CK Link - Theatre of Dreams for Calvin

First encounter with hurricane in the US

Katrina, or Hurricane Katrina is the name you will hear over and over from FOX news, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc...whatever network/channel you tune to for an American TV now. That was my first encounter with a hurricane in the US territory. It did not strike us but it created such a disaster in New Orleans and the coastal areas of the State of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana here.

Before the landfall of Katrina, there were a lot of warnings from the officials and I recalled the nights before when I was watching TV and having a strange feeling about it - knowing that something bad is going to come, and hoping that people will evacuate and not creating much of a problem. However, of course now it proved that it is not the case. Thousands lost their home, houses, cars, pets and even family members were lost (missing or passed away); food, fresh water and medical supplies are lacking; tens of thousands of homeless people are either trapped or awaiting for rescuees, dead bodies floating in the flooded regions, etc...What is even worst, there are people looting and shooting evacuees from hospitals where electricity ran out and lives of patients are in alert mode. Many more are breaking into groceries, computer shops, even gun stores! As one CNN anchor rejectedly accepted the term - refugee, it does happen in the world's greatest power - United States of America! It does create a shocking feeling to me, really striking, and how come these things could happen...

I live on an Island in the city of Tampa, which is also categorized in Zone A, meaning first class evacuation in case of direct hurricane hits. I can imagine how the normally so low water level would rise up and litterally destroy an entire city. It seems that Flordia is kind of "far" from Louisian or Mississippi; however, we can certainly feel the impact from the media, and even from our oil price for car fuels, not to mention the expected increasing prices of consumer goods, etc...BUT I deeply feel the sense of emergency and toughness in the whole recovering project and rescue mission. I hope we could do something to help; if you would like to do something, visit Red Cross or other charity organizations:
http://www.redcross.org/

posted by CalvinCK @ 8:29 PM