KERRY O'BRIEN: It's one year tomorrow since Hurricane Katrina struck America's Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,500 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi. But the people of New Orleans will be commemorating the occasion with a sense of anxiety. Authorities are closely monitoring this season's first hurricane, named Ernesto, which has already forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in Cuba. Although it's been downgraded to a tropical storm, hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable and there are fears Ernesto could regain strength and hit US shores later this week.
If history does repeat itself, there are fears New Orleans would struggle to cope so soon after Katrina. Large parts of the city are still in ruins and repairs to nearly 400 kilometres of levees damaged by Katrina are yet to be finished.
North America correspondent Tracy Bowden reports from New Orleans.
TRACY BOWDEN: It was hard to believe that these images were emerging from the world's richest country.
WOMAN #1: Hell couldn't get any worse than this - not like this.
TRACY BOWDEN: Thousands of people stranded after an evacuation order that came too late and a Federal Government that didn't seem to care.
WOMAN #2: How long can you last when water's just comin' up and you don't know when someone is coming and if they know you're there?
TRACY BOWDEN: Twelve months on, with more than 60 per cent of evacuees still displaced and no coordinated plan for rebuilding New Orleans, the suffering continues.
IRMA THOMAS, SINGER: I could say I'm getting through this okay and, who knows, tomorrow I could break down and bawl again. I've had many days of crying.
IVOR VAN HEERDEN, LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY HURRICANE CENTRE: We still have over 100,000 families that are penniless, lost everything, have still to be compensated for their losses.
DAVID SMITH: Basically the shirt off my back. Basically that's about all I own is the shirt on my back.
TRACY BOWDEN: New Orleans today is a city of contrasts. Even on a rainy night, the tourists are starting to come back to the famous French Quarter, which experienced only minor flooding. In the upper-class sliver by the river, grand old homes went relatively unscathed. But everywhere else, the impact of Katrina is dramatic.
JUDSON MITCHELL, LEGAL AID LAWYER, LOYOLA LAW CLINIC: It was somewhat like a Third World country before and that was part of its charm. However, it's really like a Third World country now.
TRACY BOWDEN: This is St Bernard's parish in the Lower Ninth Ward, the area hardest hit by the flooding. Street after deserted street is just like this, with homes either completely destroyed or in need of major repairs. Some home owners are waiting on funds to start work. Others have relocated to different parts of New Orleans or even other cities, and some people just don't know what to do. Trailer parks are dotted throughout the suburbs of New Orleans.
DAVID SMITH: I call myself a FEMA-lite. Means I live in a FEMA trailer. It's holy hell.
TRACY BOWDEN: For David Smith and thousands of others who have nowhere else to go, this is home. How many of you living in this trailer, David?
DAVID SMITH: There are five adults in this trailer. My son here, my daughter, her boyfriend and her mother.
TRACY BOWDEN: That must be a tight fit?
DAVID SMITH: Oh, I'm telling you, you could turn around and bump into your own shadow. That's my hall bathroom.
TRACY BOWDEN: David Smith's house in the Lower Ninth Ward is beyond repair. A series of photographs provide a bitter reminder of the events that have turned his life upside down.
DAVID SMITH: I cry every time I look at 'em and I try not to look at 'em often, but it's all I got left of it - these nasty pictures.
TRACY BOWDEN: Those who suffered the most as a result of Katrina were poor African Americans. In the days after the hurricane, as people waited to be rescued or to be provided with the basics of life - food and shelter - there were angry claims that the slow federal response was driven by racism.
JUDSON MITCHELL: Many of them were forced out of town at gunpoint, many of them were at the convention centre. They were put in a plane, not told where they were going and dropped somewhere in America, the majority of them. They find it's very difficult to come back because if you were a renter, if you were living in rental housing, there's nothing for you here.
TRACY BOWDEN: And that's not likely to change any time soon. Billions of dollars have been spent in the area, but local authorities still haven't announced a coordinated plan for reconstruction.
But there is one pocket of hope in the Upper Ninth Ward. This is the Musicians' Village, funded by the non-profit housing group Habitat for Humanity. As the name suggests, the majority of housing will be offered to the city's musicians, who are working side by side on the site with volunteers from across the country.
JIM PATE, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: Most of our families were living in rental units, and they're now going to be able to buy their own homes.
TRACY BOWDEN: Jim Pate, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, says it's all about bringing back the soul of the city - the music.
JIM PATE: What we hope is that the old masters of traditional New Orleans music and the current practitioners and those who are developing new fusion forms will be able to come in. All New Orleaneans, all displaced will be able to return and maintain that rich musical culture we have.
TRACY BOWDEN: Twenty-six-year-old Troy Sawyer was evacuated to Texas after the hurricane but couldn't wait to come home and reform his band.
TROY SAWYER, MUSICIAN: I felt it was my responsibility to come back and get my hands dirty, rebuild and play music so that people can be uplifted.
TRACY BOWDEN: The young musician is now helping build the community he will soon be a part of.
TROY SAWYER: I have my own house, I actually own my own house, and then gigs are coming back, you know, people are coming back, so it's looking very promising for me.
TRACY BOWDEN: If there is one person who embodies a deep passion for New Orleans and its music, it's one of the city's most enduring performers, Irma Thomas. Born in Louisiana 65 years ago, her career has taken her around the world, but the blues singer has always stayed true to her roots.
IRMA THOMAS: My heart is in New Orleans, and that's where I want to be.
TRACY BOWDEN: Irma Thomas is determined to move back into her house as soon as she can and help New Orleans get back on its musical feet.
IRMA THOMAS: I don't have time to talk about doom and gloom, and the music part of me is the part that I will use to be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem.
TRACY BOWDEN: For the past year, teams of scientists and engineers have been studying what went wrong and how to fix the problem. Ivor Van Heerden, who has written a book on the subject, warned for years of the potential for just such a catastrophe, and he's still issuing warnings.
IVOR VAN HEERDEN: A year down and we have no better protection than we had a year ago, we have no plan for the future, we really don't have any moneys earmarked to really do what has to be done.
TRACY BOWDEN: Who do you blame for what happened?
IVOR VAN HEERDEN: Oh, I think the corps of engineers is entirely responsible for the failure of the levee systems. Not only were they badly designed in that they didn't consider the weak soils, you know, they actually ignored some of the data, but secondly, they built them 1.5 feet lower than they should've been.
TRACY BOWDEN: So did the army corps of engineers know that the system was not good enough?
WALTER BAUMY, US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Well, yes. Everybody knew that the system was below grade in many levels, but the - you know, the process for improving that system is funding through the Congress and the administration, and the corps requesting such funds.
TRACY BOWDEN: Post-Katrina, the funds came pouring in and the army corps of engineers has been hard at work on the flood protection system. But chief engineer Walter Baumy still doesn't instill confidence.
WALTER BAUMY: I think we're better prepared than we were last year.
TRACY BOWDEN: You only think so or you know so?
WALTER BAUMY: No, I know so, actually. But you would still experience surge heights that would overtop in certain areas and until the system is brought to a higher level of protection those areas will remain vulnerable to Katrina-level surges.
TRACY BOWDEN: That's an ominous forecast for the tens of thousands of people trying to rebuild their lives and fearful of how they'll fare if it happens again.
DAVID SMITH: I feel like my country has let me down. They gave me the false feeling of security that my home was safe from something like this, and I feel like your Government really don't care.