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The old New Orleans is dead, drowned in the worst natural disaster in an American city since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. There is an eerie sense of parallel between the two catastrophes 99 years apart.
Both cities were destroyed. Both cities had to face an uncertain future. San Francisco recovered and became the city it is today. The story of New Orleans is yet to be written.
New Orleans in 2005 was about the same size as San Francisco in 1906 -- 484,000 people lived in modern New Orleans, about 450,000 in the San Francisco of a century ago.
