Shi Yuan Chen '08, a New Orleans resident, was on vacation in Jackson, Miss., when Katrina flooded his New Orleans home and damaged all his possessions. When the hurricane hit, all Chen had were the clothes he had taken for the vacation. "When I left Mississippi, I had about two days' worth of clothes ... and that was about it," said Chen. "My car, computer, clothes ... just about everything we owned are all gone."
Families of students who lost their homes have not been able to return to gather any items that were left behind, nor do they know the status of their homes. "[My] house is still in the inaccessible part of town," said Ben Lavely '06. "The status of the house is unknown."
The trauma of losing one's home was not the only issue plaguing affected students. For many students with family and friends in the damaged areas, the moments of non-communication were the hardest. "As of Sunday, I could not contact [my parents]," said Kathleen Evans '07, a resident of New Orleans who went to high school with Chen. "I knew they were OK, but it was still incredibly nerve-wracking for me." Due to cell phone failures, students had to resort to e-mail and facebook.com to contact friends and family.
For families of students from the Gulf Coast states, small hurricanes are nothing new. Yet a storm of this proportion was unlike any these students had seen in their lifetimes. Students' whose families had stayed home for past hurricanes were unprepared for their first experience with evacuation. "In 25 years, it was the first time [my parents] were leaving," said Evans.
Katrina also affected students in other Gulf Coast states. Laura Mortimer '08 of Jackson, Miss., had left home to lead a F.O.O.T trip, but her family who stayed behind faced 80 mile per hour winds and rain. Her family had to boil water for safe drinking. However, Mortimer's family was more fortunate than others in terms of damage and power.
Although the home of Alexandria, La. resident Erika Sams '08 was not damaged due to its distance from the coast, she was there when the evacuees began to move inland. Sams' town, which consists of approximately 60,000 residents, opened large facilities to house approximately 20,000 evacuees. "What was really amazing was how my town got together," she said. "Everyone brought what they could to the shelters."
On her drive to Amherst from Louisiana, Sams witnessed firsthand the damage that the hurricane created. "I drove here from Louisiana. The devastation was absolutely ... scary," said Sams. "There were trees down everywhere."
Some of the students and their families who experienced the most damage from the storm have had to restart their lives in different homes and buy new clothes and other items. "I feel like I'm being forced to move somewhere else," said Chen. "I had to re-buy my laptop [and] my clothes that I had lost."
Chen and Evans spoke out about their younger siblings' experiences with relocating to a new school post-Katrina. "[My sister] went to high school in New Orleans. ... At least for now, she is going to a boarding school in New Jersey," said Chen. "She didn't have to pay tuition, and the school paid for her flight." Like Chen's sister, Evans' brother, who was the captain of his high school football team, is also enrolled in a new school.
Even though some students and their families have to readjust to new homes, many have stated their thanks to all those who have given support. "It was nice. I really appreciated it," said Chen, who received aid from the Red Cross.
Evans attributes some of the ease in relocating families to those cities that have welcomed residents from the Gulf Coast states. "From what I've seen, cities have allowed [evacuees] to get adjusted to different lifestyles with minimal friction," she said.
Just one day after the storm had hit, the College contacted and offered support to all 13 students and their families. "Immediately, the dean of students office reached out to our current students to make sure that everyone was OK and to offer any help that they might need," said President Anthony Marx. "We have reached out to all those students and their families."
Most of the students did not realize the seriousness of the hurricane until after it hit the Gulf Coast states. For Chen, the severe damage created by the hurricane came as a surprise. "I was a bit shocked," he said. "I wasn't expecting that it would do that much damage to New Orleans."
The students agree that the damage will not feel real to them until they return home. "I want to see what it looks like," Chen said. "I can't believe it happened to my house. I still have to see it for myself."
Evans and Lavely echoed Chen's response to the hurricane. "I don't think it's going to really hit me until I go back," said Evans. "It won't fully affect me until I see it in person." Lavely agreed. "It was too surreal and difficult to come to grips with," he said. "I stopped watching the news coverage."
Although some of these students were impressed with the fast support from the College, many were disappointed with the federal government's response. "The response was slow," said Lavely. "When the government didn't respond, in those three days, the most damage was done."
Sams held the same view, although she added that the focus should be on the evacuees rather than on the government and its mistakes. "I think the federal response was definitely slower than it should have been, but now is not the time to be pointing fingers," she said.
Despite the location of New Orleans and the risk of facing another hurricane as strong as Katrina, students from New Orleans look forward to returning to their homes. "It's my home, it's where I grew up ... it may take years, but I want to see it rebuilt," said Evans. "It's very important to me."
While the deans reached out to students, Betsy Canon Smith, secretary of alumni and parent programs, has been working to reach alumni.
"The Alumni Office has been in touch with all of our alumni in those areas to see if they are OK and to see if we can offer them any assistance, and also to enable them to contact each other," said Marx
Jonathan Schneider '03, one of the many alumni contacted by the College and a resident of New Orleans, was in Cambridge attending a wedding when the flooding began. Although he believes his home was not flooded, Schneider has experienced a series of emotions that individuals affected by Katrina understand. "I went through a period of feeling very angry at the federal response and very worried about the people I had not heard from," said Schneider. "That anger and anxiety carried me, in a way, through the first week. Once I learned that my friends were safe, I became depressed, thinking about the loss to the city, the loss of life and the disruption of my own life."
Pat Cesarini '86, a resident of Mobile, Ala., did not sustain any damage to his home since he does not live in a flood zone. However, his neighborhood spent the first few days after the storm without electricity or means of communication. "Our house was not damaged at all. There were lots of big trees down in our neighborhood, which took out power lines," said Cesarini. "We lost electricity about 8 a.m. on storm Monday, the phone about 10 a.m."
Like many others hit by the storm, Cesarini, who received power before many others, still found the time to offer assistance. "Other folks were without power longer, so we had them over to share our air conditioning, hot food, hot water, etc."
For students and alumni affected by Katrina, New Orleans will remain the city of wonderful festivities and its own character. "It was a unique city that's difficult to describe to those who haven't been there," said Lavely.