Official list of victims of an American disaster (Katrina) untabulated

[sabra]

Source: NOLA

Of all the undone tasks that linger two years after Hurricane Katrina, one stands out as a symbol of the unique chaos wrought by the flood: figuring out who died.

Lists of names, the simplest of tributes, mark memorials nationwide. The 58,195 names of Vietnam War casualties are etched into polished black granite in the nation's capital; the 168 names of the Oklahoma City bombing victims are remembered at a memorial and museum; and the 2,974 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will be listed on a planned Lower Manhattan tribute.

In contrast, the names of the people Katrina killed still lie scattered in the files of multiple government agencies. No agency has yet produced a complete list, and none is trying, leaving a gaping hole in the record of a defining event in state and national history.

The lack of an official list owes to a host of reasons, including the difficulty and subjectivity of the task itself, given that many people died from Katrina-related causes long after the floodwaters subsided.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1188458990140080.xml&coll=1

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Why would the listing of names in NO violate privacy anymore than listing those who

die in tornados? The lack of a total death count from Katrina is a sign of more cover-up for Bush.

[Highway61]

2. Next thing ya know

They will stop accounting for U.S. troop deaths in Iraq.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I'm sure they wish they could

If they ever come up with a way to do so rest assured they will.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. K&R

[annabanana]

4. They do not want the fact that the numbers will exceed 9-11

to become public. What was the name of that no-bid mortuary that took over corpse removal?

[rudy23]

6. There are many more than 1500, that's for damn sure

No pictures were allowed

[knitter4democracy]

7. This still ticks me off.

Watching the Weather Channel, they kept referring to the 1800 figure. That's a load of crap. There were far more killed than 1800, and it's disgusting to lie about that. Frankly the Weather Channel's coverage was quite the whitewash and kept replaying the same three or four pictures of people on roofs, rather than really show it again.