SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
Sept. 4,2005
 
Katrina and a personal tragedy from New Orleans
 
We think that we are invincible, but when Mother Nature's wrath fall on us, no one is really that invincible. This storm has taught me a lesson - to be humble.
 
SAN-Feature Service : My family and I are safe.  We left our home only 18 hours before the killer hurricane arrived shore .  I am now in Natchez, MS, 180 miles from N.O.  I am amidst very poor Americans in a Red Cross shelter because no hotel or motel could be found within the 250 miles of New Orleans.   
 
I will be driving to Jackson, MS to meet my son, Rashad, who is flying from Yale University, then we will drive to Atlanta, GA.  That will be my temporary  home. 
 
I think I lost my home, which has lot of my memory.  Two of my family cars were lost.  I came out of the house in one cloth.   I am really a sharbohara in true sense of the word.  The house is probably demolished by the storm surge. It seems like I have to restart my life anew . The shelter people gave me a pc and Internet connection so that I can tell my friends that I am safe. 
 
New Orleans was devastated so much that our research facility was destroyed too. The big bridge (6 and a half mile long) connecting New Orleans and my hometown, Slidell was destroyed too.
 
This hurricane is like 100x more than 9-11. About 2-3 million people out of 280 million American (total population) were affected by the hurricane. So life of 1 out of every 140 Americans were affected.
 
I cannot write like as I did before. But eventually I will get back in writing. I will write to you when I will have regular access to PC and the Internet. The shelter people gave me this PC (A rarity!) to communicate with! outside world when they learned that I am a writer.
 
We think that we are invincible, but when Mother Nature's wrath fall on us, no one is really that invincible. This storm has taught me a lesson - to be humble.
 
I worry about the poor people - where will they go. Their livelihood is gone along with their home. I possibly could start a life anew but many of the affected people won't be able to do it. I saw many men, women crying at the shelter because of the un    certainty the storm has brought in the aftermath.
 
I lost 2 of cars, my home, and many valuables which has sentimental value to my family.
 
My seventeen-year old son who just started college at Atlanta told me over the phone that he wanted to visit home during the break but there is no home to come to. I was very moved by his comments.
 
Life is very precarious for about 2.5 million people. Their livelihood is gone. America has to do a lot of rebui! lding from the damage done by hurricane Katrina. It will take years and years. The city of New Orleans is an special place. Tourists used to flock to this town for blues and jazz music. All are gone now. How the folks are going to rebuild towns like Biloxi, Gulfport, Slidell (my hometown), New Orleans, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, etc., that I don't know.
 
I am resolved to start my life one more time. I started it when I got married in 1975. After 30 long years I have to re-start my life. Will be able to do it? It is not a rhetorical question. Yes, I am willing to do it. I have to do it because there is no other alternative.
 
Sincerely,
A H Jaffor Ullah".­- SAN-Feature Service
 
[An American of  Bangladesh origin and a researcher and writer  Dr. A H Jaffor Ullah frequently  contributed  his columns  from New Orleans,USA for the Bangladesh newspapers . He sent this e-mail to Haroon Habib,a journalist ! and writer,  from a Red Cross shelter.]  
 

 

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