not your regular katrina blog
there was the tsunami in december 2004. and just a few days ago, there was a massive flooding affecting germany, austria and switzerland. in most of these natural disasters, amidst the chaos, we see people helping themselves, helping each other. there’s a spirit of community… something that i don’t see in the post-katrina footages of new orleans on tv. i see images of people shouting “we want help!” and the anger in the people is palpable. in post-tsunami asia, there was no anger. grief, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness, yes. but no anger. and the people definitely did not demand help as if the world owed them.
in a society where there is shortage of food supply, yes, fighting for survival is imminent. but this is something that doesn’t kick within 24 hours after a natural disaster. and it is not manifested by looting jewelry and television sets. or raping a fellow survivor. in an interview today in bbc (sorry, didn’t catch the name of the professor from manchester) said that this is a wake-up call to america to reflect what kind of society it is building, seeing the core values the people are showing in face of such a tragedy.
hm, thought-provoking.
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13 Responses to “not your regular katrina blog”
September 2nd, 2005 at
totally agree with you, ruth! it is disheartening to see this happening to a nation that quite frankly, everyone looks up to when they need help themselves. what good would it be if your army, military and intelligence are of the highest calibre when the very people that they are supposed to be protecting are now helpless and dying and even taking advantage over each other? sad, sad indeed!
September 2nd, 2005 at
you are soooo right!!! can you imagine, they are sending troops to control young men who have taken to not only looting but they are raping young women, as well! i read this on cnn report! we’ve been seeing tragedies like this pero, like what you said, the reaction of those affected are far from how they are reacting now.
September 2nd, 2005 at
i totally agree with you..i find them helpless and at the same time arrogant..
September 3rd, 2005 at
Sad when people act like morons especially at times like these.
September 3rd, 2005 at
imagine ruth, a city as small as singapore, sent out choppers full of singaporean volunteers to help them out.
siguro nga, there’s a big miscalculation on mr bush’s part. hope this ends soon.
September 5th, 2005 at
good observation ruth. it shows that some people are not as resilient (americans vs. asians/europeans) when disaster strikes. the worst kind are those who self-destruct. i guess, they’ve always had it so good that they just couldn’t comprehend being in need all of a sudden. *sigh*
September 5th, 2005 at
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are the three poorest States in the US. New Orleans, although it attracts a lot of a tourism, has 64% of its service & retail workers earning below property level and unfortunately a great number of New Orleans citizens are on government subsistence and the feeling of “entitlements” have become ingrained. Hence when relief efforts came 2 days after the New Orleans floodwater gates broke, and instantaneous relief efforts did not happen, the blame game started. I have to say that blame goes all the way up and down and lateral in the govt hierarchy, it is not a matter of Republicans against Democrats. I agree with you that the looting, anarchy, and avarices that we see on TV are shameful. I hope we’re all intelligent enough to know that these are actions not representative of the US. When the Northridge California earthquake happened 10 years ago you did not see this type of shameful human failings.
Accdg to cnn.com the Katrina relief effort so far In New Orleans:
* 15,000 evacuations have been made from the New Orleans Superdome to the Astrodome in Houston and are continuing today to San Antonio for housing at Kelly Air Force Base. Evacuations will continue from Louisiana to Reunion Arena in Dallas, and Lackland AFB, Tex.
* 2,000 patients have been evacuated from the New Orleans airport. Seven National Disaster Medical Service Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) and 3 strike teams are supporting New Orleans medical facilities and hospitals not fully operational and setting up MASH-style tents. Five DMATs and 5 strike teams are working in medical facilities and hospitals in Gulfport, Biloxi and other areas of Mississippi.
* Commodities delivered to date include:
o 1.9 million MREs
o 6.7 million liters of water
o 1.7 million pounds of ice
o More than 600 buses to transport evacuees
* As of yesterday, there were 204 shelters with a population of 53,004. This number fluctuates daily.
* More than 170,000 meals a day are being served throughout the affected areas.
* 14,000 National Guard are on the ground in three states and an additional 1,400 will arrive today and 1,400 on Saturday to assist with security of victims and responders. A total of 27,000 members of the National Guard will be deployed to the affected areas.
* 200 Border Patrol agents, 200 additional law enforcement officers from other Louisiana jurisdictions and 2,000 officers from neighboring states are assisting in restoring order in the streets of New Orleans.
* Nearly 500 U.S. Corps of Engineers civilians and soldiers are working on the New Orleans levee breach and coordinating the transport of ice and water.
