Social Design: Hurricanes

Lately there have been many social issues that require a huge amount of focus in the "social/people induced issues" realm, but as human beings thats something we have the power to control, what we can not control is nature. As I keep skimming the papers and online news outputs the one thing that sticks out to me is all of the Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, within the last 2 weeks we've had Gustav, Hanna, and Ike.  I just can't get beyond all of it and I keep thinking of what I could do as a response, at first for my personal want, even before being presented with the premise of the Social Design class, but now it just makes so much more sense.    Even last Saturday we felt some (VERY mild) effects of Hanna in our area.  Its always odd to have this happen in a place like Maryland.  Yet we've had a few hurricanes hit through the Chesapeake within the last 10 years that caused many problems, even cancelled school, very odd.

But on Saturday after I got home from class my mom's boyfriend told me that Grand Turk had been demolished by Ike.  We had just been there at the end of July and it is just shocking to hear that it's all in disarray.  I checked up on CNN to find articles about it.  Nearly every building on the tiny island sustained damage.  The island is only roughly 6-7 miles long by 2 miles wide.  The storm hit at a category 4 level, sustaining winds up to 135 mph.  Grand Turk relies on tourism as a main source of revenue.  The damages are a huge hit to the economy.  The cruise companies will not be able to enter port for weeks if not months, after the damage has cleared.  Grand Turk is the capital island of Turks and Caicos where many people work for the government or at the resort locations.  The outlying islands were not affected as much, but it's crucial to rebuild quickly to get a money flow back into the economy.  The estimated number of tourists for the cruise industry alone will drop dramatically, loosing a great deal of money on top of the estimated over $10 million.  There are around 3000 people that live on the small island, and 80% of homes were damaged to some extent.  Plus Hanna had also ravaged the island, killing at least 167.  Ike also hit Cuba, caused major flooding through Haiti.  To me it is so surreal that only a short bit ago I was sitting on the beach at the outskirt of the island under a huge palm tree feeling like I was in the one of the most beautiful places in the world.  The island is so small!  It was by chance we went there, we were destined for Tortola, but we would fight the current and use up too much fuel so Grand Turk was an easier route at the last minute.  The island has no outer protection, it actually is home to the largest ocean drop off in the world, only 300 yards out from shore the ocean floor drops from 30 feet to over 7000 feet.  I was never so peaceful and relaxed than laying on the beach or swimming out in the ocean.  There are also beautiful opportunities to see beautiful coral reefs (and with my coral obsession I'm surprised I passed it all up!)  My cousins swam with huge sting rays on the other side of the island as I waded in the ocean.  My aunts and uncles sat at Margaritaville watching crazy contests and drinking insanely overpriced pina coladas ($9.50 for a tiny cup, but it was good!) My mom watched a surf simulator wave thing, and shopped at Ron Jon, one of her favorite places after going to 2 in Florida with me.  I walked into many little shops, and saw a massage hut right at the corner of the island watching out over the ocean.  And to think now that all of that is not the same in such a short time is baffling.  Sure we have political problems, wars, and social misconceptions left and right in this world, but thats controllable (yet we have no good solutions there either) but this is uncontrollable.  Severe weather sets its path, ruins anything in its way, and we're left to pick up the pieces, and it is never easy.

Back in 2004 I personally experienced a hurricane.  We were dropping my boyfriend off for college in Florida, just 20 minutes outside of Cocoa Beach.  We stayed for a week and were about to leave to come home when Hurricane Charley was expected to make landfall right where we were, obviously we didn't want to leave Kyle to fend for himself and rush home to Baltimore, so we were staying.  My parents and rest of his family were scared to death because all over the national news was stating that it was headed straight for us.  The day the hurricane came through was seriously the most beautiful day I've ever seen.  My best friend and I spent the day on the beach until we were sick of the saltwater, then moved to the pool.  We started to play volleyball on the beach and by the time we were through a few games the sky had started turning dark, it was an odd greenish color which later turned to black in a matter of minutes.  The storm had taken a new path and hit land on the other side of, yet it quickly swept through towards Orlando, not far from us.  We had filled the tub with clean water and bought a ton of food.  We were told by the hotel that the town is under evacuation, yet many of the shelters are already full, but we could still be evacuated even further out at any time if the need arose.  My parents kept calling scared to death, but we were ok.  The storm was bad, we held a sheet out on the balcony to watch the wind's strength and direction it whipped around so fast and changed directions violently.  At that point we were joking around and taking pictures, but within an hour we could not even stand outside. In the distances we watched teal blue flashes left and right, all of the transformers blowing out.  The storm was bad, but our hotel was fine.  The next day as the storm calmed we planned to head out, as we drove home we only ran through more and more storms and huge amounts of damage and detours.  We were lucky, but the Category 4 storm horribly damaged other areas.  I kept visiting my boyfriend every few months and 2 other times we'd experienced more hurricane after-affects.  Then a year later as I was down visiting again Hurricane Katrina was pounding New Orleans, I was so shocked and upset.  We just sat silent and watched TV coverage for hours in utter shock.  We went out and grabbed all kinds of newspapers and were just baffled at how horrible the conditions were.  It made what was very scary and threatening to us 1 year before seem like a little rain shower.  Now 3 years later Gustav came through the same areas.  There are new storms brewing, and hurricane season stretches on for months yet to come.  These people need our help immediately, it is one thing that really touches my heart and makes me want to reach out any way I can.  In highschool my best friend and I, along with some others, came up with a way to help with Katrina Aid.  We jumped on the whole "Livestrong" bracelet trend (at the perfect timing, right when they were the HOTTTTTTTTTT thing to have/support)  So we used our school colors and got Katrina bracelets made and sold them at school.  We raised a good bit of money and all felt so great that we had helped in even the smallest way.  We also donated boxes and boxes of food, clothing, and many school supplies and books to help out.  To me doing things rewarding or donating money makes me feel so great, even if it is only $1.  

No matter what people ALWAYS need aid in these situations, I really want to tackle this social issue in some way, not sure yet, but hopefully in a means that I could raise more awareness and possibly money to donate to rebuilding and relief funds to those who really need help.  I've got some easy ideas, maybe not great ones, but I'll iron that out later.  But since Saturday I've immersed myself into hurricane coverage mode.