It is now clear that Hurricane Katrina's impact on the US Gulf coast, and on New Orleans in particular, was far deadlier than first forecast. Several hundred people may have died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and the breaching of some of the levees or dykes erected to protect New Orleans has flooded most of that city. It is a major disaster, above all in human terms but also in its impact on the US energy infrastructure.

The first priority is to rescue the living and bury the dead. The US emergency services will not require the same international help as Indian Ocean countries did after last year's tsunami, but may need some temporary foreign assistance in, for instance, gasoline supplies. However, just as the tsunami encouraged various Asian countries to restrict shoreline building, so after they complete the mopping up, the US authorities - federal, state and local - might consider how to reduce the human and economic impact of similar disasters in the future.