Friday, February 10, 2006

there is so much more than........

new orleans.
i do feel bad for the folks and the city of new orleans. hey, i'm a mississippi girl and new orleans is mighty close to home. i have family members and friends in that area. BUT, guess what America? Katrina destroyed MUCH MORE than new orleans in terms of geography. the mississippi gulf coast, inland louisiana, inland mississippi, and lower alabama were affected as well. numerous towns on the mississippi gulf coast were completely and utterly destroyed. people are STILL to this day living in tents, travel trailers (and not all of them are FEMA trailers), and with family or friends far from home. our own state senator, trent lott, lost his own home. brett favre's family was severely affected. forgive me for being angry and resentful of the national media for forgetting the other victims of katrina. my heart absolutely breaks at the whole entire situation that was the aftermath of katrina. my heart continues to break to see so much needed attention focused upon new orleans as if there are no others affected. i posted about this before ( the forgotten destruction ), without expressing my strong opinions on the media attention

this link will take you to a site that will show you, literally, the effects of katrina upon the mississippi gulf coast. some of the photo links work, but some don't. please be patient and visit this site: Mississippi Gulf Coast: Before & After Katrina. don't fall into complacency and forget that there is so much more than new orleans in the path of katrina's wrath.

19 comments:

Kara said...

I work for a County that has one of the leading FEMA teams for disaster relief. I attended a briefing they gave after they returned and they too touched on the fact that so many areas other then new orleans were absolutely devastated and how hard it was to wait to get into them because they had to get through the immense amount of destruction just to reach the people. Roads were gone and some places, there was just one road in and one road out and they were trapped. My heart goes out to all effected by this terrible storm. here via michele today

Cool Dad said...

You know, it is just like the national media to spin something its own special way. I remember feeling the same way about the 9-11 bombings. We seem to forget that there were people killed in the Pentagon as well as the Twin Towers. Wonderful post and a great reminder of what we need to do.
Visiting from Michele's and it was a wonderful visit indeed.

kontan said...

here from michele's

I'm a MS longtime visitor, AL girl really...but yes MS is the forgotten destruction.

Malinda777 said...

Here from Michele.

I lived in Bay St. Louis, MS for four years. It's basically gone now. Nice story.

carmilevy said...

Major disasters always seem to bring with them a certain sense of myopia. Media hacks tend to focus on the obvious stories while they ignore everything else.

In this case, that's a huge shame, because the world thinks Katrina = New Orleans and they simply assume that's all there is.

I hope time manages to put it all in its proper perspective - and that it manages to help everyone affected by this tragedy, wherever they may be.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

This is horrendous! Lord..how we have abandoned 'The People'...
Incredible! Thank you sooooo very very much for those links...Most people, like myself? We Don't See These Things and, unfortunatly 'out of sight out of mind' really IS the norm...I'M SORRY TO SAY.....and I'm as guilty as anybody about this...again..I'm sorry to say that, too...So I thank you Jac, for taking the time to make me aware of the STILL on- going devistation in Katrina's Terrifying Wake....

And thanks, also, for the referrel about STAGE...I hope lots of people come because I cannot oversell this evening! It is inspiring and moving and such GREAT GREAT Talent perform...

Anonymous said...

Great to keep the momentum going on the people suffering there... My friend just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro recently to raise awareness for the Pakastan relief effort as well.

Michele sent me today!

Karen said...

Wow, this is amazing and dramatic. I want to spend more time looking at this. Thanks for sharing this link.

Michele sent me!

Lisa said...

wow. Those pictures are astounding. I went through and looked at each before and after, and I found it shocking.

Unknown said...

I think it's unfair to categorize all the media as forgetting the entire gulf coast. I know in my city, people are not only remembering, but sending crews of teens down to help clean out houses. My son will be doing this for a couple of weeks this summer with a Jewish group. And they don't work in New Orleans, but in other areas hard hit by the hurriciane. Just to let you know that not everyone has forgotten.

Michele sent me.

kenju said...

I have not forgotten that, and I get upset when the media only mention NO and mot the rest of the area.

Michele sent me.

jennypenny said...

Wow definitely eye opening. It is so hard not feel completely overwhelmed by the devestation. Michele sent me.

jac said...

thanks for the feedback ya'll. i think margalit made an excellent point, however and i want to be sure to clarify myself... it IS unfair to criticize ALL media as being biased. many local news media outlets have certainly done their part to raise awareness and local groups from across the country are pitching in to help rebuild many of the areas affected by katrina and wilma. in fact several groups here in wisconsin where i currently reside have done quite a great deal of work for katrina relief in mississippi specifically. to those groups i offer my sincere and respectful thanks. i just wish that the national media (which is where my main beef lies) would take a more consistent interest in letting the world at large know about the other areas affected.
local/regional groups only have so large of a reach while national markets can have a more broad-reaching impact.

Dale Challener Roe said...

Thank you for reminding us that there were other victims of Katrina....victims that didn't turn savage on each other when their surroundings were destroyed.

Here via Micheles and because you swung by my site this evening.

Anonymous said...

Ben and I were having a discussion about this very thing the other night.

Thanks for the links!

Zephra said...

You go right on and be angry. It is not right to forget about these people too...

Here from Michele's and I am a Mississippi gal too.

kontan said...

to answer your question . . . just finished my masters at State this past December

my undergrade was in AL (not to be confused with at!) haha

Unknown said...

Here via Michele's.

I think you are right, people are focusing on NO and not the rest of the area.

Anonymous said...

Not just New Orleans but Mississippi and the Gulf Coast got hit hard by Katrina. God bless the people who suffered !