ELIZABETH SMITH
Assistant Director of Student Journalism
Frustrated and surprised.
Since my arrival Saturday morning in Montgomery, Ala., to help with the American Red Cross’ work with the Hurricane Katrina disaster, I have been frustrated and surprised.
Soon after I began my work with the Red Cross Public Affairs team, housed in an old Kmart building, I realized the fallout from Katrina has been unlike any the Red Cross has ever handled. The uncertainty about how to deal with a disaster of this magnitude means there are no rules, only uncharted territory that everyone is trying discern.
We all know the story. The widespread destruction has wiped out complete towns, many of which were already economically hanging by a thread. The rural and remote nature of many of the affected areas has made providing relief a challenge and, in many cases, dangerous. The thousands of people who need assistance are overwhelming, and it seems that the lines of people waiting for aid and the phone calls from those who are stranded never wanes.
I figured my mission with public affairs would be to help the media get the right information about Red Cross assistance and assist with general Katrina relief. I was right, and I was wrong.
Much of my day has been spent talking with individual hurricane survivors who are waiting for help but have received none. “Where are you guys?” they ask.
I am frustrated by the fact that, however much assistance is being distributed, it never seems to be enough. The Red Cross has nearly 1,000 shelters in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and still people call about not having anywhere to turn for help.
I am disheartened and saddened by the uncertain nature of the long-term plans for assistance when volunteers leave and news teams move on to other stories.
And yet, there is an ever-present sense of hope.
I am surprised, even overwhelmed by the 4,000 volunteers I have seen pass through Montgomery headquarters, headed off to help in shelters and with food distribution units. Many volunteers are sleeping on cots and floors anxious to get their hands dirty and provide some help to the desperate faces we have seen splashed across our televisions and walk through our doors. I am surprised by the kind spirits of the volunteers and staff who seem as excited to meet each other as they are to be a part of the Red Cross.
I recently met Chris Silva, a young journalist from Washington, D.C., who took time off work because he wanted to “just help out.” While staying in a staff shelter in Montgomery, awaiting his deployment to Gulf Port, Miss., he helped resuscitate an older volunteer who had passed out in the staff shelter in Montgomery during the night from respiratory problems. Chris spent the whole night with the older man and since then has kept in contact with the older man who is recovering at home.
I am reminded of Ellen Scarborough, an 80-year-old former newspaper editor from Charlotte, N.C., who has volunteered with the Red Cross since 1991 and has helped out with more than 38 disasters. Ellen arrived in Montgomery the day before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and she ran the public affairs desk alone for five days.
I am in awe of the positive attitudes of so many survivors I have met in and around Montgomery. Despite their dire circumstances, they still take the time to inquire about my “foreign accent” and offer a joke or two about being from Los Angeles.
I could have never imagined the vast supply of food, clothing and medication that I have seen pass through Montgomery on its way to shelters.
But the frustration persists, and the calls for help do not end.
I am leaving for Gulf Port, Miss., today, and I have been warned the conditions are “intense and terrible.” With no extra food and water, stores are barely functioning and the daily lines of people waiting for money and food from the Red Cross increase every day.
I am frustrated that, despite my long hours working with the media, I cannot do more, and I am sure most people share this sentiment.
I will return to Los Angeles and my safe environment Sunday morning, but the experiences I have had will never leave me, and I am sure I will continue to be surprised and frustrated.
09-15-2005