Hurricane Katrina not only devastated a large area of the Gulf Coast, it also raised fundamental questions about how the nation can-and should-deal with the fundamental problems of risk and responsibility.

Nearly 300 leaders from government, business, and nonprofit organizations and journalists from throughout the nation attended the National Symposium in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 1, 2005, sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, Congressional Quarterly, and The Communications Institute.

Symposium Goals - The Symposium objectively examined the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on nearly every sector of society and involving leading experts from many of the nation's leading academic and research institutions as well as leaders from government and business and senior journalists. 

The National Symposium reviewed critical questions that must be addressed in coping with future risks and disasters: 

• How can we best assess and prepare for the events we are most likely to face

• How can we develop the best strategies for reducing their costs and improving our response?

• Who should do what-what partnerships can we build among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and what glue can we provide to make those partnerships stick?

• How should we, as a society, weigh the question of who bears the costs?

• How do we deal with the important issues of equity and fairness, and how can we create mechanisms to resolve these issues as efficiently as possible?

Considering the Future - Final panel of National Symposium on Risk and Disasters - (left to right) Mark Osterle, Staff, Senate Banking Committee, Douglas Holtz Eakin, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, David Rapp, Editor, CQ (moderator), Marc Morial, former Mayor of New Orleans and President of Urban League, and Dan Matthews, Staff Director, House Subcommittee on Homeland Security.