In the middle of the busiest time of year, the town s 10 packing sheds fell silent. Groves normally alive with laborers, climbing ladders and filling huge boxes, were deserted. Since the freeze, workers have grown increasingly desperate as they ve sought to pay rent and buy food with no paychecks in sight. Nunez is echoed by her neighbor Maria Andiano, who s picked oranges here for eight years. Natural disasters in America nor mally excite broad sympathy.
Officials fly over the devastation in helicopters.
Congress quickly appropriates emergency funds, while federal and state agencies organize food distribution and get paperwork started on loans for rebuilding. But disasters affecting farm workers don t make it so readily onto the radar screen. Two months passed before President Clinton finally declared five San Joaquin counties disaster areas. The Department of Labor is still waiting for the state to tell it how many people need relief. And the protocol for delivering aid will probably disqualify as many as half the people affected before they even get in line.