Hurricane Katrina: A Man-made Disaster?

2 September 2005 - 6:00am

Some scientists believe that storms such as Hurricane Katrina that are sometimes called an act of God or a natural disaster, are partly man-made.

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"The temporary lull in hurricane activity in Florida, from 1969 to 1989, spurred a reckless building boom, for example, putting billions of dollars worth of condos and hotels within reach of storm surges, notes Roger Pielke Jr., of the University of Colorado, Boulder. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 would have caused an estimated $90 billion damage had it occurred in 2000, he calculated. It caused just over $1 billion, in today's dollars."

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Source: Wall St. Journal, September 1, 2005