Katrina - A long road ahead |
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September 30th, 2005 - 05:04PM |
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'Living in a civic arena with thousands of other evacuees is not a long-term solution to rebuilding lives.' Photo: Greg Beals/International Rescue Committee Louisiana native Lisa David, now the IRC's regional refugee resettlement director in Dallas, traveled back to her home state to join an IRC team supporting local relief efforts for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Friday, September 9 This morning I learn that Anita has actually been able to speak with her father. It sounds like he is doing well, but a little disoriented. She says he doesn’t really understand yet the enormity of what has happened in New Orleans. It only makes sense – how many like him were trapped with no access to outside communication? Her father knows what happened to him – he has talked about being in the water for four days – but hasn’t comprehended yet that hundreds if not thousands of others had a similar experience. Anita is talking with the social work staff in San Antonio that are helping her father to find out what the plans are for him. It sounds like they want to transfer him from the shelter to a hospital for medical care. He is 80-years old and the events he’s endured over the last two weeks would challenge anyone half his age. It sounds like Anita and her two children may head to San Antonio to be with him if she can confirm that he will be there for a few days. Later in the day, I begin my return trip to Dallas. My drive out of Louisiana is an odd, inverted reflection of my drive in just a week ago. Then, it was more buses transporting evacuees out of the affected areas than I could count. Today, there is clear increase in the traffic moving into the affected areas -- military convoys and heavy equipment, “RVs,” and so many trailers – both mobile homes and the type of modular buildings that are common at construction sites – that it seems like someone must have requisitioned every one that was available and ordered them into Louisiana. The seven hour drive gives me plenty of time to reflect on what I’ve seen over the last week. And the traffic patterns I’ve described above really summarize it best. A week ago, the effort was still largely a rescue operation. During the week I’ve been in Louisiana it was clear that more and more evacuees were having their basic needs of food, water, shelter and clothing addressed. In just the last few days, the rescue efforts have begun to wind down and the recovery phase has started. The image of a New Orleans jazz funeral comes to my mind around Shreveport. Despite so much loss, there are signs of hope. Like Anita and her father, separated families are locating each other and reuniting. The number of volunteers that have mobilized to assist evacuees is astounding, and donated goods are pouring in. At the same time, I think of the thousands of evacuees I’ve seen in just the handful of shelter sites that I visited and know that there is a very long road ahead. Their immediate needs are being met, but living in a civic arena with thousands of other evacuees or out of a hotel room are not a long-term solution to rebuilding lives. And I wonder if there will still be the needed number of volunteers and donations in a month or two, when the evacuee story is not headline news. While what I’ve seen in the last week gives me a lot of encouragement that resources are being mobilized to assist the evacuees, it will be important for everyone to understand that this problem is not going to go away in a matter of days or weeks. The recovery will take months and years. Posted By: Kathleen Sands | Hurricane Katrina Permalink |
