September 12, 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Bill Dueease
Katrina really frightened me. I do not frighten easily.
As a child in the 50's, I felt a 6.2 earthquake just north of San Francisco,
as I sat in my seventh grade class. The building shook, desks moved,
and the ceiling cracked. My brother and his third grade class at another
school were lined up outside after lunch to enter his class when the
ceiling and the floor above collapsed into his first floor classroom.
Undoubtedly, most of his class would have been seriously hurt or killed
had they been in the room. In the 80's, the eye of Hurricane Alicia
and its category three 110-MPH winds went right over our house in Houston.
We experienced first hand the contradicting fury and peace of the eye
of a major hurricane. The Houston Chronicle printed a photo of the damage
to a house on our street on the front page of the next day’s paper.
Last year my family and several neighbors sat out the fury of Hurricane
Charley in our house in Fort Myers, Florida. We watched as its category
four winds destroyed my pool cage and many of my fruit trees and put
severe stress on our house. We also experienced the winds and water
fury of Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne last year. Hurricane Katrina blew
by Fort Myers this year about 100 miles off the coast and produced 60
MPH winds and a little rain. I was strongly affected by all of these
events caused by Mother Nature. In fact, we have repaired only about
10% of the damage caused to our house by Hurricane Charley, and the
repair costs are projected to be very high.
Why have I been so disturbed by Katrina even though she missed us? First,
the magnitude of the devastation caused by Katrina to people in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama appears to be much more severe and intense.
Second, I have roots in Louisiana and Alabama and feel a personal attachment
to what happened. Third, I recognize that Katrina could have hit our
house and could have done to us what it did to others. But most of all,
I recognize how little power and control any of us have over Mother
Nature. In essence, we are totally helpless. I am deeply humbled by
Katrina. I believe many others also feel this same sense of helplessness
and fear. This might explain the media's overwhelming focus to repeatedly
publish attacks made by politicians, renowned loudmouths, pundits, spokespeople,
and anyone the media can find to affix blame for this catastrophe. The
truth of the matter is that Katrina caused three very catastrophic disasters
at one time, and no one can be blamed. Or if you want to, blame can
be assigned to almost anyone.
The first disaster was the serious damage caused by the very
strong winds and rain. Buildings, houses and many man made structures
were blown down like matchsticks. Even a fortress like the post office
and the city hall of a Mississippi town of 7,000 were leveled, where
virtually nothing remains but rubble. Only the concrete slabs remain.
This total wind devastation occurred many times over, in a larger area
than with hurricanes Charley or Andrew.
The second disaster was the devastation caused by the huge storm
surge, a tsunami, of between 20 and 30 feet. Katrina hit at high tide.
The tsunami like walls of water drove heavily moored gambling ships
onto shore, completely leveled coastal homes, made temporary flotation
devices out of cars and trucks, and lifted extremely heavy concrete
slabs of a bridge off their secure supports, tossing them aside like
paper. I venture to say than the tsunami caused by Katrina was stronger
and more physically devastating that the one in Indonesia. Luckily Katrina
announced her arrival, but even then it did not diminish the severity
of her walls of water.
The third disaster was the catastrophic damage caused by the
massive flooding in the New Orleans area when the levies were breached
in two locations. This flooding is far more devastating and permanent
than any normal flooding caused by hurricanes. It occurred after the
hurricane and continued to rise to levels I believe exceeded 20 feet
or more. First, the inhabitants were hit with the winds and rain of
a category five hurricane. Then they were trapped with rising floodwaters
with nowhere to go and no way to communicate. They were temporarily
cut off from the outside world to receive quick help. They were alone
in their ever-increasing misery. In all of my hurricane experiences,
we were able to go outside afterwards to walk around and check for damage.
But the people in New Orleans were forced to find higher locations without
transport, without power, without secure buildings, without communications,
without warning, without supplies, and without much, if any, outside
help. Then they had to hunker down in hot, humid, and very wet conditions
that got worse as the seawater kept pouring in. All the while they had
little if any contact with others or the outside world. Fear, rumor,
and self-preservation instincts took over. They had to go into the survival
mode. Just getting food and water, and a dry, protected place to sleep
to survive became a very difficult thing to do. And wallowing around
in hot putrid water everywhere did not help. Not knowing about the safety
and health of family, friends and even pets they had been separated
from became a living nightmare.
.
Any one of these catastrophic disasters would have severely overwhelmed
the resources of normal rescue and relief efforts. But all three of
these disasters at once, with the flooding getting worse with time was
just too much for even a full scale national effort. The sheer magnitude
of the catastrophes escaped most everyone, even the media. I believe
that the magnitude of how widespread and devastating these three catastrophes
really are will not be fully recognized until time and complete relief
can be accomplished. No local, state, or federal planning, funding,
or prior activities could have prepared this country for what happened.
