For the Hurricane Katrina survivors in New Orleans, resilience is key.
"Nothing is going to hold the people of the city back. ... Because New Orleans will be unbowed and unbroken," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a commemorative speech marking the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as reported by CNN.
"We have risen again, and we will rise again, and we will go forward," he continued.
In contrast to the parties and the festive culture the state is known for, the memorial started with prayer and remembrance of the disaster that happened 10 years ago when Hurricane Katrina unleashed its wrath on the Gulf Coast.
According to the BBC, it is the most expensive natural disaster in US history, killing nearly 2000 people and displacing one million.
With the failure of its levee system, the world saw 80% of New Orleans submerged in water.
CNN reported that the damage totals to $108 billion.
According to BBC, the city's Ninth Ward was hit the hardest and those who attended the wreath-laying ceremony there found themselves feeling the pain as if it happened yesterday.
Last Saturday, President Barack Obama visited the Lower Ninth Ward, commending the city and its people for their extraordinary resiliency.
Moreover, he referred to Katrina as a 'man-made disaster' caused by government failure.
"New Orleans had long been plagued by structural inequality that left too many people, especially poor people, especially people of color, without good jobs or affordable health care or decent housing," Obama said as told by NPR.
"Too many kids grew up surrounded by violent crime, cycling through substandard schools where few had a shot to break out of poverty," he added.
USA Today quotes Gulf South Rising, a coalition on frontline Gulf Coast communities, in their report: "Although some will celebrate the resiliency and recovery of the Gulf region, many continue to feel the painful consequences of Katrina a decade later."
Mayor Landrieu led a heartfelt tribute to the 83 unidentified out of the 1800 victims of the hurricane on Canal Street.
"Though they are unnamed, they are not unclaimed because we claim them," he declared to an audience of dignitaries.
A parade commenced after the speeches with some of the participants dressed in colourful Mardi Gras costume.
The New Orleans tradition is evident in spite of the somber commemoration.
"It is kind of bittersweet. We want to celebrate because we are still here, but a lot of people are not," said Lower Ninth Ward resident Natasha Green, 36 as cited by BBC.
"It is important to remember what we went through here," she said.
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