San Diego = rich white people
New Orleans = poor African-Americans

Politics (and I'll throw the Greensburg, KS tornado in here as well, since Bush's response to that was similar to New Orleans):

California's governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Republican)
Louisiana's governor: Kathleen Blanco (Democrat)
Kansas' governor: Kathleen Sebelius (Democrat)
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Otherwise, comparing the two disasters is comparing apples and oranges.

Up to 7 people are reported killed by the fires. At least 1600 were killed by Hurricane Katrina.

About 800,000 people evacuated because of the fires but relatively few lost their homes. Almost 1.5 million people evacuated from the New Orleans area alone and about 1 million of them were made long-term homeless by the storm. Another 50,000 to 100,000 people in Mississippi were made long term homeless by Katrina..

About 1800 homes were destroyed or damaged by the fires and the damage is estimated at $1 Billion. At least 250,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Katrina, and the damage to New Orleans alone is estimated at more than $200 Billion.

The fires are affecting an area of about 700 square miles. Katrina wrecked an area larger than Great Britain (90,000 square miles).

The fires are bad, but basic services and communications are intact. Katrina simultaneously wrecked + isolated a huge area, and disrupted basic services + communications for months.

As other answers point out, California has wildfires every year. New Orleans had not flooded from a hurricane in living memory and was last struck by one in 1965.

Katrina was the strongest storm ever recorded to strike North America and the lessons learned are being applied to disaster respone across the world. I would bet CA benefited from that process.

I keep seeing comments about all the violence the news media reported as having happened inside the Superdome. In reality, there were NO murders in the Dome, NO children were raped, NO shootings occurred, and so on. It was alll made up by the media and abetted by city officials who commented on rumors as though they might be real. Living conditions were bad in the Dome because there was no electricity, no running water, the tolilets didn't work, phones & cellphone service was down, and the stadium was cut off from help by flood waters. However, New Orleans Police and the National Guard were in the Dome and provided security..

Would you all still be talking about how wonderful things were in Qualcomm Stadum if it had no electricity, no running water, the toilets didn't work, no communications, and was cut off from aid (including food deliveries)?

I was made homeless by Katrina and I really feel for the folks who lost their homes to the fires. However, the long-term affect on California is minimal. It will take years for Louisiana and Mississippi to recover from Katrina.
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New Orleans resident

It's obvious: They were poor & black (in general) and these folks (Malibu) are rich & white (in general). No one has mentioned that there were also 3 dead blue whales that washed up on the beach in Malibu. That's a VERY unusual occurance.
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The rich must be protected. Many of them inherited their fortunes and aren't capable of fending for themselves or doing an honest day's work… they need all the government assistant they can get. Besides , who are the greatest financial contributors to our politicians??? The over-privledged, abundantly monied, San Diegans.

The poor have always had to think for themselves. This situation is no different.
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I live here , too.
With working-class family in North County San Diego (Escondido).

Fema and the Gov. of New Orleans new for many years that levy could flood and has many times in the past.
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I'm not going to argue with with money idea. Those with money do have power and there are a lot of rich folk that live in the outskirts of San Diego where most of the fires are wreaking havoc.
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I live there.