity. Some commentators have even tried to attribute
it to U.S. unilateralism in the war on terror, and the Iraqi
War in particular.
But the nations of the world will certainly
repay Americans what they owe to them. If their response is not expeditious
enough, it must be due to the as yet ineffective global system for distributing
emergency aid. The United Nations should have quickly stepped into the breech
as the United States, usually the main provider, is now in need. Donations
from Korea may be sent largely to Korean immigrants, but it is hoped that government
authorities will arrange for these resources to be shared with other suffering
minorities.