Featuring:

August 29, 2006 will mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. What have we learned from Katrina, and what does it mean for other communities that face disaster - natural or man-made? What is the status of the rebuilding effort? Can communities torn apart by disasters rebuild? What role should government, communities, volunteers, and businesses play during and following a disaster?

In a joint Mercatus Center/National Press Club event, scholars from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University released preliminary findings of a five-year research project analyzing these issues with commentary provided by journalists from the National Journal and Pulitzer Prize winning New Orleans Times-Picayune. You can watch the event on C-SPAN's website.

Presentations and comments by:

• Dr. Eelco Dykstra, National Press Club and visiting professor of International Emergency Management at The George Washington University 
• Dr. Peter Boettke, professor of economics at George Mason University and project director for "Crisis, Preparedness, and Response in the Wake of Katrina"
• Dr. Russell Sobel, James Clark Coffman Distinguished Professor of Economics at West Virginia University and author of "Weathering Corruption," and "The Economics & Politics of FEMA - Why FEMA Failed after Hurricane Katrina"
• Dr. Emily Chamlee-Wright, professor of economics at Beloit College and author of "After the Storm: Social Capital Regrouping in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina"
• Jonathan Rauch, guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and a senior writer and columnist for National Journal and a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly 
• James Varney, staff writer at the Pulitzer Prize winning New Orleans Times-Picayune