LOOKING BACK a decade since Hurricane Katrina hammered the US Gulf Coast, it is worth noting that this is at best a chance to take stock, and at worst just another media anniversary. Remember the damage done to New Orleans alone. Around 2,000 lives were lost, 275,000 homes destroyed, and 80 per cent of the city flooded. Destruction on such a scale typically takes a generation to fix. Then there are the many other towns and cities that suffered, such as Biloxi, Mississippi. The levees have been rebuilt. Homes have been restored. New Orleans' signature tourist trap, Bourbon Street, is buzzing again. It's tempting to say that the Big Easy has got its mojo back. You could even argue that Katrina has led to a local engineering boom. The entrepreneurial zeal with which Gulf Coast natives have sought to reenergise their economy has seeded many start-ups. Disciplines range from software development to, less surprisingly, the civil and environmental skills needed to combat extreme weather.
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