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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| America�s Tsunami By Antonio C. Abaya Written Sept. 04, 2005 For the Standard Today September 06 issue The images from Hurricane Katrina were starkly familiar: entire communities flattened like proverbial houses of cards, cars piled on top of each other like discarded toys, water water everywhere but not a drop to drink, dead bodies floating around unattended or stashed away in odd corridors of hospitals or refugee centers. And for days and days and days, no electricity, no clean water, no food, no toilet facilities, no telephones, not even cell phones, for anywhere from one million to two million people. The last time the world saw images like these was only after December 26 last year, after a tsunami struck in the Indian Ocean and wreaked unimaginable havoc on such previously unknown (to most people) places as Bandar Aceh in Indonesia, Galle in Sri Lanka, and Phuket in Thailand. And killed more than 200,000 human beings. America, welcome to the Third World. Not just any corner of the Third World, but that part of it that is vulnerable to mega-disasters and, when one strikes, is unable to organize itself sufficiently to cope with it. As one (white) CNN reporter put it, �This is not the America I grew up in� Already the finger of racism is being pointed at official Washington for the slowness of federal agencies in responding to the disaster. Especially in New Orleans, the city hardest hit by the hurricane, which is 67% black who make up most of the 30% who are poor and had no cars or money to leave when the order to evacuate the city was given. So tens of thousands of them converged on the nearest high ground, the area around the Superdome, which became temporary shelter for some 20,000. But without electricity, water, food, medical supplies or adequate toilet facilities, it degenerated into an instant slum whose squalor and filth rivaled anything in Haiti. And with almost the entire city underwater for days, because part of it is below sea level and the levees that protected it from a swollen Lake Pontchatrain had been breached, the only way to send supplies to the Superdome refugees was by helicopter or by amphibious vehicles, neither of which was available in sufficient numbers as most of them were deployed in Iraq. Add to this the apparent anarchy that ensued in which mostly black looters ransacked stores and supermarkets, in which policemen had to barricade themselves in their station against armed gangs that shot at them and relief helicopters were fired at by unknown gunmen, and mysterious fires burned in different places, often without any firemen to put them out��and the scene could have been in Liberia or Sierra Leone or Nigeria during one of their periodic descent into lawlessness. The promo slogan of that CNN program was most apt for New Orleans: �This is Africa!� The World Responds. One of the first countries to respond to the disaster was Australia, which pledged $7.6 million in aid. Impoverished Sri Lanka, still recovering from the December tsunami, donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross. Even war-torn Afghanistan gave $1 million. The filthy rich but kuripot Japanese pledged a piddling $300,000. The Americans should tell them to just shove it. India and China have pledged five million dollars each. Qatar, site of the US Central Command headquarters in the Middle East, offered $100 million. Kuwait, twice saved by the Americans from Saddam Hussein, is giving $500 million. Even Venezuela, whose president Hugo Chavez �Christian� Evangelist Pat Robertson, a key Bush ally, publicly said should be assassinated, is giving one million dollars. Not to be outdone, Cuba�s Fidel Castro offered 1,100 doctors and 26 tons of medical supplies. An offer that the Americans will probably turn down as many of those Cubans will likely disappear to become illegal aliens once they are on US soil. So also with President Arroyo�s pathetic offer of ten (or is it 25?) medical doctors. Hasn�t she heard? Two of our soldiers with the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti went to Florida for RR and promptly went TNT, never to be heard from again. She probably had planned to trumpet this �aid� when she becomes chair of the UN Security Council Summit next week, which will be attended by George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin, Jacques Chirac, Hu Jintao and nine other heads of state. But in our condition and given our TNT reputation, the most dignified aid that we can extend to the Americans, and which the Americans will never turn down, would be a cash donation of $50,000 to the American Red Cross, like Sri Lanka�s $25,000. Unless we are masochists for more humiliation, when our MDs go TNT.. Could Metro Manila Cope with a Category 5 hurricane like Katrina? The strongest typhoon that scored a direct hit on Metro Manila during my lifetime was Typhoon Yoling in the 1970s. It unroofed thousands of houses and buildings and had us cowering in the strongest part of our rented house as we awaited a similar fate. But it was �only� a signal no. 3 typhoon, with winds between 150 and 180 kph. Katrina hit New Orleans (and the rest of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi) with winds of up to 240 kph that created storm surges and generated waves six meters high. Under similar