My name is Ibrahim,
and this is my fourth blog assignment which asks me to summarize my findings on
the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Money was
played as an important role during the Hurricane Katrina. Some as such people that would know this would be from the Lower
Ninth Ward of New Orleans. As they were deficient in cash, a circumstance
was made where the people there had no
helpful transportation or resources as they were trying to survive. Meanwhile,
some middle-class people in New Orleans like the Zeitouns had to face difficult
choices also, such as whether holding their family business down during the
storm or to evacuate, leaving their
wealth, business and home. As victims of
Hurricane Katrina were facing a difficult time and choice, the United States
government who actually had money, chose to delay the aid that was supposed to
be given to Katrina victim. In the way these examples are given, I feel that
money truly was an important role during the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina
and that it could have changed the disaster in many ways. In this essay, I will
show how each of these groups confronted a different kind of Hurricane due to
the power money had in their capability to make certain kinds of decisions.
The
Zeitouns, from the book Zeitoun by
Dave Eggers, had a interesting experience of Hurricane Katrina because they had
to choose if they should leave all their belongings in the Hurricane or to
evacuate and save themselves. For example, Zeitoun's wife Kathy, thought mostly
of her family than their business and evacuated. On the other hand, Zeitoun
also thought of his family but didn't want to see his family business and
possession's be destroyed in the storm. As Kathy thought for her husband's
welfare if he stayed she realized "Their business wasn't a simple
one" (Eggers 50). They're business consisted of more responsibilities and
was liable for other homes. In the end Kathy decides to leave her husband
behind to take care of their business.
People in
the Lower 9th Ward however, had to face even difficult terms than the
middle-class people such as the Zeitoun's. Generally because many did not have
access to money. For them, their choices were based around if the government
will aid them in to evacuating or giving them supplies because most of the
people there relied on public transportation and the governments help. Houses
and buildings "ripped" from their foundations were scattered (Landphair).
Due to the hurricane, many died and almost all of them lost everything they had
in the 9th Ward.
As for the
Government and FEMA, it was basically their job to protect from and resolve any
kind of natural disasters. Ironically, FEMA
send away people from aiding the victims of the storm by
"gunpoint"(Cohen). This makes you wonder if the Government is there
to really help or to make matters worse.
Bibliography
Cohen, Mitchel. "Government Denied Water to New Orleans
Residents During Katrina, Relief Workers Say." Government Denied Water
to New Orleans Residents During Katrina, Relief Workers Say. N.p., n.d.
Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6929.cfm>.
Landphair, Juliette. "€œThe
Forgotten People of New Orleans€: Community, Vulnerability, and the Lower
Ninth Ward." "“The
Forgotten People of New Orleansâ€: Community,
Vulnerability, and the Lower Ninth Ward," by Juliette Landphair,
Journal of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/katrina/Landphair.html>.
Eggers,Dave. Zeitoun. New York: Vintage Books,2009. Print.
