Did God send Hurricane Katrina?

The news from Mississippi and Louisiana is terrible. Hundreds of people are dead, and many times more are now without home and possessions. How should Christians view such tragedy? Is it the wrath of God?

While it may be true human-induced global warming has contributed to abnormal weather, many natural disasters are seen as acts of God. In the Bible, such disasters are punishment on a nation, like what happened to the Egyptians in Charlton Heston's "The Ten Commandments." That's how many people view such situations--as a punishment from God on a collective group.

However, in the New Testament, the emphasis is more on personal responsibility rather than that of one's nation. There are Old Testament prophesies that allude to this change, such as in Jeremiah 31:29-34, where God says He will make a new covenant with people, and that people will not be judged for the sins of their fathers, but rather individually:

29 "In those days people will no longer say,
'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30 Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.

From a Christian perspective, the prophesy is talking about the time after Christ, when people can have a personal relationship with God:

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.

God promised things would be different in the future. Under the new covenant (afforded by Christ's sacrifice), people are no longer collectively punished. That's why I think natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina are not the punishment of God on a nation, but simply part of our corrupted world where sin and death are inescapable.