20 years after Katrina, we’re less prepared for disaster than ever

Twenty years later, Hurricane Katrina remains one of our country’s most colossal failures.

The disaster was not just in the ferocity of the storm itself, but even more in the dismal ineptitude of every level of government to provide the leadership, aid and resources needed to prevent loss of life and the worst human misery imaginable.

The agony and horror of U.S. citizens desperately screaming from their rooftops for rescue and tens of thousands packed without sufficient water, food or sanitation in the Superdome and New Orleans convention center will be forever seared into my consciousness.

For some, the aftermath of Katrina was a wake-up call — exposing the long-festering national disease of systemic racism and its persistent symptoms of wealth inequality, environmental injustice, pol