EDITORIAL COUNTERING KATRINA AMERICANS MUST COME TOGETHER TO REBUILD GULF COAST.

REFLECTING on the devastation he's witnessed in his home state, where homes simply vanished in floods, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour remarked, ``I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago.''

That's how thorough the destruction from Hurricane Katrina has been in parts of the Gulf Coast. Thousands may be dead in New Orleans, and that great city is being abandoned at least for weeks, maybe longer. Entire communities are unrecognizable. If they are still there at all, they are buried in debris, or under 20 feet of water.

Those residents who were able to get away have been ordered not to return. Those left behind have no clean water, no power, no way to communicate with the rest of the world - and won't for some time.

And no one dares yet to guess at the final toll in lives lost and property destroyed.

But while Barbour has compared Hurricane Katrina to Hiroshima, perhaps an even more fitting parallel can be found in 9-11.

Putting aside the obvious differences between acts of God and acts of war, there are powerful similarities to be found not just in the devastation caused, but in the nation's response. As on that dreadful day four years ago, thousands of our fellow Americans have been dealt a dreadful loss.

As then, we have been reminded that for all our creature comforts and technology, we are all but one ruinous disaster away from the mass death and suffering we tend to think only happens in impoverished or war-ravaged corners of the Third World.

And so, once again, we must answer the call to come together.

Once again, we must put our differences aside.

Once again, we must work up all the charity we can muster.

And once again, we are reminded that red state or blue state, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican - no matter what our race, creed or ideology - Americans must be united in protecting our lives, our safety and our freedoms.

The people of the Gulf Coast need our help, and we must do all we can to provide it.

HOW YOU CAN AID VICTIMS

Here are agencies accepting donations to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

--American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. Call (800) HELPNOW or [phone] (Spanish); or see www.redcross.org.

--Operation USA, 8320 Melrose Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90069; or call [phone].

--Catholic Charities USA, 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund, P.O. Box 25168, Alexandria, VA 22313-9788.

--Salvation Army, Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 4857, Jackson, MS 39296-4857. Call (800) SALARMY; or see www.salvationarmysocal.org.

--The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048. Call [phone] or see www.JewishLA.org.

--Louisiana State University, Southern California Alumni Association: The chapter plans to host several fundraisers. To donate or for more information, call Charles Jeffrey at [phone]; or see www.lsusocal.org.

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HOW YOU CAN AID VICTIMS (see text)