Where is the media for Hurricane Wilma?

Several months ago, the United States was deluged with images of destruction from Hurricane Katrina. The lives it affected was truly overwhelming and astounding. People all over the world were moved by the massive devastation and destruction this natural disaster wrought on New Orleans and the surrounding area. Many lives were lost, and even more property was wiped out. Many of us contributed to the Red Cross and other charitable organizations to provide what help we could. And the mass media was relentless in bringing us images and stories of how the many lives were shattered, broken and bent.

Fast forward to October 23, 2005. The day Hurricane Wilma, after obliterating the Yucatan Peninsula, turned it's sights on Southern Florida. Hurricane Wilma will go down as the strongest hurricane ever recorded, a massive category 5, with winds topping 175 mph. Thankfully, the storm reduced in strength before bearing down on Florida, and my heart truly goes out to the people of Mexico who were battered for two days with that monster of a storm. But when the storm hit Florida, it was still a very strong category 3, with winds sustained at 125 mph. Over 3 million people were without power. And over a week after the storm, that power still hasn't been restored. How could it be?

But let me ask you something...have you heard much about this storm where you live? What has happened to the people of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach and the rest of South Florida since this storm devastated that part of the United States? No one knows, really, because the television stations, the radio and the newspapers are not telling us anything. And I for one am furious about this. I happen to work at a newspaper, and I confronted my news editor on why, only 2 days after this storm made landfall, there was NOTHING on our front page about it. Her response? "well, we thought other things were more important, and we feel people are just hurricaned out."

Hurricaned out? WHAT THE FUCK? And as for other things being more important, I checked our front page as to what was deemed more important. Let's see, there was a story about how much it would cost to buy out the two major colleges of this area's football coaches contracts, and a story about the IRS not returning a few income tax refunds. This is what was deemed "more important" than 3 million lives being damaged. This is what was thought to be more important than the initial 10, and now over 22 deaths attributed to Hurricane Wilma.

Now I happen to know someone who lives in that area. She tells me what's really going on in that area. How so many elderly are not being attended to, how FEMA and other agencies are not getting the aid to those who desperately need it. There are food and water distribution sites set up here and there, but what do you do for the elderly, handicapped and disabled who live on the second, third or higher floors in buildings that have no electricity, and those people cannot use the stairs to get down to the sites, are not able to stand in line for 4 or more hours, and many don't even have cars to get them to these sites? And the city busses of Fort Lauderdale are not being run for people who have no other means of transportation. Why are these agencies not taking food and water to these people? The death toll in Florida continues to rise daily as people begin reaching those areas and find people who have starved to death, ran out of oxygen or medicine or were left without water. And the lack of power has also caused countless loss of income for many businesses, both large and small. My friend's business, Silver Tiger Art, is largely funded by her web site. Her web site was on a Florida-based server. And that server was offline for almost a week. Every day without electricity cost yet more money to her business in possible lost customers. Yet have we been told about this? I know I haven't by the media organizations I follow.

And this country is NOT hurricaned out. As you know, I have a radio show on AKA Radio. Now, my show only gets 20 or 30 listeners on a good night. Last Wednesday night, I did a telephone interview with my friend, who also happens to be a DJ on the station. As my listeners began hearing about the plight of these people, they started BEGGING me to let them help. In a two hour show, we raised over $250. This country is not hurricaned out. People want to help. They just need to know that help is needed. And it wasn't just the States. I also received donations from Canada and Great Britain too. And for all of you, my deepest thanks go out to you.

With that money, I went to the stores and loaded up with as much supplies as I could buy, and kicking in a large chunk of my own money. And after I got off work Thursday night, I started making my way to Fort Lauderdale to deliver the supplies they so desperately needed. It was an incredibly long drive, but when I finally arrived around 4pm on Friday afternoon, the response from those elderly people was humbling. I was told I was an angel, I was kissed and hugged, I was thanked repeatedly. And I couldn't have done nearly as much as I did without those wonderful listeners I have on AKA Radio. I still didn't feel like I did enough, but I was able to buy much needed batteries, candles, charcoal, a few grills, 5 cases of water, canned food, and toilet paper. And let me tell you, when you see someone almost weep after getting a can of Castleburry's Beef Stew or a couple of rolls of toilet paper, it makes you realize just how much it really means to extend a helping hand.

No, we are not "hurricaned out". We just need to know where we can help. And the fact that we do not know is a complete failure that rests squarely on the shoulders of the media for not reporting this travesty. I hope all of you in the media are ashamed of yourselves for not doing more to help the victims of Hurricane Wilma.