Yesterday, April 19, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked
President Obama to declare a federal emergency in California, where an
Easter Sunday 7.2 earthquake in the Baja area of Mexico has wrought an
estimated $91.3 million in damages stateside.
This figure is sure to climb; furthermore, as of this writing, I've been unable to locate even a back-of-the-envelope estimate of the damages on the Mexican side, where the devastation is widespread and horrific, even as the fatalities are, thankfully, few in number.
Forgive me--I know they've all been busy this month, and I mean no snark here--but where on earth is our media on this?
People are suffering, and aid is desperately needed! According to reader and friend to this blog, Minstrel Boy, who lives in the area, there are more than 50,000 people in Mexicali who are now without homes. Writing at Group News Blog, Minstrel Boy reports:
Aftershocks are close to continuous. We don't even notice most of them. Some of them are downright troubling though.
Food, what we have, is moving well. Special thanks to the Firefighters of Calexico and El Centro. I know that their job description is to be the hero when it's what is called for, but these guys are special. Viva Los Bomberos. [...]
Last night, we had a rain. Nothing horrible. We almost never get that kind of rain. It's a desert after all, but, the rain reminded us all that shelter needs are next on the triage list. In a few short weeks the temperatures here will be topping 100° on a consistent basis. The homeless will need shelter from that I'm searching for things to link, but, I can't find any. We are still mostly the forgotten disaster.
Please help if you can, readers; there has been precious little national media coverage of the disaster, but the need is, nonetheless, real and pressing and staggering in its enormity. Even a little money will go a long way in the hands of The First United Methodist Church of El Centro, who've ramped up their food bank efforts. And of course, the aid of the brave Border Angels is needed more than ever.
For updates, please stay tuned to the Group News Blog, where Minstrel Boy, Maggie Jochild, and other wonderful writers continue in the tradition of fearless truth-telling-in-blogging established by the late Steve Gilliard.
