California wildfire response mocks Katrina survivors
*This post is a draft of an op-ed piece I am submitting for class.*
Since Sunday, the nation’s attention has been focused on the wildfires encroaching upon Southern California. More than a quarter of a million acres have burned, and almost a million residents have evacuated. Today, President Bush sent a message to let residents of Southern California know that “Americans all across this land care deeply about them. We're concerned about their safety. We're concerned about their property."
Yesterday, Bush declared a federal emergency for seven California counties, and has already made plans to visit the area Thursday. Washington has also contributed 32 firefighting crews and dozens of fire engines from the Agriculture Department, in addition to 25,000 cots and 280,000 bottles of water. More than 100 workers from t he Federal Emergency Management Agency are in San Diego County alone.
The Bush administration’s response to natural disaster shows a marked change from its reaction to Hurricane Katrina two years ago. In comparison to the wildfires’ current death toll of fewer than 10, more than 1,800 people died as a result of the hurricane and its aftereffects.
After Katrina, relief personnel didn’t reach the disaster’s epicenter, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, until days afterward. Broken levees in New Orleans led to flooding in most of the city and in surrounding parishes for weeks. Survivors struggled to find food and water. Those survivors who found shelter in New Orleans’ Superdome were subject to unsanitary conditions, insufficient food and medications and possibly even sexual assault.
Today, areas hit by Katrina still have not recovered. One-third of New Orleans’ population has not yet returned to the area, either because they have begun new lives elsewhere, or because they cannot afford to return. Schools, homes and businesses have not yet been rebuilt, leading to dying neighborhoods and communities, a concern exacerbated by unemployment rates.
Survivors who have turned to FEMA for assistance are still living in trailers, two years later. In contrast, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has promised that housing authorities will work with displaced California residents to provide housing—there will be no Hurricane Katrina-style trailers for wildfire evacuees.
What message does this lack of aid in for Katrina victims, especially in light of the rapid response to California wildfires, send to the hurricane survivors? Bush might as well say, “Americans don’t care about you. We don’t care about your safety, and we certainly don’t care about your property or your livelihood.” In his silence and with his inaction for further support for those still affected by Hurricane Katrina, Bush may as well shout that message on national television.
What has prompted such a strong response to the wildfires? President Bush didn’t seem nearly as concerned about the people affected by Katrina, and he certainly didn’t make many proactive efforts before the hurricane destroyed everything in its wake. In fact, he barely surveyed the area from the air days after the fact, on his way back to Washington after a vacation at his ranch.
Part of it has to do with the public outcry after Katrina; the Bush administration and FEMA were widely criticized for their sluggish, inadequate responses to the situation. But I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more to it. California places eleventh in the nation in terms of median household income; Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all rank within the poorest five states. The seven counties declared in a state of emergency all have, at most, one-third of the African-American populations of the states hit by Katrina.
Bush claims he is a Christian, but he seems to have forgotten Christ’s message to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. At the very least, Bush should care for his poor, predominately African-American neighbors in the Gulf Coast as much as he cares for his rich, mostly white neighbors in Southern California. Maybe on his way home from California, Bush should stop by Louisiana and remind himself of that fact.
Since Sunday, the nation’s attention has been focused on the wildfires encroaching upon Southern California. More than a quarter of a million acres have burned, and almost a million residents have evacuated. Today, President Bush sent a message to let residents of Southern California know that “Americans all across this land care deeply about them. We're concerned about their safety. We're concerned about their property."
Yesterday, Bush declared a federal emergency for seven California counties, and has already made plans to visit the area Thursday. Washington has also contributed 32 firefighting crews and dozens of fire engines from the Agriculture Department, in addition to 25,000 cots and 280,000 bottles of water. More than 100 workers from t he Federal Emergency Management Agency are in San Diego County alone.
The Bush administration’s response to natural disaster shows a marked change from its reaction to Hurricane Katrina two years ago. In comparison to the wildfires’ current death toll of fewer than 10, more than 1,800 people died as a result of the hurricane and its aftereffects.
After Katrina, relief personnel didn’t reach the disaster’s epicenter, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, until days afterward. Broken levees in New Orleans led to flooding in most of the city and in surrounding parishes for weeks. Survivors struggled to find food and water. Those survivors who found shelter in New Orleans’ Superdome were subject to unsanitary conditions, insufficient food and medications and possibly even sexual assault.
Today, areas hit by Katrina still have not recovered. One-third of New Orleans’ population has not yet returned to the area, either because they have begun new lives elsewhere, or because they cannot afford to return. Schools, homes and businesses have not yet been rebuilt, leading to dying neighborhoods and communities, a concern exacerbated by unemployment rates.
Survivors who have turned to FEMA for assistance are still living in trailers, two years later. In contrast, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has promised that housing authorities will work with displaced California residents to provide housing—there will be no Hurricane Katrina-style trailers for wildfire evacuees.
What message does this lack of aid in for Katrina victims, especially in light of the rapid response to California wildfires, send to the hurricane survivors? Bush might as well say, “Americans don’t care about you. We don’t care about your safety, and we certainly don’t care about your property or your livelihood.” In his silence and with his inaction for further support for those still affected by Hurricane Katrina, Bush may as well shout that message on national television.
What has prompted such a strong response to the wildfires? President Bush didn’t seem nearly as concerned about the people affected by Katrina, and he certainly didn’t make many proactive efforts before the hurricane destroyed everything in its wake. In fact, he barely surveyed the area from the air days after the fact, on his way back to Washington after a vacation at his ranch.
Part of it has to do with the public outcry after Katrina; the Bush administration and FEMA were widely criticized for their sluggish, inadequate responses to the situation. But I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more to it. California places eleventh in the nation in terms of median household income; Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all rank within the poorest five states. The seven counties declared in a state of emergency all have, at most, one-third of the African-American populations of the states hit by Katrina.
Bush claims he is a Christian, but he seems to have forgotten Christ’s message to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. At the very least, Bush should care for his poor, predominately African-American neighbors in the Gulf Coast as much as he cares for his rich, mostly white neighbors in Southern California. Maybe on his way home from California, Bush should stop by Louisiana and remind himself of that fact.
