Beginning with his arrival in New Orleans on Aug. 27, 2005 — less than 48 hours before Katrina's landfall — and continuing over the next two weeks, Getty News photographer Mario Tama covered the city during its fight to survive the hurricane's devastating blow. He has come back to New Orleans several times during 2006 to chronicle the recovery of the battered city and the efforts of its resilient people, revisiting many of the scenes of destruction and suffering captured by his camera the year before. Thousands of photographers descended on New Orleans in its darkest days late last summer; only a few, like Mario, have returned to bring us images of the people rebuilding their lives and their city.

Over the past decade, Mario has covered political affairs in Washington, D.C. — including the Clinton impeachment and the 2000 election — and more recently he has been on assignment photographing the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

See the images of this proud city surviving one of the deadliest and most costly disasters in U.S. history.

DEVASTATION: KATRINA STRIKES >>

RECOVERY: A CITY COMES BACK TO LIFE >>