Ethnic Media Cover the Fires
New America Media, News Digest, Elena Shore, Posted: Oct 25, 2007
SAN DIEGO – Ethnic media are on the front lines of the Southern California fires, covering the effects of the devastation on their communities and providing information for evacuees and those who wish to help.
Hispanic residents who needed to evacuate their homes in San Diego had trouble finding information in Spanish about what to do, reports the Spanish-language publication Enlace.
“I saw a huge cloud of black smoke coming toward my house but I didn’t know what to do,” Noemi Orozco, a 38-year-old resident of Ramona, told Enlace. As the fires began to spread on Sunday, Orozco said, she turned on her television but none of the Spanish channels interrupted their programming to provide information.
“I watched the English channels but it was hopeless because I can hardly understand it,” said another woman. “At 7:00 p.m., the police came and one spoke Spanish, telling me to leave my apartment because of the approaching danger.”
Vianei Salmeron scanned Spanish radio stations Sunday evening for news about the fire, and didn’t find anything, Enlace reports.
On Monday, Spanish television stations began interrupting their regular programming to give the community information about the fire.
Many undocumented immigrants affected by the fires have been afraid to come forward to seek help, Hispanic media report.A group of workers living in McGonigle Canyon
removed their belongings from their improvised
shelters. Although they have been offered help,
they refuse to join the other evacuees.
Photo by Hiram Soto, Enlace
The farm workers who live in the open air in the McGonigle Canyon, according to Enlace, are among the most destitute residents affected by the fires.
While some left the area, many of these “invisible victims” remain in the canyons, either because they do not want to or can’t leave.
"We’ve been telling them that they are in an evacuation zone but they don’t want to move because they have all their stuff in the hills and because they’re afraid of the police and the people," Juan Ramon, an activist with the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations, told the newspaper.
Jorge, a worker who did not want to give his last name, told Enlace that the last two nights have been tough since strong winds have been blowing and it has been difficult to breathe, even with masks.
When asked why he didn’t accept an offer to move to a shelter with a roof, food and blankets, he simply replied: "No, no, for what? No."
Enlace has provided information for those who wish to help these immigrants by donating items such as tents, sleeping bags, blankets, water and food.
Black Voice News health columnist Dr. Ernest Levister and his wife, senior Black Voice News correspondent Chris Levister, were among the residents forced to flee their homes in Lake Arrowhead, where the fire raged out of control when downed power lines in Grass Valley ignited the flames.
"Turns out our home is located three blocks from ground zero - the Grass Valley Fire where almost 300 homes were torched within hours," Dr. Levister, a cardiologist, told the newspaper. "Tuesday afternoon, a friend who remained on the mountain called. His words were both welcome and haunting: 'The houses in front and on both sides of you are smoldering rubble. Your house is still standing.'"
At the National Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino, mothers holding babies and overstuffed pillows pushed through nearly 3,000 people taking refuge from the flames.
The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Center there has served more than 7,500 meals and snacks since the mountain fires erupted, according to the Black Voice News. Nearly 100 volunteers provided everything from food, water, and showers to diapers, toys blankets and bedtime stories.
"The Red Cross has been good to us - unlike Katrina. The people are being treated like human beings," said Dennis Holmes whose sister was a victim of the tragic hurricane. "Prayers and her spirit have kept me going."
Inland hotels are sold out with waiting lists of up to 400, the Black Voice News reports. Restaurants along the foothills struggled to keep up with hungry and sometime irritated evacuees.
"We're trying to accommodate everyone affected by the fire," Phil Genan, manager of a San Bernardino fast food restaurant, tolf Black Voice News. "Even the one's without money."
Chinese-language newspapers report that the fires in San Diego County have affected numerous Chinese families living in the area.
The Ming Pao Daily compares the area burned by the fires, some 970 square kilometers, to roughly the size of Hong Kong.
