Friday, September 02, 2005
Katrina and the waves
The Katrina disaster has reached Dallas.
Not the water, or the wind, or the lack of power... not even the looting, but people. People have driven here to escape. And it's not just here, it's Houston, it's pretty much everywhere. And it's at that point, the disaster becomes real.
We see a lot of disasters on TV. From the Tsunami through to the problems in Africa highlighted by Live8, we're always getting images of hardship and bad times. So much so that I think it's easy to become sanitised by them. Add into it all the man-made images we get in films and dramas, and it's not unusual to see sights of hardship, disaster, desperation.
Now though, it's in my backyard, which makes it harder to file to one side in your mind. The hotel I'm staying in is suddenly full... and I'm guess by people who have the money and transport resources to get here and pay here. People sit outside the hotel, looking stunned, unsure what to do, where to go. Unsure what they've got left in the way of possessions, loved ones, unsure if their home is still there.
I was listening to a guy on the local radio this morning who's driven here from the flood zone. He was saying that even if his house is still there, chances are it's been looted, or that someone else is living in it. His outlook was that he was happy for someone else to stay there, eat their food, drink their water, even steal their electronics, as long as they leave the personal items.
The debate in the US is now starting to get political, and that's an area I'm keeping well out of. Either way, it seems that not enough was done, and it certainly wasn't done soon enough.
One of my colleagues here (who's from Luisianna) has been emailing everyone in the building asking them to bring various supplies which she's taking to some of the areas where escapees are gathering. I stopped by WalMart this morning and got a load of drinks, non-perishable snacks, that kind of stuff, and dropped them off at the back of the building. And I was really amazed by how much was there, box after box of stuff - loads of it. It was like the Blue Peter appeals we used to do at school.
Except this time it's real, and it's happening here. And that means you're giving help because people really need help. Not just because some guy on TV says it's the thing to do, and you kinda know it is.
And the TV pictures get no better.
Not the water, or the wind, or the lack of power... not even the looting, but people. People have driven here to escape. And it's not just here, it's Houston, it's pretty much everywhere. And it's at that point, the disaster becomes real.
We see a lot of disasters on TV. From the Tsunami through to the problems in Africa highlighted by Live8, we're always getting images of hardship and bad times. So much so that I think it's easy to become sanitised by them. Add into it all the man-made images we get in films and dramas, and it's not unusual to see sights of hardship, disaster, desperation.
Now though, it's in my backyard, which makes it harder to file to one side in your mind. The hotel I'm staying in is suddenly full... and I'm guess by people who have the money and transport resources to get here and pay here. People sit outside the hotel, looking stunned, unsure what to do, where to go. Unsure what they've got left in the way of possessions, loved ones, unsure if their home is still there.
I was listening to a guy on the local radio this morning who's driven here from the flood zone. He was saying that even if his house is still there, chances are it's been looted, or that someone else is living in it. His outlook was that he was happy for someone else to stay there, eat their food, drink their water, even steal their electronics, as long as they leave the personal items.
The debate in the US is now starting to get political, and that's an area I'm keeping well out of. Either way, it seems that not enough was done, and it certainly wasn't done soon enough.
One of my colleagues here (who's from Luisianna) has been emailing everyone in the building asking them to bring various supplies which she's taking to some of the areas where escapees are gathering. I stopped by WalMart this morning and got a load of drinks, non-perishable snacks, that kind of stuff, and dropped them off at the back of the building. And I was really amazed by how much was there, box after box of stuff - loads of it. It was like the Blue Peter appeals we used to do at school.
Except this time it's real, and it's happening here. And that means you're giving help because people really need help. Not just because some guy on TV says it's the thing to do, and you kinda know it is.
And the TV pictures get no better.
