What initially surprised and struck me when reading this piece was the sentence “In fact, scientific studies show that the differences in the mortality rates between the 1995 and earlier heat waves are not natural; that is, they are not attributable to the weather.”  Klineneberg also deemed this the most important sentence, as it is the one of the very few italicized sections in this article.  The fact that this was the worst reaction to a heat wave in Chicago history shows a lot about the intensity of this disaster.  However it seems even more horrible when Mayor Daley decided not to include sociologists into the group that would dissect the different aspects of this disaster.  It is interesting to see how the poor was directly affected by this disaster, as shown when Klinenberg talks about the so called “water war” .  Mainly to poor used fire hydrants and such as a method to deal with the scorching hot days, however the depleting water collections posed a threat to the whole city, and thus a consequence to using water was a fine.  The hardest hit areas, areas with the most deaths, were the poorest neighborhoods, and generally had a substantial percentage of blacks within their populations.  This could have been seen as a coincidence however, blacks have been kept from moving into white neighborhoods with the use of riots and attacks against blacks.

1. Knowing that the government, as well as social groups failed to help people during this terrible time, how would the same disaster be dealt with today?

2. Though we can not help everyone, why did social and community groups not help out their members or neighbors, if help was needed, why was it not given?