1. Lucky: A story about Hurricane Katrina Components of this story were first published in "Do You Feel Lucky?", NJ Star- Ledger Oct. 2, 2005 Photo: NASA Music: Frenchys Stringband "Sunshine Special" funfunfunmedia.com via Publicdomain4U

2. The first thing a disaster victim tells you is how lucky he is Photo: NASA

3. Lucky to have family left. Lucky to have family to go to Photo: NASA

4. My mother and 92 year old grandmother owned a home just off St. Charles Avenue. They still had a home to return to. Lucky. Photo: NASA

5. So now, the memory of their seven-daypost-Katrina ordeal seems far away andunbelievable, even to them.http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigberto/ Photo: NASA

6. After the levees broke, with no car to leave the city, my family was trapped at my mothers house with no electricity or running water . Photo: NASA

7. They ran out of fresh food, washed dishesin water saved in the bathtub, rationed theprecious bottled waterhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/with/7008299683/ Photo: NASA

8. Every day that week, I spoke to my brotherwe discussed how bad things were Some people say you make your own luck. That was never truer Photo: NASA

9. It was unbelievable to me that in a country so wealthyand powerful, ordinary Americans like my family were left to their own devices to survive. Photo: NASA

10. Miraculously, my mothers cats were alive and well. One of them is even named Lucky. Photo: NASA

11. Was my family lucky? Oh, yes. But in theUnited States, should luck have anythingto do with whether your family survives aman-made disaster?http://www.flickr.com/photos/cizauskas/ Photo: NASA