Kerre Woodham: Looting to survive after storm

The most shocking fallout from Hurricane Katrina has not been the devastation wrought by the flooding of New Orleans.

We've seen the power of forces of nature before, and combine a hurricane force storm with dumb decisions made by city planners and you have to expect the flooding and the collapse of infrastructure.

What's most shocking for me is the complete breakdown of the community. Instead of the city's inhabitants working together to try to save themselves, each other and their possessions, those residents who remain are looting the stores and homes for their own gain, and roaming the streets, armed and dangerous, looking for trouble.

The stories of anarchy are shocking but I suppose they're not surprising. The people who've been left behind are, for the most part, the poor and the desperate. They didn't flee the city like millions of others because they couldn't. How can you run when you don't have a car or a couple of thousand dollars for a taxi?

They were left behind by the city to live or die as fate dictated, and so now they'll live by whatever means they can. If the city won't help them, then they'll help themselves. It's the law of nature and it doesn't take long for humans to descend to that, especially in a country that tells you that only the strong will survive.

And as for whether New Zealand should offer aid - of course we should. Yes, the US is the richest and most powerful country in the world. Yes, if it diverted some of the money it spends on the war in Iraq, there would be plenty of funds for the poor and desperate refugees of Hurricane Katrina. But if we were first on the scene after Bill Gates had suffered a dreadful accident, would we walk on by and leave him to fend for himself because he's a billionaire? No, we'd offer assistance and give what aid we could, however humble it might be. It's the decent thing to do.

And the more people behave decently and with the common good in mind, the less likely it is we'll tear ourselves apart should disaster strike.