Original_To:  @APAG.ADR
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.psycgrad
Date:         Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:37:00 GMT
              <PSYCGRAD@UOTTAWA.BITNET>
From:         NARBYD@SERVAX.BITNET
Subject:      Another report from Dade County on Hurricane damage.

Denise may have forwarded this, or not, but wrote it in response to her
query about the aftermath.

DN

Original message:

Thanks.  You may have some idea what hurricanes (typhoons, in the Pacific) are
all about.  This is my first, and I'm still getting new surprises daily.  The
relief effort is in full swing now, and starting to work effectively.  Things
are going relatively well except for small pockets of really obscene looting.

Looting is dangerous here, though, as many good guys are armed too.  The police
are doing all they can, but as in LA, there are many people left to fend for
themselves.

C-5A Galaxies (VERY BIG AIRPLANES-biggest US plane there is) are arriving at the
rate of about 1-3 an hour, most hours of the day.  The Federal gov't is really
putting on a show.  So far the logistics are very scrambled, but the military
is so big and powerful that even their worst efforts are pretty damn good!

We live under the Opa-Locka airport approach pattern, normally very quiet, but
lately very busy.  A C-5 landing 15 miles away sounds like a normal jet
crashing in your living room!

Civilians are being asked to participate only in organized relief efforts, but
many are still clogging the roads, most with good intentions, some just gawking.
Rumor is that one tour company is running bus tours of the bad areas.  I hope
it's not true.  Many people are trying to cash in, Dade county passed an
emergency ordinance against "gouging"--raising prices to unreasonable levels.
One guy was selling $250 generators for $800 dollars, and still beating his
neighbor by $200/unit.  The bad stories are the exception, though.

The rule is everyone is really pulling together.  News stories are emotion
filled and beautiful. **180,000** people are homeless.  That is more than
many small cities in this country.  Yet, every day, there are interviews
of people standing in the ruins of their own house, saying how they are worried
about their neighbors, and eager to help others.  Many can be found fixing
houses that survived, because their own house is beyond repair.  Very few
people are griping, most are lucky and happy to be alive at all (only 26
known dead to this point).  I saw a man yesterday on TV standing at a
marina, looking out into the harbor.  A nosy reporter asked how his boat
was.  He said "I don't know, it's underwater."  She replied "How about
your home?"  He said "I lived on my boat." Reporter:"what do you have left?"
Man, looking down and taking inventory: "These shoes, these shorts, this
t-shirt.  Oh, and an extra t-shirt." Reporter: "What are you gonna do now?"
Man: "Thank God I survived, and get a bigger boat".  Good spirit.

Supplies are pouring in from all over, and manpower (personpower?) too.  I saw
a police escort bringing in a convoy of Georgia Power service trucks today. We
were headed back North early with a load of stuff in our truck from a friend's
house.  She lived in a 3 floor apartment building on the second floor.  The
third floor is gone, and she got flooded out last night.

I said in an earlier post that much of South Dade is GONE.  I mean GONE.  It
looks like a giant bulldozer shoved it all into one big landfill on the West
side of all the streets.  This was a fairly poor area to begin with, and many
residents are illegals who run from the authorities who go in to help them.
Others are afraid to leave their homes unprotected to go to the relief areas.
It is a shame to see these helpless people reduced to preying on each other.

Many of the houses in that area were two story wood frame houses.  Those are
a rarity in this part of the country for reasons which are now obvious
(obvious by the absence of those same houses now).  Many young families
bought in that area because the less expensive construction allowed them
to afford a nicer, but less sturdy house.  The American dream, and poor
building practices, did them in.  Older, more expensive houses in the same
area are still upright, and in some cases intact.

A local NBC affiliate stayed on the air throughout the storm. At one point,
the National Hurricane Center lost thier RADAR, and this station provided
them with info. Bryan Norcross (remember that name when Brokaw retires) has
been trying for 5 years to get a major local TV station to back him up on a
long term hurricane-preparedness program dissmenated as part of the news.  He
actually moved from Channel 10 to Channel 4 for that reason, and did the thing.
People who followed his advice, even as the hurricane was on top of us,
literally owe their lives to him.  Those who know me know my low opinion of the
media (others might have trouble even imagining it), but there is no way to
even estimate the impact this one man had in saving lives.

That's all I can think of now.

Denise, if this comes back direct to you, please forward it to the list.
I am trying to be a good citizen and keep the outbound mail limited.

 _______________       ____
<                \____/    \  Douglas J. Narby
 \___________   __          \  Psychology Department
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