Natural Disasters Enforce Dehumanization & It’s Not Okay
On September 19, 2017, 1:14 pm, Mexico’s most seismically active regions were hit by a 7.1 earthquake that resulted in 6,000 injuries. The city of Puebla and Prelos had shook for about 20 seconds, but it felt like 20 long minutes. According to CNN’s coverage of the disaster, the epicenter was about 55 km south of Puebla. At least seventy-four people were killed in the state of Morelos, forty-five in Puebla, two hundred twenty in Mexico City, six in Guerrero, and one in the state of Oaxaca. The streets were filled with collapse buildings in Mexico City and had several trapped citizens, creating large clouds of dust and dozens of fires. The towns of Rome, Del Valle, and Condesa were some of the most affected neighborhoods in the area. Most buildings caught on fire and many gas leaks were reported. Mexico’s Stock Exchange had reported a decline in stock prices but immediately recovered before their trading system was temporarily suspended. According to Univision News, a market stall vender named Edith Lopez (age 25) recalled that she was in a taxi when the quake struck. She was eagerly looking for where her children were because she has left them with her disabled mother. Univision also reported that one school south of the capital had reported twenty children dead due to being buried in the rubble caused by the earthquake. At the time the earthquake struck, the Mexico City International Airport had to suspend operations which further delays flights. Coincidentally, this occurred on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which resulted in the killing of ten thousand people.
Similar to the Mexico earthquake, there had been a really big earthquake in the city of Northridge, in the San Fernando Valley, that actually struck home for me. At 4:31 am, there was a 6.7 earthquake that hit on January 17, 1994. This earthquake injured about nine thousand people but only killed around fifty-seven. The estimated cost in damages were up to $20 billion. An academic journal published by Robert Bolin and Lois Stanford for Wiley Online Library reports that this was the most costly disaster in US history. Federal and state assistance programs had received about sixty hundred eighty thousand applications from victims for various forms of relief. In response, the Los Angeles and Ventura counties were each given a loan of eleven thousand dollars. The American Red Cross had opened about forty-five shelters in both counties to help those victims. In fact they actually housed about seven thousand people per night at the height of the crisis. FEMA, or better known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, stated that there are differences in the amounts of federal support for each type of disaster and they ultimately reflect the ability of the state and city political authorities to make triumphant claims about equally allocating resources. Two people close to me actually lived through this natural disaster. My cousin named Jeanette who at the time attended California State University Northridge had actually lived at the epicenter. She had been living in a campus apartment that year that the earthquake struck. She states how she had been living with her roommates, suddenly waking up to a big jolt. Obviously she had not been living with her parents so she was all on her own and had to fend for herself. She said that it felt as if someone has stomped on the ground and just shook the Earth. Her first instinct was to call her parents yet all the signal towers were down. Cell phones weren’t a big uproar back in those times, so whatever communication device would suffice to contact her parents. Her parents had gotten contact with her soon after. It was hard to communicate between the parents and my cousin because of the damage the earthquake caused. In today’s day-in-age, a cell phone is more accessible to an individual. You can imply that a cell phone would get more calling coverage now than it would in 1994. Technology has made huge advancements in their cellular devices. Another person who is really close to me also lived through the Northridge Earthquake, my mom. We can see that this earthquake happened really early in the morning so she had not been awake yet. Her story goes as is: “I had been awoken by the shaking of the room and I could hear the dresser trembling and the jewelry falling to the floor. I had gone to go check on your aunt, but she was still fast asleep. I didn’t know what to do in particular. The only thing I could do was wait.” This shows that family was my mother’s first priority. She cared more about their condition that any other materialistic thing. Looking at this now, my mother still possesses that same urge to care primarily for her family than anything else. Nothing has changed about how my mother has cared for the family, even in tough situations such as natural disasters. She knew that her humanity couldn’t be stripped away even in the most terrible situation. I feel like my mother and my cousin were both very strong people in prospering through this catastrophic event, and I aspire to be as great as them. Both of the emotional responses from my cousin and my mom show how people, even close to me, had this sort of fight-or-flight reaction to an unpredictable situation. They both felt hopeless at times and also felt as if they had been dehumanized and stripped of the help just like how Animal had felt when the Americans visited the disaster zone in Bhopal. However, they both managed to stay strong and sustain their humanity.
I would like to point out a few similarities and differences between the Mexico and Northridge earthquake. First, both of these earthquakes had been helped by FEMA, which created an outlet of help to the victims of the natural disaster. Second, both disasters had emergency rescue teams which increased the rate of survival in the areas. Third, both disasters had organizations, both government and non-government funded, to provide initiatives to help low-income victims. Lastly, both disasters brought on a sense of dehumanization to the victims. On the other hand, we can see a huge difference in how there was more help in the Mexico earthquake than the Northridge earthquake. There was more availability of resources for the people of Mexico due to the improvement of technology. Another difference that can be noted is the Mexico earthquake geographical fault was more deep and concentrated. This allowed for the earthquake to feel stronger than an average one. Both being earthquake disasters, it makes it no different in terms of how one were to cope with a devastating situation like Animal had done in Animal’s People.
These emotional responses are similar to Animal’s People on how a natural disaster affects the people who are victims. Indra Sinha wrote “Animal’s People” to show how a natural disaster can completely dehumanize hard-hit victims, such as “Animal”, the main character in the story. Animal is a seventeen year old boy who had been a victim of the gas tragedy known as the Bhopal Disaster. This event happened between December 2nd and 3rd in 1984. It was gas leak at the Union Carbide India Limited Pesticide Plant in Bhopal, Madhya, Pradesh, India. Animal’s back had been twisted beyond repair due to the chemicals that leaked out of the pesticide plant. He had to result to walking on all fours in order to transport from place to place. He was obviously frustrated that he had been a victim of this tragedy so he set out to speak to town officials to make changes to how these victims were to be help. This didn’t do anything for the people. Days later, a young American doctor by the name of Elli Barber had arrived in Khaufpur to open a free clinic to help these victims, but ended up coming to this place to help and spy and find out why this event took place…without physically helping. Elli Barber found it more difficult than expected to help all these victims. This novel and its instances relate heavily to the Mexico earthquake because they bought brought a sense of dehumanization to the victims who felt hopeless. Like Animal, the first-hand victims had felt like they would never receive the help they needed. Indra Sinha includes one of Animal’s quotes stating, “I used to be human once…I don’t remember it myself” to show how Animal himself “different” due to the after-effects of his disaster. Many people of the Mexico earthquake lose their lives and the lives of their loves one so this must have felt horrifying to feel like something so special and humane had been suddenly taken away from oneself. The Northridge Earthquake also ties in to the novel because it demonstrates how lots of lives are lost if they aren’t helped in a timely manner. To add on to the dehumanization that goes on in disasters, many people are often neglected of their resources. This goes on to show that disasters are used to increase economics and decrease the value of life for the victims. Some victims are able to stay strong enough and sustain their humanity.
In conclusion, all of these natural disasters all relate to how victims become dehumanized and aren’t given the correct help that they need. The ones who are put in a position to help these people should put all of their effort into making sure they receive the supplies and help they deserve. Whether it is an earthquake or a gas leak, people tend to respond the same way in the sense that they do whatever it will take to make sure they are safe. These victims need to stay strong for themselves and believe in their own humanity. On the other hand, the speed at which people are rescued and helped varies among the disaster.
