Ethnic voices from the hurricane

By Sandip Roy, Pacific News Service

SAN FRANCISCO - Ever since Katrina broke over the Gulf states, ethnic media have been covering the stories of their communities as they grappled with the aftermath.

Here is a sampling of the stories and voices from the hurricane and the ordinary men and women whose lives were upturned in an extraordinary week.
   Korea Daily and Korea Times
Young Duk Kim had lived in New Orleans for 13 years. He evacuated to Alabama prior to Katrina’s arrival, leaving behind his convenience store where, he says, his African American neighbors had entrusted him with safekeeping more than $12,000 dollars in cash. Kim, who returned to his store on Sept. 6 to survey the damage, was elated to discover that none of the cash had been stolen.
    “I am so thankful to have been trusted in that way by my neighbors,” said Kim, who immediately headed to the Convention Center, where he says he was able to find his neighbors and return the cash, along with a few cigarettes.
    Sing Tao Daily
Chen Jiachun, chair of the Chinese Student Association at the University of New Orleans, said he had not contemplated leaving his school when he first heard that the hurricane was coming.
    But after Katrina hit, despite the fact that the university was on higher ground than the rest of the city, he had no way of getting out. According to Chen, most of the 100 Chinese international students at the university had evacuated before the hurricane’s arrival.
    When the levees broke and flooded the city, the school lost electricity and cell phone signal. Chen lost contact with the outside world. Aside from listening to the radio, Chen said he got bits and pieces of news about the hurricane from a classmate.
    Chen finally left the school on Sept. 2, arriving in Houston on the evening of Sept. 3 with six of his classmates. Chen is now living in an apartment in Houston. He and his New Orleans classmates may transfer their credits from the University of New Orleans and take classes at Louisiana University or other universities.
    NNPA (BlackPressUSA)
Dorothy Cloud fears that Hurricane Katrina and the attendant flooding may have destroyed her home and belongings - but she counts herself among the fortunate ones. She got out and is staying with her daughter’s family in Houston.
    “I could be there on the expressway. I could be in the Superdome. I could be at the convention center. I could have dead bodies in front of me.
    “We’re just blessed that my family got out and had somewhere to go,” said Cloud, who arrived at her daughter’s three bedrooms with 20 other relatives. Now she says she cannot sleep, and spends most of her time watching the news on television.
    Cloud saw on television the Six Flags theme park, just a short walk from her home, engulfed in water. She says she is living one day at a time. “God is good and He is the maker of my tomorrows. But it’s like: Where is tomorrow? If I feel like this and I’m in a house with a roof over my head, you can imagine what they feel like out on I-10 in Louisiana.”
    Hindustan Times
Indians fleeing New Orleans worry about the fate of the Sri Venkata Satyanaryana temple, which has served Hindus in New Orleans since 1994. Priests Thangam Bhattar and Srinivas Lanka have taken shelter with friends in Baton Rouge. “No one is at the temple now. I am told it is in 10 to 11 feet of water. Rest I do not know. I hope the deities are safe,” said Bhattar who has been with the temple since its inception.
    New Orleans was home to around 5,000-6,000 Indians. Bhattar said every Indian family he knows has left the city, often moving in with other Indians, even ones they do not personally know, in cities like Baton Rouge and Houston. Bhattar left everything behind but brought a brass idol from the temple with him. He is still conducting his daily prayers from his temporary home in Baton Rouge.
   Rumbo
When DJ Elvin “The Hurricane” goes on air, the telephone lines immediately light up, reports the Spanish language daily Rumbo, in Houston. Calls come in from all over Latin America and the United States. People are looking for their loved ones, and they know “The Hurricane” may be able to help. On air 24- hours a day, the DJ and two other station managers have been connecting thousands of Latinos from New Orleans with family members in the United States and abroad.
    Tropical 1450-AM is the only Spanish-language station to have survived Katrina and to continue broadcasting since the Hurricane struck last week. “They are announcing in Honduras the names and messages of Hondurans who lived in New Orleans through us,” said Ernesto Schweikert, the Guatemalan station manager who, along with his two colleagues, now lives at the station home since his New Orleans home was destroyed.
    Every morning at dawn Schweikert goes out and gathers newspapers and any relevant information and then translates everything into Spanish.
    The three men broadcast from their New Orleans station until hours before Katrina struck, urging everyone in Spanish who was listening to evacuate the city.