US - ready or not

A city natural disaster plan neglected in favour of a far less likely terrorist threat and poor areas much less well organised to cope. Forget New Orleans - welcome to Seattle. Major cities across the US are doing a bit of soul searching about how ready they too are for the worst case scenario. In Seattle an earthquake is the biggest threat and local 'SDART' teams are supposed to organise neighbourhoods to look after the vulnerable until help arrives (days later). Local press reports say affluent areas have over ten times more local rescue teams than poorer ones. This isn't because of deliberate neglect but a lack of volunteers - if you work two jobs to make ends meet maybe you have less time to offer more from the Seattle Times...