New Orleans Reborn In Wreckages (1/3)

Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans is probably the most painful disaster happened in the United States in 2005. Throughout history, cities being devastated by natural or human disasters have placed their fates in God’s hands. For example, Galveston has just marked the 105th anniversary of the great storm of 1900, which killed more than 6,000 residents and remains the deadliest natural disaster in the nation’s history. Although Galveston largely rebuilt itself, the storm contributed to the city’s decline from a bustling center for shipping and finance to a somewhat sleepy tourist destination. But on the other side of the country the New York City in Washington, after 9 11th Terrorists’ Attack, remains the financial center and capital of the world in terms of business. What will happen to New Orleans, which is known as a famous tourist attraction and a city with high concentration of eateries? Jin Wang has the story from Frank Wong, owner of Trey Yuen, a nationally well-known Chinese restaurant in the suburbs of New Orleans. Out of the wreckages of the city, new life is emerging in New Orleans, images of rebuilding and return have replaced those of destruction. But it’s far from business as usual in New Orleans’ restaurant scene. “I know a lot of restaurants in New Orleans, they are all ten foot under water.” said Frank Wong, “I’ve got a Chinese friend running two restaurants. After the hurricane, he just wants to open one, publicly closes the other.” Wong was thankful that his own restaurant was not much damaged, but he was truly mournful for his friends: “After the storm, I just got a few tiles down, a couple of trees and some towers come down, no electricity, and none of my fish are there in the fish tank. They all died because of lack of oxygen. One of the trees tears my roof, and falls right into my own house. The trees have been there for long time, over 100 or more years. If they fall, they will not hit you, but will certainly scare you, because they make so big a noise.” “I just feel bad about my friends and their restaurants. I have Chinese and Japanese friends running restaurants in New Orleans and their restaurants are under water and everything there are pulled away. Because there’s no electricity, they have to dump everything into the garbage can.” Hurricane will at least temporarily, put New Orleans restaurant business into stall, because people are still uncomfortable in this environment, and the future of downtown is still undecided with the possibility of the next Hurricane attack. For restaurateurs like Frank Wong, one of the problems confronting them is that it is now difficult to hire any help. “I have problems for finding employees. There are a lot of employees not being able to go back. We’ve got half a million people left New Orleans. And it might take half a year or nine months before they come back home.” Most people fled away from Katrina are reluctant to return to New Orleans, in fear that they could have lost their homes and their properties permanently. Houses are not repairable, jobs are gone, and their belongings are washed away. Also thanks to the effective Hurricane relief efforts provided by the Federal government, and by many American and Asian organizations, the evacuees are well taken care of in Texas. Evacuees got food, medical checkup, free housing, and even a new job in their relocated cities. Many evacuees are thinking of settle down in Texas. A survey reports that among people who left New Orleans, only 50 percent want to come back.