Coastline Pilot

2 September 2005

 

Chasing the Muse

Catharine Cooper    

 

The devastation of hurricane Katrina wipes out any other thoughts I might have.  My emotions are at the mercy of photographs that have almost no meaning – the scope of destruction beyond comprehension.  How can I make sense of this tragedy on a bright California day?

 

As I watch the repeated images of water pouring through the broken levees, entire neighborhoods submerged to rooftops, and rampant looting of unprotected stores, I find myself increasingly numb.  The statistics overwhelm:  towns 90% destroyed, 2.3 million people without power, homes simply vanished, oil rigs trapped under bridges or simply missing, interstates broken into jigsaw pieces, boats mingled with shattered remains of homes far the the edge of the shore.  Refineries and shipping shut down.  Casinos - and the blessing of their daily tax revenues to the state coffers -gone.  No water or phone service.  Dead bodies and sewage turning stagnant water, which will not fully receed for months, into a cesspool of disease.

 

The tragedy of the Bluebird slide pales beneath this behemoth.  Not the personal tragedy of the families who were displaced – those are similar, no matter the cause of loss.  But the depth and breadth of this southern nightmare, that have consumed all available services, and still there is not enough help. 

 

The emotional triage is the same – rescue and protection of life and limb, then food and shelter.  Laguna was lucky to have such tremendous resources and reserve.  How do we begin, as a broader community, to comprehend the needs to three state regions devastated beyond what we have born. Even our fire storm and resulting floods are small by comparison.

 

It’s one thing to rescue people from rooftops and submerged homes, but what is going to happen next?  What do you do with entire cities of people who cannot go home?  Not today, or tomorrow.  Not next week, or the week after.  There is speculation that electricity in parts of New Orleans won’t be re-established for 12 weeks.  We heard grossing about inconveniences from the Laguna after only three days. 

 

When my mother lost her home, she had found a replacement, as had other affected families, within a relatively short period of time.  For the most part, residents were able to stay within their community.  Those displaced by this storm are without community – and for some, will be not for weeks or months – but for years.  Where are they to go?  What is to become of the small business owner who cannot operate his shop?  What of the shipping that will not make it either in or out of port?  How will it affect all of us?  Paper products.  Chicken.  Rice. 

 

I had intended a piece on compassion, before the news of Katrina wiped out nearly every news event.  The kind of compassion that takes a heart of cold steel and renders it soft and pliable.  The kind of compassion that transforms a hard line position on a social issue and engenders with new consciousness.

 

And I supposed, down beneath the descriptive words, this is a piece on compassion.  Because certainly, it will require compassion – deep seated unwavering compassion – to come to terms with the long haul which will be required to simply clean up from the storm’s wrath – and deeper still, to go the distance to rebuilding what has been destroyed.

 

Some of the same arguments we’ve heard applied to Laguna Beach will likely surface in response to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  They shouldn’t have built there.  They shouldn’t have built a city below sea level when surrounded by water.  They shouldn’t have built ocean front homes in an area prone to hurricane landfalls.  I.e., They shouldn’t build on hillsides prone to failure.  The fact is, we do and they did.  In the face of that, how do we grant them the same rights and embrace their loss?

 

The value and distribution of resources comes full frontal with this larger than expected event.   With an estimated price tag of $25 billion dollars, I can’t help but wonder, from where these funds are to come.  It is easier to be supportive of those closest to home, but now the question we must all ask ourselves, is how we can again go to our personal wells and come up with a bucket of sustenance for those in greater need.

 

A start would be the Red Cross, which has a link for on-line donations:  http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

The address for the local chapter is :

American Red Cross
Orange County Chapter

601 North Golden Circle Drive


Santa Ana, CA 92705

Phone: 714-481-5300 - Fax: 714-835-1931

 

Catharine Cooper can be reached at ccooper@cooperdesign.net.