Our usually sunny region on Monday got its first taste of real rain in a long time. At press time more was on the way.
The heavy downpours and stormy weather has given many people cause for concern. Many wondered if there would there be flooding on local streets and the Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach and Sunset Beach. Fallen palm fronds lay scattered here and there. Wild surf was predicted and the ocean took on an angry hue, limiting the number of people entering the ocean to a fanatic few.
Weather can be a dangerous thing, even here in Southern California. Other disasters loom on the horizon as people still whisper concerns about “the big one” and the possibility (some say probability) of a major earthquake sometime in the region’s future.
However, the occasional wet weather here seems a far cry from what we have seen in other places around the world where the reality of natural disaster, by comparison, takes on epic proportions. There was Hurricane Katrina, in south Louisiana in 2005. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, which flooded up to 80 percent of the city after its levee system failed. At least 1,836 people lost their lives. It was recorded as the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States. Damage estimates were higher than $100 billion.
At the time, people came out of the shadows to help the people who suffered great loss in the disaster. While there were some looting and disappointing acts related to the emergency situation, for the most part, the disaster brought out the best in many people who tried to help.
That of course was typical of what people in these United States do when something happens on our soil. Despite the sadness such disasters bring, they also tend to generate courage and compassion.
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated much of Haiti. Aftershocks continued to wreak havoc on the island country. It is expected the disaster will leave a death toll of up to 200,000 people as the quake flattened massive areas of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Even before the earthquake, Haiti and its people had already seemed to be living in a hellish environment. It is a country that has never seemed able to sustain stability long enough for prosperity to take root. The cycle of poverty has spun endless since the country’s slave inhabitants overthrew the French and won their independence. The recent earthquake has caused human suffering people who live here only imagine in their nightmares.
The news reports have been gut wrenching. There are tales of so many people crushed in buildings. Even when there are glimmers of hope, they often arrive with despairing side notes. For example, there are victims, many of them children, who have been dug out and pulled from buildings, turned to rubble, only to have arms and other limbs amputated. Gangrene is rampant. Death hovers like a hungry crow. People cry on the streets, begging for any kind of relief. One man’s quote was like a mantra—“We have no food, we have no water, we have no medicine, we have nothing.”
Some people refer to such natural disasters as “acts of God.” I suppose if you must blame someone, God is always an easy target.
Just the same, I have my doubts.
Then there was American TV evangelist Pat Robertson who said “the devastating earthquake in Haiti (happened because of) a pact between the impoverished nation’s founders and the devil.”
Where is his Christian compassion? Once again, I have my doubts.
Despite such statements, it seems the vast majority of people in this and other countries—whether they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim—have felt the pull of compassion for the innocents of Haiti whose suffering has been brought to a head this last week.
Regular politics have been set aside as people like U.S. presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama make a united appeal for help for Haiti.
We can always be cynical about the Hollywood elite, but who can argue with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s announcing last Thursday they would contribute $1 million to Doctors Without Borders to give aid and emergency medical care to the people of Haiti.
There has been what seems to be an unprecedented outpouring of compassion for these suffering people.
The horror has been graphic on our TV screens and in our news reports from paper products to the Internet.
We have even seen those who have tried to turn their head away, being affected and perhaps many of us wonder that if not for some random grace … it could be me …
And so the rains came this week to sunny Southern California. We huddled around space heaters and sipped on chicken soup.
We watched our wide screen TVs and we knew that the world outside our door might be better off if we leave it open once in a while – even if the bell tolls for us as well.
Dennis Kaiser is editor of the Sun Newspapers.