conditions, most of Metro Manila would go underwater, like New Orleans, not just Malabon and Navotas and Sampaloc. And like New Orleans� Lake Pontchartrain, our Laguna de Bay would overflow and flood not just Pasig and Pateros but the entire lake-side areas of Rizal and Laguna provinces. We would have no electricity for weeks (when Yoling hit Metro Manila, power was down for only four or five days) and there would be no power to pump and distribute potable water. Business would grind to a halt, as it did in New Orleans, as workers, employees and their managers are unable to commute to their workplaces. Because outlying provinces, especially Central Luzon, would also be flooded, the delivery of basic food items would be seriously curtailed and the resulting shortages would lead to the looting of grocery stores and supermarkets. Can we cope? Every time a tragedy or disaster strikes other countries, the government, any government, should activate a think tank and conceptualize its strategy should a similar tragedy or disaster befall us. Do we have such a think tank with such a mandate? I doubt it. I see at least two vulnerabilities in our case, aside from the usual inefficiencies, stupidities and corruption. One, the presence of hundreds of billboards along the major arteries of Metro Manila, some of them six stories high or higher. If a Katrina-strong typhoon were to hit us, all of these billboards would come crashing down with their grid structures, even if some of them have roll-up mechanisms to reduce windage, and cause extensive property damage and loss of lives.. Two, the Philippine military does not have amphibious vehicles that can operate in deeply flooded city streets, like the DUKW trucks of the US Army or the Schwimwagen of the German Wehrmacht in World War II. In a Katrina situation, the Philippine military would not be able to rescue survivors, ferry supplies or transport troops or civilians in significant numbers. My Personal New Orleans. During summer break in university in 1957 or 1958, I took the train in Evanston (Illinois) and headed for New Orleans. Why New Orleans? It was and is my conceit that only four American cities are physically unique enough to be interesting: New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and New Orleans. The 15 or so other US cities that I had been to, or subsequently visited, all look alike; some are just bigger than others. It was still Segregation in the South. When the train crossed the Mason-Dixon line somewhere in Missouri, all the blacks in my car stood up and moved to another car, as required by Jim Crow laws. In the city itself, public toilets and even drinking fountains were labeled �For Whites Only.� As an Asian, I was an �honorary white� and no one raised a fuss when I brought my date, a blonde stewardess from the now defunct Eastern Airlines, to dinner at Antoine�s, then the city�s most famous restaurant. If I were black, I would have been refused entry, and would probably have caused a race riot for holding hands with her in public. Such is the legacy of racism that to this day haunts the American psyche, despite 45 years of de-segregation. (And if you�re wondering where the word �Cajun� comes from � �Cajun� is the non-pejorative word for Louisiana sub-culture, especially its cuisine and ethnic music � wonder no more. In the 17th century or thereabouts, when the French in Canada lost to the English, an entire community of French-speakers in the town of Arcadia in Nova Scotia chose to leave Canada and migrate to the then French territory of Louisiana, where they became known as �Arcadians� or �Cajuns� for short. (I have a DVD of infectious Cajun music titled �J�ai ete au bal� [�I was at the ball�]. Cajun music can also be sampled in the 1981 film by Walter Hill, �Southern Comfort,� about National Guardsmen getting lost during maneuvers in the bayous and tangling with the local Cajuns.) New Orleans was certainly interesting because of its many historical sites and unique French heritage, so evident in the architecture of its old French Quarter. And for jazz aficionados, it was a veritable Mecca. But even at that time, New Orleans already had a tired worn-out look that, judging from current TV video-clips, it seems to have kept through all these 50 years, as if it had grown weary of trying to stay alive. ***** Reactions to [email protected] or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �America�s Tsunami� Sir: Typhoon Katrina was a reality check for the whole world. If the U.S.A. wants to be the world's policeman, our protector from the evil forces of terrorism, the images that came out of that tragedy were not very reassuring. Contrary to our idealized concept of what the richest and most powerful nation would look like, we saw images of what looked like Bandar Aceh or Batticaloa. Welcome to the Third World, indeed! What we can learn from this tragedy is that we cannot continue to hope that the U.S.A. will look after our welfare. It is not as invincible as we once thought it to be. We have to make ourselves strong and prosperous because, if we don't, nobody will do it for us. On the other hand, I hope the Americans realize, first hand, the difficulties Third World countries undergo. I hope this will soften our lenders' hearts and lead to some debt relief for impoverished countries like us. For our part, we must show to the world that we are not going to squander lost