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  • SUNDAY OCTOBER 16 2005 8:00 AM

A Relief Mission in Pictures

Submitted by Shal

Edited by Shal

We've all read stories of the relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, but many, many other cities were hit just as hard, if not harder.

Suicidegirls.com members Idjiit and Stiles went beyond donating money and sympathy to victims of the hurricane. A few days after the extent of the damage became apparent, Stiles gathered supplies, loaded up a truck trailer, picked up Idjiit, and drove through the Gulf Coast visiting communities destroyed by the hurricane but that weren't receiving the kind of national attention that New Orleans was getting at the time.

The photographic record of their journey tells the story, starting off with almost a "buddy movie" feel. As they get deeper into hurricane-damaged areas, the tone of their comments changes dramatically.

Bayou La Batre, AL - Date: 9/14/2005
When we arrive here at a local EOC, we immediately run into FEMA representatives outside taking a smoke break. They seem a bit weary, and when we ask how things are going one of them says “Good, this is the first day I haven’t had some cuss or spit on me”. These poor guys, taking the brunt of frustrations concerning policies they have nothing to do with. When I ask if I can take their photo, they decline immediately. When we ask about dropping off clothes, they’re the first of many to say that’s the one thing they really don’t need. FEMA’s presence here really just involves getting people registered in their system to handle claims, etc. There isn’t much in regards to “relief” here – that’s the Red Cross’ responsibility, apparently. They say we can take supplies to them, but that the folks down the road in Coden could probably use it more, so we head off.

Biloxi, MS - Date: 9/15/2005
Near a flipped over car, some folks are working on a house that looks pretty intact, considering how close it is to the beach. A sign out front warns “Looter Beware”.

Biloxi, MS - Date: 9/15/2005
Looking across the street, more warnings have been scrawled – “Will Shoot to Kill”.

Gulfport, MS - Date: 9/15/2005
Ed is standing at what looks to be where the water line peaked. It's easily 20-25 feet above where I'm standing.

Pass Christian, MS - Date: 9/16/2005
As we start driving down the road, things get much worse very very quickly. This is easily the worst damage we’ve seen. The buildings are just gone. The only thing left being the scraps of wood spray painted with the address, insurance carrier and name of occupant.



Their week-long trip let them help distribute supplies to people who needed quick relief at the time, but the long-term recovery needs were obvious.

Idjiit, who is a photographer, plans to write a grant application to travel back through those areas and offer to take new family portraits and have them framed for families who lost everything. He closes the travelogue with a few thoughts:

This marked the end of our tour. In conversations later we both remarked feeling like Destruction Tourists - something we both felt a bit weird about. Is snapping photos of disaster tacky at a time where people around you are busy cleaning up and moving on with their lives? I don't know. My only real rationalization is that people need to see these sorts of tragedies and relay the stories back to people they know in attempt to make them part of the larger human experience. I kept thinking as we toured how I hoped that the people from all over the country would go back to their respective states and tell people what they saw. My political motivations can't be hidden - I hope they go back and tell everyone how screwed up the FEMA response was, how pathetic it was that volunteers had to save the Gulf because our country can't deal with it. How survivors of this tragedy have to sit around for days simply to get through to a FEMA representative so they can start building their lives again.

As for me, it's reinforced how important public service is, and in lieu of a competent government, volunteerism. So I'm already planning my next trip as a volunteer, and I encourage the viewers of this work to do the same.

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Comments
Alisa

Alisa

SUICIDEGIRL

Ohio, USA

OCT 16, 2005 08:13 AM

no you HAVE to take those photographs. someone HAS to. thank you for sharing this with us. with those of us who can't get out and be there. for those of us who can only give money and supplies from wherever they are. your pictures are the truth of the situation at the time that it's happening. we need those pictures. for us now and for those who come behind us to see for themselves. not with fancywords but with actual real life snapshots of what was going on.

does that make any sense?


thanks kiss

MisterSatan

MisterSatan

Portland, OR
August 2002

OCT 16, 2005 08:36 AM

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

OCT 16, 2005 08:43 AM

Wow. I'm only halfway through these and they're amazing. Thanks, guys. And great job.

