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Disasters of our Age
From Fallujah to Greensburg
By Joe Carr
5-12-2007
I spent last Saturday in Greensburg, KS, and I can barely describe the
devastation I saw there. I wish that I could say I've never seen anything
like it, but the destruction and official response was hauntingly similar
to what I witnessed in Palestine and Iraq during my trips there from
2003-2005.
Greensburg is a small central Kansas town of about 1,400 people. A largely
white working class city, the median income is $28,000, leaving almost 20%
of the population under the official poverty line. On Friday, May 4th, a
1.7 mile-wide tornado (possibly the largest ever recorded) destroyed or
damaged 95% of the city, killing 9 people. Most residents lost everything
and have not been able to return.
We called the United Way last week about going down to help, and they told
us that they didn't need any more volunteers and to just send money. Upon
further pressing, they admitted that there was a lot of work to do, but
they didn't have a good system for coordinating volunteers. Other news
sources were saying that National Guard troops had sealed off the city and
no one was being allowed in. We decided to head down there and see for
ourselves.
The checkpoint was much easier to get through than any checkpoint I
experienced in Iraq or Palestine. But it was new for me to be questioned
by armed military personnel in order to enter a US city. The town is very
much under military occupation, armored hummers and trucks patrol the
streets, along with police from all over the state. Indeed, I saw more
police and military vehicles than construction equipment, despite Kansas
having over half its machinery and many of its National Guard troops
deployed to Iraq. You can bet that if there was a social uprising in a US
city, the National Guard would be sent in full force to repress it like we
saw in the 60's and 70's. But when people actually need help, our troops
and equipment are busy terrorizing and destabilizing Iraq.
Entering a Greensburg neighborhood was overwhelming. Absolute destruction
in all directions as far as the eye can see. It brought me right back to
Fallujah, Iraq, which I visited with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in May
of 2005. US Troops destroyed 70% of that city of 150,000. However, I
witnessed more people rebuilding in Fallujah than in Greensburg, despite a
much more serious military occupation and severe restrictions on importing
building materials in Fallujah. There were hardly any Greensburg
homeowners out cleaning up their property, and government agencies seemed
only focused on repairing government buildings or policing the streets.
Though we had trouble getting information or guidance on how to volunteer,
we were followed around by an Overland Park police vehicle for over an
hour. They were quite blatant about it, driving close behind us at every
turn, and slowly following us as we walked. We learned later that there
are ten Lawrence cops in Greensburg who likely recognized us from our
political activity and took the opportunity to try and intimidate us.
Government officials finally addressed the residents of Greensburg at a
large town meeting held last Friday, May 11th, under a large tent on the
edge of town. Citizens were told that they would be fully responsible for
cleaning up their property and hauling away the rubble. Aid will largely
come in the form of 2.785% loans from the Small Business Administration
(SBA), but will be based on the applicant's ability to pay. Citizens will
still be required to pay property tax on their destroyed lot; the city is
only waving the interest and other fees. FEMA is offering a maximum of
$28,200 to eligible residents, and it is clear that much of the poor and
uninsured will largely be left with nothing.
One man I spoke to, an uninsured renter, said he lost everything and is
left only with debt. We passed by a destroyed grocery store, and I asked
him if people had tried to get food in the aftermath of the storm. "I'm
not a looter" he said vehemently. Surprised, I commented that trying to
get food in a time like that is hardly looting. "There wasn't time to get
food", he said, "We had to pull people out of the rubble, and�. I lost a
friend."
We spent a few hours hauling damaged property out of one family's home.
They were actually one of the luckier ones. They lost everything, but had
full-cost insurance and will qualify for an SBA loan. Their roof was
ripped off and most the walls were destroyed. The basement (recently
remodeled for $20,000) was then flooded in the following downpour and now
reeks of mildew. The older couple survived the storm in that basement,
along with four other neighbors who didn't have basements. They'd lived in
the house for 32 years, and were hoping to leave it to their children. As
we hauled out everything from their basement, I imagined trying to clean
everything out my parent's basement and what a project that would be. At
first this family had pretty much decided they would abandon the lot and
live out the rest of their lives else ware, but after the town meeting
they're considering staying.
Stories of determination to return and rebuild were everywhere. Some
people who'd planned to move away before the storm, have now decided that
they're going to band with the rest of the community and help re-create
their city. It reminds me very much of the determination of Iraqi and
Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, also echoed by the
survivors of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans. All of these refugees
have the right to return to their homes, and we will continue working to
make that possible.
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebilius has vowed to make the city a "Green
City", using environmentally friendly building designs, though largely
limited to increased insulation and more efficient heating and cooling
systems. This idea reminds me of the real cause of these national
disasters. Scientists say that the recent intensification of these storms
can be linked to the global climate change caused by excessive CO2
emissions from burning fossil fuels. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were
related to this, as was the recent flooding in Missouri that damaged at
least 570 homes. Unless there is a drastic shift in US environmental and
energy policy, these storms will only get worse.
The official response will continue to be militarization and political
game-playing. Our government's actions in the Middle East make it clear
that their priorities are more death and destruction, not less. The
abandonment and criminalization of Katrina survivors, the attacks on
victims of our immigration policy disaster, and the growing crisis in our
prison-industrial complex remind us that those living on American soil
will also be targets.
It's up to grassroots movements to bring change. We must continue to
resist US war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and US support for
Israeli colonization of Palestine. We must continue to develop models to
support the survivors of environmental policy disasters, such as the
Common Ground collective coordinating relief work in New Orleans.
www.commonground.com
The Kansas Mutual Aid collective based in Lawrence, KS, will be helping
coordinate grassroots relief efforts in Greensburg. Please contact us if
you would like to volunteer, help organize a group of volunteers, or
donate equipment or supplies: kansasmutualaid@hotmail.com
We will be doing a presentation on what we saw in Greensburg and
discussing ways to get involved on Monday, May 21st at 7pm at the
Solidarity Center, 1109 Massachusetts in Lawrence, KS.
Our next big trip will be Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-28th. We have a
school bus for transportation and will arrange for accommodations.
Please get involved now to support your fellow Midwesterners, you never
know when you're going to need it.
In solidarity
-Joe Carr
Kansas Mutual Aid
kansasmutualaid@hotmail.com
www.lawrencesolidarity.org
Feel free to forward and post this widely!
Checkout www.lovinrevolution.org for Joe Carr's other reports, pictures, music
and more.
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