opportunities again. Juan Deiparine, [email protected] Toril, Davao City, September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Could it be another demonstration of God's wrath akin to "Sodom and Gomorrah" scenario? I can't help but associate it to that biblical event as a form of punishment for their (in)famous "Mardi Gras". By the way, just a minor correction on your affected place in Thailand. I believe it should be Phuket and not Patpong (another "sin" place). Thanks and more power. Jerome Escobedo, [email protected] September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony- Really good piece. Thank you. Gillian Hart, my partner (we have been together for 20 or 22 years now, depending on when you start counting, but have never bothered to get married), who is, as mentioned earlier, Professor of Geography and Chair of Development Studies at UC Berkeley recently wrote, "It's difficult to find words to describe how horrendous this whole thing has been. I wish there were some way that the outpouring of sadness and anger could be channeled into mobilization, organization, imagination and practical action to try to build a different society--including making the connections between US imperialism abroad, brutal racism at home, and welfare for the rich that has undermined public investment and left people to fend for themselves." She has it right . But a correction and footnote on your article. The tsunami in Thailand hit Phuket (on the west coast), but did not quite reach Patpong (the old red-light district of Bangkok)! The footnote: I was in Manila for Yoling, and remember it well. And at least along Pasay Road in Pasay City where we lived, the electricity was out not for 5 days, but for 17 days! David Szanton, [email protected] Durban, South Africa, September 06, 2005 MY REPLY. Thank you and the others who corrected me that it was not Patpong, but Phuket, that was leveled by the tsunami. Just goes to show that I have never been to Patpong, guys. As for the power outage due to Yoling, David, we were living right next to San Juan de Dios Hospital, so we benefited from the rushed power restoration that was accorded the hospital. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, Phuket, Thailand not Patpong. Patpong is the red light district in Bangkok. Richard Abalos, [email protected] Singapore, September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: Interesting piece, as always. One question, though: Would Philippine society descend into anarchy in the same way that it has in New Orleans? (Referring to rogue gangs shooting indiscriminately and causing mayhem) I think not. To quote Sajeewa Chinthaka (from Reuters news agency): "I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami, our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering. Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S., we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is." Though I agree that Metro Manila would have a difficult time coping with the effects of a super typhoon, I do not think Manile�os would loot from the neighborhood sari-sari store, nor would they shoot at those who were conducting rescue operations. Frederick F. Calope, [email protected] Cleveland, Ohio, September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The US Army Corp of Engineers already saw the problem a long time ago and submitted a report to upgrade the levee along the Mississippi River. They already foresaw the catastrophic effect. The Louisiana politicians wrote and submitted a State project to upgrade the banks of the river�s weak spots but made the project "less priority," so it never took off. Budgets were funneled to higher priority projects. Construction never started. Another catastrophic effect of brilliant political decision by the State of Louisiana itself. Now US Federal budget will get hit and insurance companies will keep premium and fees higher to recover from losses. Since the State of Louisiana has many depressed areas, how come the US government kept their factories heading to India and China. They should have encouraged the manufacturing sector to build factories in this part of the USA to provide jobs to the poor black community of New Orleans. I was in New Orleans many times to attend conventions and conferences. The tourist place - Bourbon street in New Orleans - reminds me of our previous Mabini St (Manila) or Olongapo. Their pubs and bars are open 24 hours and the main revenue-earner for the city of New Orleans. Nonoy Ramos,[email protected] September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Yes, Tony, my wife Chita and I took a weekend escapade in October 2004 for a glimpse of New Orleans. We came in just when a hurricane (typhoon sa atin) was just leaving. But the following day after our arrival the sun was out, and it was a Saturday, so off we went to sample some Cajun dishes and join the Saturday evening festivities (wild talaga) walking up and down Bourbon Street. One can drink in and out of the lounges and bars and for some reason second story restaurants with their French balconies had patrons - obviously drunk - tossing beads to anyone on the street. Chita caught a couple as we walked on the street which was closed to vehicular traffic at that hour of the evening. In fact I shot footage of this trip and have converted it to a CD. We rode the streetcar much like the one I rode in to Ateneo