My family and I are safe. We left our home only 18 hours before the killer hurricane arrived on shore. I am now in Natchez, Mississippi, 180 miles from New Orleans. I am amidst very poor Americans in a Red Cross shelter because no hotel or motel could be found within the 250 miles of New Orleans.

I will be driving to Jackson, Mississippi to meet my son, Rashad, who is flying from Yale University, then we will drive to Atlanta, Georgia. That will be my temporary home.

I think I lost my home, which holds a lot of my memories. Two of my family cars were lost. I came out of the house with only the clothes on my back. I am really a sharbohara in the true sense of the word. The house is probably demolished by the storm surge. It seems like I have to restart my life anew. The shelter people gave me a PC and Internet connection so that I can tell my friends that I am safe.

New Orleans was devastated so much that our research facility was destroyed too. The big bridge (six and a halfmiles long) connecting New Orleans and my hometown, Slidell, was destroyed too.

This hurricane is like 100 times more than 9/11. About 2-3 million people out of 280 million Americans (total population) were affected by the hurricane. So the life of 1 out of every 140 Americans was affected.

I cannot write like I did before. But eventually I will get back to writing. I will write to you when I will have regular access to PC and the Internet. The shelter people gave me this PC (a rarity!) to communicate with the outside world when they learned that I am a writer.

I worry about the poor people -- where will they go? Their livelihood is gone along with their home. I possibly could start a life anew, but many of the affected people won't be able to do it. I saw many men and women crying at the shelter because of the uncertainty the storm has brought in the aftermath.

I lost two cars, my home, and many valuables which have sentimental value to my family.

My seventeen-year old son who just started college at Atlanta told me over the phone that he wanted to visit home during the break but there is no home to come to. I was very moved by his comments.

Life is very precarious for about 2.5 million people. Their livelihood is gone. America has to do a lot of rebuilding from the damage done by Hurricane Katrina. It will take years and years. The city of New Orleans is a special place. Tourists used to flock to this town for blues and jazz music. All are gone now. How the folks are going to rebuild towns like Biloxi, Gulfport, Slidell (my hometown), New Orleans, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, etc -- that I don't know.

I am resolved to start my life one more time. I started it when I got married in 1975. After 30 long years I have to re-start my life. Will I be able to do it? It is not a rhetorical question. Yes, I am willing to do it. I have to do it because there is no other alternative.

AH Jaffor Ullah, an American of Bangladesh origin, is a researcher and writer. He sent this e-mail to Haroon Habib, a journalist and writer, from a Red Cross shelter.