Disaster is Deep & Humans are Inhumane: After Effects of Disasters Such as Hurricane Katrina
It is important to explore and open people’s eyes to the realities behind disasters. In certain cases natural disasters are not even natural. Learning about Hurricane Katrina and the gas leak in Bhopal is a great way to expose oneself to the bitter realities of disasters. Of course, the disasters themselves are terrible, but the supposed humanity behind them, is perhaps even worse itself.
The book titled Animal’s People by Indra Sinha explores the realities of the effects of the Bhopal gas leak in Khaufpur. An American company with a chemical plant in the Bhopal area was responsible for a disaster that ruined the lives of countless innocents. Throughout the book the narrator exposes people for what they truly are. Animal as he is referred to, claims from the start that he is not human and has no desire to be. He believes that people are not as humane as they claim anyway.
Animal projects the way he feels about those around him and is blunt and honest in doing so. Right off the bat of the story Animal begins the book by dissecting the journalist who approaches him with the idea of writing the book. Automatically, he reveals that all journalist have been the same. People from the outside travel to troubled places such as Bhopal to find a way to profit off the adversity of others, and those suffering do not get anything in return. Because of the poverty in Bhopal hardly anybody was able to receive treatment for the illness the gas leak brought along. The Bhopal disaster actually, relates very well to Hurricane Katrina. Although the similarities may not flare up instantly, they are present.
The gas leak in Bhopal could have been prevented and what many fail to realize is that, Katrina could have been avoided as well. Animal, believes people are inhumane due to past experiences. In the book it is revealed that those responsible for the gas leak never cared enough to even show up to court cases. Nothing was done for the people affected in Bhopal and the people in Katrina can claim the same.
Had the people at the chemical plant been more careful, responsible and especially if they did not exist in the first place, the entire disaster could have been avoided. Due to the disaster many people lost their lives, their loved ones and were burdened with defects that could even be passed down to later generations. Many were affected, very few were helped. People of Bhopal were turned away from clinics and were never compensated for what was done to them.
In the case of Katrina, help was very selective. Katrina was the result of poor construction and judgement. The levees breaking was the reason why Katrina went on to being a bigger disaster than it should have been. It was no coincidence that the levees were in place to protect a lower income area. Many people assume that since Katrina was a hurricane it was natural, but the truth of the matter is that it could have been prevented. Had the engineers responsible cared more and taken precautions, the levees would have been at their best potential and the hurricane would never have gotten as big as it did.
When it came to getting help to those in despair, officials were particular in who made it out. People were not allowed to evacuate across to safer grounds unless they were traveling in a vehicle. That in itself instantly eliminates the chances of most people to evacuate. Basically, if people needed to get to safety, they must have the monetary means necessary. Officials even turned people away and refused to help them. A group of pedestrians had made it to the highway that could serve as there bridge to safety and were denied access to cross. Where is the morality and humanity? How can one human turn another away from their safety? How can the people responsible for the leak in Bhopal just ignore the situation? How can the engineers put at risk the safety of an entire community?
In both cases, Katrina and Bhopal, not much was done to help the people. Instead, in Katrina the government used the disaster to their benefit. Charter schools were instilled and public ones were diminished. Katrina was more than a hurricane, it was a way to wash out the community and build it to the satisfaction of those in charge, giving those affected little to no say. In this way, Katrina also would impact future generations as the gas leak in Bhopal did. Bhopal was simply left alone to whither, no reconstruction was done. The chemical remains of the chemical plant were left untouched and the people unhelped.
It is easy to know that Katrina was big and did major damage, but it is important to go deeper and learn the little stuff. It is important to know that it could have been prevented and racism played a huge role. Victimization was very present, as it was in Bhopal as described by Animal. It is also important to know about Bhopal, that to this very day no justice has been brought to the situation. Do not let disasters only be headlines forgotten in a weak, look deeper because their impacts on society are bigger than imagined.
Sinha, Indra. Animal’s People. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009.