China News Service reports that at least 1,000 Chinese have been forced to leave homes as a result of the fire. A Chinese girl gets blankets and
other items at Qualcomm Stadium.
Photo by Rui Gao, Sing Tao Daily
The Sing Tao Daily reports that 10 percent of those who are seeking refuge in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium are Chinese. Evacuees told the newspaper they were worried about their homes and their children’s education in the wake of the fires.
Despite being told to go to Qualcomm Stadium, the majority of Vietnamese residents forced to evacuate fled to their friends' and relatives' homes, CaliToday newspaper reports. Vietnamese families in northern San Diego were surprised when officials knocked on their doors and told them to leave. Several have returned to their own homes but were told to stay on alert if the fires were to change direction.
According to Anh Do, editor of the Vietnamese newspaper Nguoi Viet, there aren’t many Vietnamese residents who have been affected by the fire, compared with the large numbers of Vietnamese who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Nguoi Viet, however, has been publishing numerous stories on disaster preparedness, a subject that Do says the community is still relatively unformed about.
Filipino media are encouraging community organizations to contribute in any way they can to help those affected by the fire. The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles has opened an emergency line for Filipino nationals affected by the fire, reports the Manila-U.S. Times. Filipino organizations are encouraged to contribute in any way they can to help those affected by the fire.
"Because of this tragedy," writes the Manila-U.S. Times, "it is time once again that we put our acts together... physically, morally and financially -- to obviate further sufferings of our kababayans from their present precarious situation."
ABS-CBN North America News Bureau reports that a host of Filipino Americans were among the half a million told to evacuate their homes. Filipino Americans in Chula Vista told ABS-CBN they were worried because their homes were only several miles away from where flames were eating up trees and forests. No order for forced evacuation has so far been given for Chula Vista, but the residents are voluntarily leaving.
Indian American families living in Sabre Springs, north of San Diego, were among an estimated quarter-million people forced to flee their homes Oct. 22, along with an untold number of Indian Americans who live in the nearby Rancho Bernardo, Forest Ranch, Penasquiotos and Scripps Ranch communities, reports the newspaper India-West.
When they evacuated, Veenu Puri Vermani and her family loaded their van with their passports, visa papers and insurance documents along with clothes, food and water for the children.
“We picked up whatever was handy,” said Vermani, who also managed to bring along a small Hanuman figurine and a portrait of Lord Krishna, since “religious beliefs at this time really keep you going,” she told India-West.
More than 2,000 Koreans living in the affected areas have fled to local Korean churches.A Korean evacuee with her son in one arm and a bowl of food for the child in the other is returning to bed.
About 300 hundred Koreans took refuge in the Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Diego.
Photo by Sang Jun Kim, Korea Daily
Instead of checking into evacuation shelters operated by authorities, about 300 Koreans have been staying at the Calvary Korean Presbyterian Church in Linda Vista since Monday night. Korean Hope Church of San Diego and Hanbit Church, both located near San Diego’s Koreatown that sprawls along Convoy Street, each provided shelter to about 100 people. Korean Catholic Community of San Diego also has accommodated approximately 150 people, report the Korea Daily and Korea Times.
Local businesses pitched in to help those affected by the fire. A meat company owned by a Korean brought the Korean Catholic Community of San Diego "bulgoki," a Korean BBQ dish, that was enough to feed more than 100 people. Other community organizations brought in blankets, snacks, and other provisions, report the Korean media.
“It was difficult for my family because we had to leave in such hurry. But we recuperated after eating the bulgoki and experiencing the church’s hospitality,” Lucy Kim, 15, told the Korea Times.
“People feel more comfortable when they band together with the same race, and some decided to come to church because the shelters they had gone to were crowded,” said Young Sung Joo, managing editor of Korea Daily's San Diego bureau.
Translated and compiled by Elena Shore, Amelia Post, Kenneth Kim, Jun Wang, Andrew Lam and Odette Keeley.
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