Volkov

Volkov

New York, NY
OLD SKOOL

OCT 16, 2005 09:28 AM

well done.

thank you Stiles and Idjiit, for doing so much to help AND for documenting it.

I don't get the sense of "destruction tourism" at all from the photos. I get a sense of genuine interest and experience.

Thanks again.

papawheelie

papawheelie

Fisty, KY
February 2003

OCT 16, 2005 09:47 AM

"It’s no secret that I am not a religious man. In fact, in my youth I was vehemently anti-religious. As I’ve aged and my range of experiences with religious people has grown, I’ve gained much more respect for adherents and the way that religion informs their lives on a personal level. This trip in particular has shown one of the critical roles that our nation’s religious organizations play. Virtually every stop we made was at a church, or at a location negotiated by a religious organization. The vast majority of people we ran into had been organized in some way by a religious organization. Where are the secular organizations mobilizing to help the victims of tragedies such as these? We didn’t see them. Near everyone we talked to said that without the volunteers involved in the relief effort, the people of the Gulf would be lost. This means that without the structure of religious organizations in the US, these people would be lost. Not just in the manpower sense, but in the spiritual sense. Regardless of whether there is a God or not, there is no denying the solace that such a unifying belief can have in such a crisis. I hope that in this time of renew religious conservatism and the subsequent religious backlash it has created that people on both sides can see that the thing we should fear the most is extremism on either end. There is a happy medium."

good stuff

fountainofdreams

fountainofdreams

Batavia, IL
January 2005

OCT 16, 2005 09:53 AM

these photos are amazing!

something that touched me most was seeing buildings just torn to shreds, and the trees nearby none the worse for wear...it really tells you about the fact that these have been happening for millions of years. we just happened to be in the way for this one. blackeyed

AdamJ

AdamJ

Revere, MA
February 2005

OCT 16, 2005 03:12 PM

papawheelie said:
"It’s no secret that I am not a religious man. In fact, in my youth I was vehemently anti-religious. As I’ve aged and my range of experiences with religious people has grown, I’ve gained much more respect for adherents and the way that religion informs their lives on a personal level. This trip in particular has shown one of the critical roles that our nation’s religious organizations play. Virtually every stop we made was at a church, or at a location negotiated by a religious organization. The vast majority of people we ran into had been organized in some way by a religious organization. Where are the secular organizations mobilizing to help the victims of tragedies such as these? We didn’t see them. Near everyone we talked to said that without the volunteers involved in the relief effort, the people of the Gulf would be lost. This means that without the structure of religious organizations in the US, these people would be lost. Not just in the manpower sense, but in the spiritual sense. Regardless of whether there is a God or not, there is no denying the solace that such a unifying belief can have in such a crisis. I hope that in this time of renew religious conservatism and the subsequent religious backlash it has created that people on both sides can see that the thing we should fear the most is extremism on either end. There is a happy medium."



To be fair to those who are secular and non-religious(such as myself), there is the fact that we are a minority in this country, making up about 5 to 10 percent of the total population, if memory serves me right. So asking why there weren't so many atheists or agnostics there is like asking why there weren't any albinos there, or why there weren't any Maoris there. There just aren't that many of us, period, and that limits the number of us who are available to help.

[Edited on Oct 16, 2005 by AdamJ]

Sharona1881

Sharona1881

Floral Park, NY
July 2004

OCT 16, 2005 08:01 PM

thank you so much for documenting this important part of what will be our history

AcidGrampa

AcidGrampa

Berkeley, CA
September 2003

OCT 16, 2005 08:26 PM

Amazing.

dickie

dickie

Providence, RI
June 2004

OCT 16, 2005 09:03 PM

Good job, buddy (Idjiit).