All of the rescue and relief efforts had to be done on the fly, without
even knowing what was really needed, and who and what was available.
Countless lessons were learned, most of which were learned through the
hard way, trial and error. As an example, over 500 police officers of
the New Orleans police department have not reported in and are not fully
accounted for. How can the New Orleans Police be expected to provide
fully responsive and effective law enforcement when most all of the
officers themselves have been personally affected by the disaster? When
there are virtually no lines of communication? When the primary means
of travel is suddenly by water, and when approximately 25% of their
fellow officers are missing?
This inability to provide fast, complete, and efficient rescue and relief
has frightened many people. One human reaction to fear is to lash out.
But is this the best reaction? I believe that far too many people are
using these catastrophes and the fears they have caused in many of us
as an opportunity to get even and attack others by affixing blame on
their chosen enemies. These people have brought dishonor to themselves,
as they appear to be using the fears and suffering of others to make
personal and political gains. Unfortunately, much of the media has given
these people far too much exposure and coverage. They do not deserve
one letter of print space or one second of airtime.
I believe the media and their investigative attitudes and their desire
and practice of finding wrongs, injustices, and corruption, and reporting
them, especially when governmental agencies and corporations are concerned
are much needed and one of the reasons that the United States prospers.
I thoroughly encourage the media to keep it up, and even believe that
the media has gotten a bit soft, especially when it comes to exposing
corruption in corporations, because large corporations now control the
media. I am asking that the media not back down from being the watchdogs
they have become, but I am asking the media to stop giving time, exposure
and credence to the people who are using these situations as opportunities
to attack others.
Having heard through the media, about a group of approximately 50 policemen
from South Carolina who convoyed into Mississippi on their own to lend
a personal hand is the sort of reporting that would be best continued.
I know from experience, how long and hard the power people from many
different states worked to restore electricity, after our three hurricanes
last year. They represented some of the many unsung heroes who came
to our rescue after the three hurricanes, and I still wave at power
trucks today. I am certain the same power restoration workforce and
many more additional people are working 16-hour days in hot, humid,
and debris-laden areas to restore power again after Katrina.
The Katrina aftermath story is still happening, and the
media can and should step up and take part in the relief and rebuilding
efforts, and back off the finger pointing blame game. Please concentrate
on reporting the facts as they are, and tell the story of what Mother
Nature did, and how we can work together to overcome the destruction
and learn the lessons that Mother Nature is trying to teach us. The
media will have years to jump on the blame game. I predict the media
can and will find so many people and organizations to blame for something
in this calamity of tragedies that the media itself might just be overwhelmed
with the magnitude of possibilities.
Fear is a funny thing. It gets our undivided attention. It makes us
think. It almost demands some sort of reaction, and it governs our desire
to prevent future similar fears. I am personally humbled by what has
happened and recognize and accept my place with God. We can overcome
a great deal, even three catastrophes at once, when we work together
towards the common goal of survival and rebuilding. We are in the early
stages of these disasters, and we can all help by donating money or
goods, or volunteering to help the recipients of Katrina any way we
can. I understand that many of the people from the area have been relocated
to all parts of the US. There may be opportunities to volunteer to help
in your own back yard. I also caution everyone to only contribute to
known and reliable relief agencies, and not be snookered by falsely
promoted relief groups.
The affects of Katrina will continue for a long time. Many of us have
not fully recovered from Hurricane Charley, which hit on Friday, August
13, 2004. Katrina caused greater damage to more people, in many different
ways, than did Hurricanes Charley, Francis, and Jeanne combined. The
recovery process is just starting and we can all help a lot of affected
people for a long time.
My outlook on life and my life purposes changed after we were hit by
the three hurricanes, and have been further strengthened by seeing the
aftermath of Katrina. What used to bother me is no longer an irritant.
Being without water, power, showers, air conditioning, phones, shelter,
gasoline, and refrigeration, even for a short period of time, because
of the hurricanes gave me a new perspective. Then seeing so many fellow
Americans in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama lose practically everything,
including their lives, has further strengthened my new perspective.
I now appreciate an ice-cold glass of Gatorade after playing tennis.
I do not get uptight when I miss a traffic light after having to drive
through major intersections with downed traffic lights for weeks. I
stay longer in the shower after knowing what it’s like to not bath
for over a week. I take the time to visit my son in college 250 miles
away, on a whim, after not being able to drive down the street. I call
friends I have not spoken to in years, when I did not even have a dial
tone for over a week. I, and my family, and many of our friends have
learned to grab as much out of life as possible while we have it. Mother
Nature can come along anytime and change everything.
We welcome your opinions and comments.
Bill Dueease
Editor
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