New Orleans in particular is highly variable in what you see, depending where you visit.

I know what a rebuilt city looks like, because I come from one. Hurricane Katrina was 2005. Christchurch Earthquake was 2011. In my opinion, my home town has recovered better and faster from destruction than New Orleans has.

I also live within a floodzone. There is a high probability I will learn how we deal with flooding in the future (different flooding - shallower and lacking the winds and hopefully better pre-planning for avoiding harm).

> everything looked brand new

Absolutely not, to me.

And the conversation is regarding infrastructure. A bunch of Christchurch infrastructure is brand new.