LaTanya Howard moved to Maryland to start over after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her life, and she considers herself a survivor – a victor, not a victim.

“I’m a lot better off than some people,” Howard said when we met this summer.

That she is, but one year after Katrina, Howard admits she’s still not where she should be.

Like many survivors of any disaster, Howard is having trouble recovering financially. Even with federal housing support and extensive, 15-week employment training through a Maryland-based nonprofit, The Training Source, Howard remains unemployed.

So what gives?

Some of Howard’s lack of progress can be attributed to depression, and that’s something that shouldn’t be discounted.

“It’s easy for people not in my situation to point fingers and say, ‘You should do this and you should do that,’ but they don’t understand what I’ve been through,” Howard said.

Residents of eastern New Orleans hold a candlelight vigil with 1,600 candles earlier this week to commemorate those who lost their lives after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The bags with the candles are on the Lake Ponchartrain Levee in eastern New Orleans.

She did lose everything: her home, all her belongings, friends, her neighborhood and, most important, a job she had held for eight years.

Howard wasn’t making much in her old job as a cashier at the New Orleans Convention Center, but what she did earn paid the bills. She could get by.

Still, even before the storm hit and levees broke, Howard said she was tired of just getting by. She only worked when a convention was in town; her pay wasn’t steady.

“I wanted a better job,” Howard said when we talked on the one-year anniversary of Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast. “I always felt trapped. I finished high school and had some college but it wasn’t enough.”

Howard has enough training to get a better job. Now she needs to spend more time looking for work by following the rule of 100, said Kim Rhim, executive director of The Training Source.

“The rule of 100,” she said, “is you make 100 employment contacts to get a 10 percent return, or 10 interviews, and those 10 job interviews should get you one job offer.”

Translation: If you want to get a job, you have to work at it as if it’s already your full-time job. Howard hasn’t been doing that, she admits.

Many people are just getting by when they live paycheck to paycheck. You need to act as if a hurricane, earthquake or tornado could strike any day. Prepare your finances for the worst. Keep your job skills current. Stay in touch with potential employers, even if you like your present position.

Howard indeed is a Katrina victor. She survived, but now she needs to adjust her attitude to thrive. She’s fortunate that she’s gotten help that can improve her life, but the next step is hers to take if she wants to be ready for the next storm.