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

OCT 16, 2005 09:21 PM

AdamJ said:

papawheelie said:
"It’s no secret that I am not a religious man. In fact, in my youth I was vehemently anti-religious. As I’ve aged and my range of experiences with religious people has grown, I’ve gained much more respect for adherents and the way that religion informs their lives on a personal level. This trip in particular has shown one of the critical roles that our nation’s religious organizations play. Virtually every stop we made was at a church, or at a location negotiated by a religious organization. The vast majority of people we ran into had been organized in some way by a religious organization. Where are the secular organizations mobilizing to help the victims of tragedies such as these? We didn’t see them. Near everyone we talked to said that without the volunteers involved in the relief effort, the people of the Gulf would be lost. This means that without the structure of religious organizations in the US, these people would be lost. Not just in the manpower sense, but in the spiritual sense. Regardless of whether there is a God or not, there is no denying the solace that such a unifying belief can have in such a crisis. I hope that in this time of renew religious conservatism and the subsequent religious backlash it has created that people on both sides can see that the thing we should fear the most is extremism on either end. There is a happy medium."



To be fair to those who are secular and non-religious(such as myself), there is the fact that we are a minority in this country, making up about 5 to 10 percent of the total population, if memory serves me right. So asking why there weren't so many atheists or agnostics there is like asking why there weren't any albinos there, or why there weren't any Maoris there. There just aren't that many of us, period, and that limits the number of us who are available to help.

[Edited on Oct 16, 2005 by AdamJ]



Not really. Most organizations are secular in nature. It just so happens that they are run by religious individuals.

Idjit

Idjit

HOPEFUL

I'm lost

OCT 17, 2005 09:04 AM

AdamJ said:

papawheelie said:
"It’s no secret that I am not a religious man. In fact, in my youth I was vehemently anti-religious. As I’ve aged and my range of experiences with religious people has grown, I’ve gained much more respect for adherents and the way that religion informs their lives on a personal level. This trip in particular has shown one of the critical roles that our nation’s religious organizations play. Virtually every stop we made was at a church, or at a location negotiated by a religious organization. The vast majority of people we ran into had been organized in some way by a religious organization. Where are the secular organizations mobilizing to help the victims of tragedies such as these? We didn’t see them. Near everyone we talked to said that without the volunteers involved in the relief effort, the people of the Gulf would be lost. This means that without the structure of religious organizations in the US, these people would be lost. Not just in the manpower sense, but in the spiritual sense. Regardless of whether there is a God or not, there is no denying the solace that such a unifying belief can have in such a crisis. I hope that in this time of renew religious conservatism and the subsequent religious backlash it has created that people on both sides can see that the thing we should fear the most is extremism on either end. There is a happy medium."



To be fair to those who are secular and non-religious(such as myself), there is the fact that we are a minority in this country, making up about 5 to 10 percent of the total population, if memory serves me right. So asking why there weren't so many atheists or agnostics there is like asking why there weren't any albinos there, or why there weren't any Maoris there. There just aren't that many of us, period, and that limits the number of us who are available to help.

[Edited on Oct 16, 2005 by AdamJ]



My statement goes deeper than just saying "why weren't the atheists there cleaning up", it also asks questions about how a secular world in general might deal with tragedies such as this. A lot of it stems from my feeling of impotence relating to people who are dealing with the crisis first hand. I feel like secular society lacks a means to effectively deal with grieving, solace and providing hope in hopeless situations. As an agnostic who's effectively atheist it's an interesting problem to think about. What is the unifying experience that binds us together with a common language to inform our lives as human beings? SG? CSI? The Simpsons? Whether "spirits" actually exist (I suspect they do not), I think that "spirituality" is an important part of human existence.

Thanks, Shalome for posting this. And thanks again to Stiles for taking me along. smile

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

OCT 17, 2005 09:12 AM

Amazing stuff, Sam and Ed (Certainly deserving of having your real names posted!!)

[Edited on Oct 17, 2005 by PointBlank]

Goob

Goob

Hatboro, PA
March 2004

OCT 17, 2005 11:23 AM

Wow.

I just looked through all the pictures, and read the story.

The hardest part was seeing Bay St. Louis... My car broke down there once on the way to New Orleans, and a local family went out of their way for us, towing the car, fixing it super cheap, and helping us get to NOLA to have a decent vacation.

Their gorgeous house might have been one of the piles of debris you photographed. I don't even know what to say about that.

frown

crispy

crispy

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

OCT 17, 2005 11:43 AM

I'm proud to have been a small part of this, and proud that I got to document it in somewhat real time.

You guys kick ass.
And I'm happy to know you both.

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