[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




URGENT NEED FOR CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO PREVENT WIDE-SCALE LOSS OF LIFE 
              AND ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION AT HOME AND ABROAD

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I recently had the opportunity to view 
the devastation in Southeast Asia as a result of the tsunami. As 
appalled as I was by what I saw, I must confess that occasionally my 
thoughts drifted back to the United States. What would have happened if 
last September, Hurricane Ivan had veered 40 miles to the west, 
devastating the city of New Orleans? One likely scenario would have had 
a tsunami-like 30-foot wall of water hitting the city, causing 
thousands of deaths and $100 billion in damage.
  The city has always been at risk because of its low-lying location, 
but that risk has been increased because of rising sea levels, 
groundwater pumping and the erosion of coastal Louisiana. Twenty-four 
square miles of wetland disappear every year, since the 1930s an area 
one and a half times the size of Rhode Island washed away.
  Considering the reaction of the American public to the loss of a 
dozen people in the recent mud slides in California, it is hard to 
imagine what would happen if a disaster of that magnitude hit the 
United States.
  The experience of Southeast Asia should convince us all of the urgent 
need for congressional action to prevent wide-scale loss of life and 
economic destruction at home and abroad. Prevention and planning will 
pay off. Maybe the devastation will encourage us to act before disaster 
strikes.




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