Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Oprah makes me sick.....
Well, not Oprah herself, actually. It was what her camera crews revealed in Louisiana and Mississippi where hurricane Katrina did its damage six months ago. I knew from local news reports that many evacuees who had come to my state were running out of funding for housing and that many had given up on ever returning to their old neighborhoods. Now I know why they have given up.
Most of the national media shines its spotlight on New Orleans. That's fine. I realize it's Mardi Gras time, and the city desperately needs to portray an image of rebuilding. I had no idea that not only are parts of Louisiana and Mississippi not rebuilding, but that no one is even clearing away debris or dead bodies. A reporter drove for miles and said she did not see a single working bulldozer. She showed where damaged refrigerators left behind by the flooding still contained rotting food. And even though the ground all around the debris is contaminated and the government has said it's unsafe for habitation, there are people living in shards of apartments with no roof, no utilities, no sanitation and nowhere to go. Others are in "temporary" trailers right on their contaminated land, many with kids who cannot play outside. And what's scarier is that NOTHING has happened in the six months since the hurricane. Photos of the piles of debris taken right after the storm are nearly identical to what they look like now. Even the areas that were marked as potentially containing dead bodies. With nothing moved, one can only presume the bodies are still there. Approximately 2000 people are still unaccounted for.
Why is nothing happening? Many of the people interviewed said they had seen no one from FEMA since October, and they seem to be forgotten. Others who have telephone access cannot get clear answers as to when they can get a temporary trailer to live in. There are tent cities with unsanitary conditions a short drive from empty trailers, and no one seems to know why the trailers can't be matched up with the tent, hotel and apartment occupants who are losing their FEMA funding. Where are they supposed to go? Back to their contaminated pile of rubble??
It would be easy, living several states away, just to shrug and ignore it. Or condemn the displaced by thinking they should just all get jobs and shut up about it. There's a problem with that thinking. First of all, many of the displaced are either children or are disabled. Second of all, the businesses aren't being rebuilt either, so there is no place to work. One of the reporters pointed out an empty WalMart as well as empty restaurants, grocery stores and other potential employers. And imagine if you had lost everything you owned of monetary value, had been evacuated several states away, and had no idea when it would be safe to return home? You'd probably wait for awhile for the chaos to die down, wait some more while you establish some ID and an address (most places can't hire you without those) and then wait even longer to get hired someplace.
The very worst, though, was the story of the two brothers who discovered they had flat-out been lied to. They and their mom were on the roof of their house when it was washed away by flooding. They survived, but their mom died on that roof awaiting rescue. They had to leave her when they were evacuated. They contacted authorities to try to recover their mom's body, but they were told it could not be found, even with the detailed location information they gave. They were told a ten mile radius had been searched by dogs. They finally decided they were being lied to and went back to the wreckage of their house to looks for their mom's body. Within five minutes after getting there, they saw it: the top of her skull was clearly visible in some debris, not covered by any wreckage, exactly where they had told the authorities she was.
The US functions as the world's policeman and rescuer. Why can't we do the same thing within our own country? There is no excuse for letting Mississippi and Louisiana rot this way. None at all.
Most of the national media shines its spotlight on New Orleans. That's fine. I realize it's Mardi Gras time, and the city desperately needs to portray an image of rebuilding. I had no idea that not only are parts of Louisiana and Mississippi not rebuilding, but that no one is even clearing away debris or dead bodies. A reporter drove for miles and said she did not see a single working bulldozer. She showed where damaged refrigerators left behind by the flooding still contained rotting food. And even though the ground all around the debris is contaminated and the government has said it's unsafe for habitation, there are people living in shards of apartments with no roof, no utilities, no sanitation and nowhere to go. Others are in "temporary" trailers right on their contaminated land, many with kids who cannot play outside. And what's scarier is that NOTHING has happened in the six months since the hurricane. Photos of the piles of debris taken right after the storm are nearly identical to what they look like now. Even the areas that were marked as potentially containing dead bodies. With nothing moved, one can only presume the bodies are still there. Approximately 2000 people are still unaccounted for.
Why is nothing happening? Many of the people interviewed said they had seen no one from FEMA since October, and they seem to be forgotten. Others who have telephone access cannot get clear answers as to when they can get a temporary trailer to live in. There are tent cities with unsanitary conditions a short drive from empty trailers, and no one seems to know why the trailers can't be matched up with the tent, hotel and apartment occupants who are losing their FEMA funding. Where are they supposed to go? Back to their contaminated pile of rubble??
It would be easy, living several states away, just to shrug and ignore it. Or condemn the displaced by thinking they should just all get jobs and shut up about it. There's a problem with that thinking. First of all, many of the displaced are either children or are disabled. Second of all, the businesses aren't being rebuilt either, so there is no place to work. One of the reporters pointed out an empty WalMart as well as empty restaurants, grocery stores and other potential employers. And imagine if you had lost everything you owned of monetary value, had been evacuated several states away, and had no idea when it would be safe to return home? You'd probably wait for awhile for the chaos to die down, wait some more while you establish some ID and an address (most places can't hire you without those) and then wait even longer to get hired someplace.
The very worst, though, was the story of the two brothers who discovered they had flat-out been lied to. They and their mom were on the roof of their house when it was washed away by flooding. They survived, but their mom died on that roof awaiting rescue. They had to leave her when they were evacuated. They contacted authorities to try to recover their mom's body, but they were told it could not be found, even with the detailed location information they gave. They were told a ten mile radius had been searched by dogs. They finally decided they were being lied to and went back to the wreckage of their house to looks for their mom's body. Within five minutes after getting there, they saw it: the top of her skull was clearly visible in some debris, not covered by any wreckage, exactly where they had told the authorities she was.
The US functions as the world's policeman and rescuer. Why can't we do the same thing within our own country? There is no excuse for letting Mississippi and Louisiana rot this way. None at all.
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