The disastrous mess left by Hurricane Katrina along the gulf coast was so catastrophic that the entire nation was shaken with an overwhelming sadness. We cried for the loss of the many people trapped in their homes. We cried because the government foibles led to more destruction and ultimately more deaths. We also cried because we had to ask ourselves the question… what if Katrina had happened to us?

No matter where we live in the United States, or the world for that matter, there is no guarantee that we will make it through a natural or manmade disaster unscathed. With hurricanes, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, forest fires, tornadoes, and even terrorist attacks looming in close proximity, we could be in our own “New Orleans” within a matter of seconds.

These unseen evils could strike at any moment. We are not prepared for the inevitable. We have no safety net. If we fall, we are freefalling and that is the scariest prospect of all.

It has been a year since Katrina and there is still deep-seated destruction. The levees may be fixed on the surface, but the original problem that caused the destruction of these levees was ignored. We did not learn the lesson from Katrina. Instead, it is all about cutting corners. If a human life is lost as a result what does it matter? What is one casualty, or two or three or thousands?

In Disaster, Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security, two Wall Street Journal reporters, Christopher Cooper and Robert Block, examine the many failures, largely on the part of the government, during the first days immediately preceding the disaster.

This book exposes the many failures during Katrina. How many drills happened prior to Katrina? Why were things that needed to be implemented to mitigate the destruction not done until well after the fact? In a general sense, why did the government fail to respond to the hurricane until it was essentially too late and the damage was so bad it still is not fixed over a year later?

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the questions and answers Cooper and Block explore. One of the most shocking elements of the book is how grim and gritty the depictions are. Your heartstrings are tugged as you relive the devastating disaster, an unwitting bystander unable to help.