Twenty Sound Bites Later

You remember the stories. Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the tsunami from the Banda Aceh that rolled through southeast Asia in 2004, the earthquake in Haiti last year, the tornadoes in the Midwest (particularly Joplin, Missouri), the earthquake/tsunami/meltdown in Fukushima, flooding in the northern central states, all this year? They were in the headlines, some spurring massive disaster relief efforts, both private and governmental. What do all of these events have in common other than being horrific natural disasters? They are all old news, long gone from the mental focus of just about everybody in the world except those who have to live in decimated areas that haven’t yet recovered.

Grappling with dire poverty, continued reliance on “temporary housing” (read: tents), cholera and now the potential of hurricanes and heavy rains that should make living in the Port-au-Prince area miserable minus 100, Haiti is so far from recovery that some think such a dream will never happen. Japan is still reeling from the electrical power shortages, the potential of food contaminated with nuclear effluents and massive clean-up efforts that will take years. And even here in the United States, devastated communities are finding their plight takes a back seat to Congressional bickering and a growing selfishness in electoral politics where “take care of your own and don’t worry about anyone else” is the new “deficit responsibility” mantra of terrified people in economically crushing times.

Let’s look at our home-grown, post-natural disaster issues. In Biloxi, Mississippi, they’re just getting around to demolishing the severely damaged Point Cadet fishing pier, and dozens of damaged buildings remain in disrepair well past half a decade after the Katrina disaster. As deficit reduction efforts impair budgets to organizations like the federal AmeriCorps Community Service Program (instrumental in the rebuilding effort and pictured at work above), as new storm predictions threaten new potential devastation to the region, New Orleans has lost over a quarter of its population with abandoned homes still dotting the landscape everywhere. Insurance rates have skyrocketed and healthcare facilities have fallen well-below pre-storm per capita capacity.

In many of our more recent disasters, the clean-up efforts have been less than stellar. Environmental concerns have added entirely new considerations to such tragedies: “In Alabama and Missouri, residents are still digging out from this year’s tragic swarm of tornadoes. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the debris it has picked up in Alabama is enough to cover 172 miles of a 24-foot-wide highway to a depth of six feet, a thoroughfare of detritus that would stretch from New York City to Harrisburg, Pa… So many trees and other vegetative matter have piled up that enormous grinders (brand name: HogZilla) are used to chew the waste into smaller chunks so that it takes up less room in landfills.

“‘Debris is the issue before anything else can be done,’ said Crystal Payton, a spokeswoman in Joplin, Mo., for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates the federal cleanup effort. The monster tornado left about 2.5 million cubic yards of debris in Joplin, she said, and ‘You can’t begin rebuilding, you can’t shift gears into a new phase, until you clean up.’ … In other times, disposing of debris meant piling it up and burning it. Now environmental and health concerns about such pyres mean that much of the mess is sent to landfills, with efforts to separate out the worst of it and recycle when possible. ..

“Debris removal is not ‘a simple matter of having contractors load and haul truckloads of branches to a landfill,’ said Lisa Coghlan, a spokeswoman for the corps in Alabama. Damaged structures must be demolished; cars, trucks, boats and refrigerators must be carted away, along with rotting food and hazardous materials. All the while, workers check for substances like asbestos.

“The Environmental Protection Agency works to ensure that hazardous substances are kept out of landfills. In Joplin alone, as of July 31, the E.P.A. said that its efforts to divert toxic materials from the stream of debris included more than 1,200 cylinders of propane and compressed gas; 3,624 ‘white goods,’ like refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioners, washers and dryers; about 71,000 containers of hazardous materials, from paint cans to 55-gallon drums and larger; 474 batteries; and 24,516 ‘electronic waste’ items, like junked electrical equipment… With so many organizations taking part in the cleanup, things can get complicated.” New York Times, August 4^th. So folks just sit, watch, wait and hope that this time of pain will pass… that their lives can come back someday.

And the government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a particularly intensive storm season this summer/fall with as many as 18 named (severe) tropical storms and three to six hurricanes at category three or higher. Let’s just hope they’re wrong. Let’s also learn how not to forget.

I’m Peter Dekom, and when we stop caring for others in need, there’s not much in it for anyone to care about us should we ever be in need.