* A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is opening today in Bayou La Batre, Ala., and another tomorrow in Chatom, Ala.
* FEMA is setting up a Joint Housing Solutions Center to bring together public, private and voluntary agency stakeholders to develop innovative funding and streamlined operational partnerships to address the short and long-term housing needs of disaster victims.
* More than 7,000 people have been rescued – Urban Search and Rescue task forces have made more than 2,000 rescues and U.S. Coast Guard ships, boats and aircraft have been used to rescue approximately 5,000 people.
All these with NO help from other countries - I personally think the United Nations (of which 22% of its budget comes from the US) should not wait for the US to ask for help but offer it. Other US States are pitching in and offering help which is commendable. Texas in particular.
I am sure there are other countries who are helping the US but so far the media have failed to show them on TV and write about them in the Internet. I have not seen the Singapore aid mentioned in the media so I’ll go search for that link.
Anyway, my 2cents. Have a good day.
September 5th, 2005 at
Ruthie, I watched parts of that interview too and I couldn’t agree more. There is also something about the way these people deemed themselves helpless, waiting for someone to rescue them when the levels of water had subsided and they can walk to dry land. And it annoyed me how these TV journalists from BBC and CNN would often punctuate their statements with a first world city living like a third world or something to that effect. Excuse me but in tsunami-struck Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, we saw people’s resiliency against tragedy, their ability to help each other, how the community responded quickly. They may be third world (although Thaksin would naturally disagree), but they managed to rise above the tragedy, on their own initially when aid has not started pouring in yet. Of course, this should not stop the rest of the world from lending a hand to the affected Americans because you wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to you, right?
September 6th, 2005 at
…this is a wake-up call to america to reflect what kind of society it is building, seeing the core values the people are showing in face of such a tragedy.
Wow. That’s what was in my mind but I couldn’t put it into words. Agree, agree. And yes, thought-provoking.
September 6th, 2005 at
shirley: have the suspicion you are a spammer, but have approved your comment, anyway, so readers would see the opposite POV. however, your argument that new orleans belong to the “poorest” in the US and most of its inhabitants live below poverty level is not valid justification. read my blog again. i’ve compared the situation to tsunami victims in asia, who have handled their misery in a totally different manner. have you seen the tamil nadu? the aceh province? i don’t think we have the same definition of POVERTY.
September 6th, 2005 at
Hi Ruth, No I am not a spammer. I am registed in pinoyexpat.org as Positive Sum. Check my blog: Http://slotown.blogspot.com.
Yes, I agree that living below poverty level is no argument for sense of entitlement. This sense of entitlement is simply one of the many gaps between those living in poverty in Asia and those considered living below the poverty level in the US. Be clear, I am not defending disgusting behaviors among them, looting. The US is @300M in population, geographically as big as Western Europe and as you can imagine all kinds of reactions to different catastrophes, from valiant and rising to greatness to downright despicable.
You’re right, we do not have the same definition of POVERTY. I am using the US Department of Labor’s and US Census’ definitions of poverty.
Have a good day.
September 7th, 2005 at
thank you for the clarification, shirley. yes, that was perhaps biased of me to blog only about the negative side of the situation, but then, this blog being mine, has no pretensions of being unbiased anyway.
“I am using the US Department of Labor’s and US Census’ definitions of poverty.”
educate me further, shirley. is the american definition of poverty close to that of the World Bank’s, which UNDP also uses, i.e. people who live on less than $2 a day (extreme poverty being on less than $1 day)? i could have used the german definition of poverty line (can’t be specific but i think it’s some hundred euros a month), which, being an asian and having confronted “absolute” poverty in the face, i don’t find it suitable, particularly in this line of discussion.
but then again there’s the moral/social poverty to consider, too, but that’s fodder for a blog i’m not interested to write.
again, thanks for your feedback. should you want to discuss further, you can also email me at paruparongbb@gmail.com.
September 13th, 2005 at
It’s really very frustrating to see hopeless and dying people. Everytime I go outside the house, I see helpless Filipinos roaming the streets; children begging for money and selling sampaguitas, etc.; families living on the streets, making cardboards or cart as their home. Kahit pa walang disaster na dumating sa bansa parang iyong mismong buhay nila ay disaster na. But nakakabilib din talaga ang mga Pinoy, nakakatuwa pa rin na kahit anong nararanasan nila ay nagagawa pa rin nilang tumawa at magsaya. Kasama na rin ito sa ugali natin ang pagiging masayahin at mapagtiis.