Grade School in Intramuros back in 1940. Remember it was run by the Meralco and I got it at San Rafael by Legarda up to the Manila Cathedral where I hiked on top of the Muralla to Ateneo. I was able to shoot passing shots from the moving streetcar catching the beautiful houses and Tulane university campus in the process. Of course we took a short cruise around the Mississippi on the last day of our weekend break and visited the casino late afternoon. I know that this footage can very well be the last good picture of the now drowned jazz place where Louis Armstrong was born. Tony Joaquin, [email protected] Daly City, California, September 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You wrote: �The World Respnds. One of the first countries to respond to the disaster was Australia, which pledged $7.6 million in aid. Impoverished Sri Lanka, still recovering from the December tsunami, donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross. Even war-torn Afghanistan gave $1 million. The filthy rich but kuripot Japanese pledged a piddling $300,000. The Americans should tell them to just shove it.� As a Japanese taxpayer, I wish to express my indignation over this insensitive comment of yours, for our government gives contributions to even the Philippines that your president squanders from money we pay literally with our sweat and blood. You should do more research if I were you. FYI, the US Embassy has released this statement that you must have missed to disprove your contention, and that, in fact, Japan has given more than what you have mentioned in your article. And I bet you have not heard also of the amount of money Japan has been contributing to US wars on terrorism even when we have to tighten belts to do it. It is not being kuripot (your derogatory word) but common sense, not yabang that your mayabang president is only good at! PRESS RELEASE Embassy Expresses Appreciation for Japanese Aid to Hurricane Katrina Victims September 2, 2005 The Embassy of the United States in Japan expresses its sincere appreciation for the generous donation announced today by the Government of Japan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Japan's donation of US$200,000 through the American Red Cross, as well as its offer of much-needed tents, blankets and power generators amounting to US$300,000, will be invaluable as disaster assistance teams work to save lives and relief organizations begin to rebuild communities after what President Bush has called "one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history." For those private citizens wishing to assist the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, we recommend visiting the American Red Cross Web site at www.redcross.org in order to make a cash donation. Please note that the U.S. Embassy and its Consulates cannot receive any donations on behalf of this relief effort. Yuko Takei, [email protected] Tokyo, Japan, September 06, 2005 A Japanese taxpayer whose tax payments are being used for ODA to the Philippines, USA, etc wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Very nice article :) Enjoyed reading it. Teresa Taningco, [email protected] Santa Monica, California, September 07, 2005 Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I remember distinctly Yoling hit on November 19, 1970. It knocked down all those tall aluminum (?) posts of Meralco. When the Pope Paul VI came in December, we still had no electricity in our part of Makati. That is why I missed seeing on TV that karate chop President Marcos applied on the would-be assassin of the Pope. You must have been out of the country when another big howler hit Metro Manila, May 28, 1960. Unlike Yoling, that one flooded a great part of Metro Manila. Residents of Marikina were shown in The Manila Times waiting to be rescued from the windows of the second floor of their house. The devastation it wrought was so great that some movie producers made a movie, 28 de Mayo, that revolved around the miseries it brought upon many families. But the suffering of the New Orleans residents is nothing compared to the suffering of the people of many towns of Pampanga. My hometown of Minalin was featured on the front page of the Inquirer two weeks ago when townsfolk fried 4,000 eggs in the patio of the centuries-old church to celebrate the revival of its main industry, poultry, which was wiped out by the ashful and the flood the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo 14 years ago caused. Ancestral homes in Bacolor built in the late decades of the 19th Century are abandoned because they are half buried in mud. Those who could afford have settled somewhere else, those who could not, make do with what there is, like attend services in the half buried San Guillermo Church. Oscar Lagman. [email protected] September 07, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, The Americans will pull out of this tragedy. And they will come out the better for it, because they will learn where they went wrong and make sure mistakes won't be repeated. They are a country of great resiliency and substance and they know how to fix what is broke. Five or ten years from now, people who will visit New Orleans will marvel at how it rose, Phoenix-like, from its present miserable state. If I had any dollars of any consequence, heck, I would invest my money buying real estate in New Orleans. It must be cheap now, and values