The long road back: New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are on the mend, but recovering from the wrath of Katrina will clearly take years.

Although it has been more than a year since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, its aftermath is still difficult to grasp. Katrina killed more than 1,700 people in the Gulf area, left hundreds of thousands of others displaced, and caused an estimated $81 billion in damage.

All along the coast of Mississippi and Alabama, thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. In a flooded New Orleans, people huddled on rooftops awaiting rescue from their ruined homes. Dead bodies floated in the filthy water below.

Some 20,000 evacuees, most of them poor and black, crowded into the New Orleans Superdome, where conditions quickly became unlivable. Their misery was broadcast around the globe, raising questions about race and class in America. Government at the local, state, and federal levels was criticized for responding too slowly to the disaster.

Only two previous disasters have demolished major American cities--the Chicago fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; both occurred before the federal government became so involved in disaster relief.

When President Bush visited New Orleans on August 29, the first anniversary of the storm, he said: "I take full responsibility for the federal government's response, and a year ago I made a pledge that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover."

That recovery is coming along slowly. New Orleans, once a city of 480,000, has lost about half its population. Small businesses--the restaurants and quaint shops that are so important to the tourism-driven economy of New Orleans--are in jeopardy. Business owners often cannot count on electricity, water pressure, or a feeling of safety. More than 40 percent of these morn-and-pop businesses are likely to disappear, says Timothy P. Ryan, an economist at the University of New Orleans.

SALVACING HOMES

Some 30,000 houses are being repaired or rebuilt around town, according to city officials; work may begin on thousands more this fall. Many residents still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Immediately after Katrina, federal officials predicted a vast diaspora of New Orleans-area evacuees all over the U.S. But recent post-office data, based on change-of-address forms from more than 270,000 households, provides a snapshot indicating that most evacuees stayed fairly close to home. (See graph above.)

Displaced New Orleanians have had vastly different experiences. For example, many of the 84,000 evacuees in Atlanta had the means to leave New Orleans before the flooding. They are more likely to have found new homes and jobs.

Many of the 150,000 evacuees who ended up in Houston, on the other hand, arrived on buses with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Unable to return home, they are uncomfortable in their new city. According to a recent survey of the 90,000 evacuees now living in Houston's free-housing program, only a fifth are employed.

PROLOONGED STRUGGLE

No matter where evacuees landed, they mourn the loss of homes and communities. Everywhere, people are struggling with stress-related illnesses, insurance companies, nightmares, and basic needs like stable housing.

Just as Katrina's aftermath exposed disparities between rich and poor, class and wealth may play a significant role in determining which parts of New Orleans will be rebuilt and which will revert to swampland. A rebuilding plan approved by Mayor Ray Nagin in March places responsibility on residents to determine who will return to their communities and to decide collectively on a vision for their neighborhood.

This will be especially difficult in the Lower Ninth Ward, where some of the city's poorest residents lived, and an area hit hard by the storm and the flooding that followed.

No other neighborhood has as many people scattered around the country, says Muriel Lewis, director of the National Association of Katrina Evacuees. "We're talking about people," she says, "who don't have the money to just pick up and come here for a meeting."

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Shaila Dewan, Leslie Eaton, Anne Kornblut, Adam Nossiter, Gary Rivlin, and John Schwartz of The New York Times.

WHERE NEW ORLEANS RESIDENTS MOVED *

ELSEWHERE IN NEW ORLEANS 75,826 households

ELSEWHERE IN SOUTHERN LOUISIANA 52,095 households

DALLAS-FT. WORTH 11,128 households

SAN ANTONIO 4,788 households

AUSTIN, TEXAS 3,619 households

JACKSON, MISS, 2,989 households

MEMPHIS, TENN. 2,650 households

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1,904 households

WASHINGTON, D.C. 1,769 households

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 1,520 households

CHICAGO 1,499 households BIRMINGHAM, ALA. 1,341 households

MIAMI-FT. LAUDERDALE 1,095 households