BrianGarst.com

This video by Economic Freedom highlights the work done to rebuild Joplin, Missouri after it was hit by an EF5 tornado last May.

Economics professor Daniel J. Smith says in the video:

I think one of the key factors in the recovery process in Joplin, from the tornado, is that the government officials allowed the community to start rebuilding itself. I think Joplin is a great example of the power of people—free people—coming together and both using profit motive, in the businesses, using religious reasons for faith-based organizations, and just concern for your fellow man, in the community-based organizations, to rebuild a disaster stricken community.

Now contrast that with this news report from 2007, over 2 years after Katrina hit:

There are many reasons for the slow pace of rebuilding, including antagonism between state and federal officials, and the difficulty some local leaders have had deciding exactly what to rebuild and where and how. New Orleans, in particular, released a detailed rebuilding plan only in October, and City Hall often appears understaffed and overwhelmed.

But increasingly, critics are pointing to flaws in the process the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses to pay for repairs under the “public assistance” program.

Intricate, inflexible and open-ended, the process seems to value perfect paperwork over speedy resolutions, local officials here say, and requires endless haggling over every acoustic ceiling tile and paper-towel dispenser.

“The staggering amount of time and effort and cost associated with this is just phenomenal,” said Robert W. Becker, the chief executive of City Park, which is about one and a half times the size of Central Park in New York City. “We could have made so much more progress if we had a different process.” In the meantime, Mr. Becker has been working out of a trailer.

The scale of the disasters are much different, but I think there are informative comparisons to be made. Nevertheless, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.