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Ethnic Media Keep a Worried Eye on Katrina's Wake

Ethnic news organizations are closely monitoring Hurricane Katrina's devastating effects on their communities just as various community groups are trying to provide aid to their affected members

By Rene Ciria-Cruz, Pacific News Service

SAN FRANCISCO--Black, Hispanic and Asian media are nervously tracking hurricane Katrina's impact on their respective communities and raising funds for the victims of the disaster. Not surprisingly, African American media are most bitter about what they see as the federal government's environmental negligence and half-hearted response to the emergency.

"I am angry because they were warned last November that New Orleans was one of the disasters waiting to happen," writes George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUsa.com.

Curry cites a National Hazards Observer article, "What If Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?" written by Shirley Laska of the Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology at the University of New Orleans.

Laska had warned of the consequences of a direct hit by hurricane. She wrote about the likelihood of a storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, failing levees letting in floodwaters and the thousands of residents who would not or could not leave before the storm and would have to be evacuated.

"Those that dismiss environmentalists as kooks should pay special attention to the observation about marshes," rails Curry, referring to Laska's warning. Laska had noted that "loss of the coastal marshes that dampened earlier storm surges puts the city at increasing risk to hurricanes." She had warned that 80 years of river leveeing, marsh excavation linked to oil and gas exploration and transportation canals for the petrochemical industry "have threatened marsh integrity."

Even before Katrina, the soil, air and water in areas heavily populated by African Americans had been seriously tainted by oil and petrochemical byproducts, reports BET's Mary M. Chapman, citing renowned environmental expert Robert Bullard, author of "Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality."

Bullard criticizes southern states for environmental racism, using "look the other way" environmental policies and giveaway tax breaks. Chapman reported that many residents trapped in New Orleans held service jobs and had little means to leave the city and stay in hotels.

Hispanics and Asians are among the thousands displaced by Katrina. The Spanish-language daily La Opinion reports that an estimated 40,000 Hispanics in the New Orleans area were directly affected by the hurricane. Up to 150,000 Hondurans live in the area, making it the country's largest Honduran community, along with more than 100,000 Mexican Hispanics. The Honduran consulate has moved its offices to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and has been inundated with phone calls.

Latino organizations are trying to get aid to Katrina's Hispanic victims, says the Chicago daily La Raza, using a Spanish EFE wire report. The Red Cross has bilingual volunteers in all its refugee camps and a Spanish telephone line to receive donations from the Latino community. The Washington, D.C.-based National Council of La Raza, is reaching out to organizations in displaced Hispanic residents, especially the undocumented immigrants who may be afraid to seek help, with information about services available to them. The Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) is preparing to receive thousands of victims.

Some 300 Koreans living in New Orleans have evacuated to Baton Rouge and Houston where they are being lodged in Korean churches or in the homes of Korean hosts, report the Korea Times and the Korea Daily. Others fled as far as Philadelphia. An official from the Korean Council of Houston said there were many Koreans in Biloxi, where more than 30 deaths have been reported. The majority of Koreans living in the Gulf region as small-business owners and many fear not only the loss of their homes, but also their livelihoods.

Dozens of Vietnamese are still stranded in a small town near New Orleans called Versailles, where more than 10,000 Vietnamese settled after the Vietnam war, report the Saigon Broadcasting Television Network and the Vietnamese Calitoday. Many of the stranded are senior citizens who don't have relatives to help them. The refugees are among those who took shelter in the Lavang church of Father Vien The Nguyen.

Responding to reports published in New California Media's website, reader Hung Nguyen blogs that "300 Vietnamese people stranded in sewage water" are gathered and waiting for help at the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church at 5069 Willowbrook Drive in New Orleans.

Most of the Vietnamese in Biloxi and Gulfport have been evacuated to Alabama and Atlanta. In Houston, the population of Da Minh Convent, in just a few day increased more than threefold, reports the Nguoi Viet newspaper. The convent, which housed 50 nuns, received more than 100 refugees and "more are coming."

Sister Hang Pham said, "The first few days, Vietnamese arrived to Houston not knowing where to stay. Some were sleeping in their cars and others sleeping on the sidewalks. So we, along with other organizations, offered some to come to our convent," she laughed. "But don't worry, we are not asking them to convert!" she told the Nguoi Viet reporter.

"The slow progress in rescuing Katrina's victims is caused by more than federal and local government's lack of preparedness," writes the Chinese-language Singtao Daily's editor-in-chief Joseph Leung.

"In the worst-hit area of New Orleans, 70 percent of the residents are black. Officials did not respond with more sensitivity because most of the people who stayed were poor blacks, who did not have the resources to leave their home." Singtao Daily has pledged $100,000 for the hurricane's victims and so far has raised $3,000 from readers.

Houston's Chinese community groups are housing Chinese immigrants and students, reports the Chinese-language daily The World Journal. Lee Chuling of the Houston Chinese Overseas Center says housing with host families is being arranged for several hundred Chinese immigrants and students who live in New Orleans.

The World Journal has set up a relief fund. Lee Hohuai, director of World Journal's North American Division, says "the amount of donation is not important; it is important for Asian Americans to respond immediately to what's happening in mainstream society."

Rene Ciria-Cruz is a PNS editor. Kevin Weston, Andrew Lam, Eugenia Chien and Daffodil Altan contributed to this report.