should shoot up in a few years. Just as New York property dove, and then rose, after 9/11. How I wish I could be as optimistic about my own country! The only setback for America that I see from this calamity is that its image as a superpower has been slightly tarnished. George W. Bush' conceit of taking on wars in several fronts (Iraq, Afghanistan, the world-wide war on terror), suddenly looks even more foolhardy in the face of vulnerabilities at home. The French and the Germans, while perhaps not gloating, must somehow feel some vindication for their opposition to the war in Iraq. Carl Cid S.M. Inting, [email protected] Cebu City, September 07, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I never knew of the two TNT doctors! But should I still be surprised? Tony: Re the impeachment Danding�s two sons were not there for the vote. Neither was Imee Marcos. Also sadly lacking were the supposed ERAP Congressmen. So don't be surprised if ERAP's case drags or is finally dropped. And Macoy gets full honors at the Libingan! JayJay Calero, [email protected] September 07, 2005 MY REPLY. The two TNTs were not doctors but military personnel assigned with the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti. No wonder the Americans did not accept GMA�s offer of 10 (or is it 25?) �humanitarian workers� for the hurricane victims in New Orleans. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww RE:Cajun After the defeat of the French by the English in the Plains of Abraham, near Montreal, during the "French and Indian War" as was known in North America or Seven Years War in Europe, the poor French farmers and peasants were left behind or abandoned by the French Army . The war settled the issue giving the English supremacy in North America taking sole possession of Canada. The remaining French settlers were under constant threat and abuse while trying to maintain their language, culture and life-style. In the West, the French-speaking Metis Indians put up resistance under their charismatic leader Louis Riel. But when he was finally captured by the RCMP, he was hanged shouting the name Manitoya, the name he wanted the country for his people to what is now the province of Manitoba In the east, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the war took its toll on French- speaking Acadians (Acajuns?) who were herded like cattle by the victorious English and transported to Louisiana which was then a colony of France. The plight of the hapless Acadians is best illustrated in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline", the story of an Acadian woman who after a long travel almost lost hope of trying to be reunited with her loved one, Gabriel, only to find him among the sick in the refugee camp. Is this an ethnic cleansing solution or plain and simple land grabbing? Jose Sison Luzadas, [email protected] Delray Beach, Florida, September 07, 2005 MY REPLY. Probably a little of both. Thank you for setting the historical facts straight on the Acadians or Cajuns. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww irene sagrado tabada <[email protected]> wrote: Coincidence??? ACT OF GOD DESTROYS NEW ORLEANS DAYS BEFORE "SOUTHERN DECADENCE" PHILADELPHIA - Just days before "Southern Decadence", an annual homosexual celebration attracting tens of thousands of people to the French Quarters section of New Orleans, an act of God destroys the city. "Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars. Last year, a local pastor sent video footage of sex acts being performed in front of police to the mayor, city council, and the media. City officials simply ignored the footage and continued to welcome and praise the weeklong celebration as being an "exciting event". However, Hurricane Katrina has put an end to the annual celebration of sin. On the official "Southern Decade nce" website (www.SouthernDecadence.com), it states that the annual event brought in "125,000 revelers" to New Orleans last year, increasing by thousands each year, and up from "over 50,000 revelers" in 1997. This year's 34th annual "Southern Decadence" was set for Wednesday, August 31, 2005 through Monday, September 5, 2005, but due to massive flooding and the damage left by the hurricane, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has ordered everyone to evacuate the city. The past three mayors of New Orleans, including Sidney Bartholomew, Marc H. Morial, and C. Ray Nagin, issued official proclamations welcoming visitors to "Southern Decadence". Additionally, New Orleans City Council made other proclamations recognizing the annual homosexual celebration. "Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence', New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same," he continued. New Orleans is also known for its Mardi Gras parties where thousands of drunken men revel in the streets to exchange plastic jewelry for drunken women to expose their breasts. This annual event sparked the creation of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series. "Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said. "May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded. "[God] sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust". Matthew 5:45) Link to press release: http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html Ramon del Gallego, [email protected] September 20, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |