Hurricane Katrina
Like many, I’m been following the stories from the Gulf Coast of devastation, as well as ones of hope. Of all major news outlets, I found myself most moved by Oprah’s Inside the Katrina Catastrophe. Her reporters and celebrities showed people the bodies of the dead lying on the street, the towns demolished by the hurricane and flood waters, the babies and children without food, water or shelter, as well as the relief efforts underway to rescue, shelter, feed and comfort the people in the hardest hit areas.
I heard a number today that devastated me — over 2,000 children have been separated from their parents or have been reported missing. Trying to picture what the last 2 weeks must have been like for adults, I can’t imagine the trauma 2 and 3-year-olds are enduring without their parents, displaced in new cities with strangers.
Admist the reports of negligent nursing home operators, I am reminded of the power and unpredictability of Mother Nature. If everyone was convinced this storm was going to as bad as it turned out, there is no doubt in my mind that even the poorest of the poor would have found a way out. It’s the wishful thinking combined with the lack of easy access to resources that convinced people to stay and tough it out.
And as Hurrican Ophelia hits the Carolinas, a heightened awareness of the power of nature guarantees that no effort has been spared in preparation for this disaster. However, in the case of Hurricane Katrina, it is appalling that help from state and federal government was so slow in getting to people in most need. Shouldn’t protocol already exist for getting basic need items to those in need? Shouldn’t contigency plans already have been discussed and ready to be put in motion the minute things started getting ugly?
However there is hope in all this despair, my alma mater, MIT, along with other universities such as Yale, Princeton, and Brown are opening their doors tuition free to students affected by Katrina. Life is about chances and the opening doors to opportunities and however temporary the stay, I hope these experiences teach these students something they would not have otherwise learned. [Article]
For those of you in NYC looking for a way to contribute to the relief effort for Katrina, check out NYCares.
