The
Party for Socialism and Liberation joins with people from around the
United States in expressing our deepest solidarity and concern for
the people of the South who have lost loved ones, homes and
livelihoods in the largest surge of tornadoes since the Depression.
Between April 25 and 30, more than 150 tornadoes killed 350 people;
thousands were injured and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed
in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia,
among other states in the Southeast.
In
Alabama alone, a million homes and businesses are without power and
water. Entire towns have been literally wiped off the map in a scene
comparable to a warzone.
Tuscaloosa,
Ala., has had the single highest death toll as of April 30 with 42
people killed and more than a thousand injured.
The
Smithville, Miss., tornado that hit was categorized by the National
Weather Service as EF-5 with winds of more of than 205 mph.
It was certainly the most devastating. So far at least six tornadoes
have been categorized as EF-4 in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and
Tennessee.
The storm system
slammed with full force into Rainsville, Ala., leaving just remnants
of what was once a sport stadium and a trailer park of 73 mobile
homes.
Solidarity and
untold stories of heroes
The
ruling-class media has focused on government response and assurances
to assist in the recovery—only because people of the region know
that when disasters strike, the government and insurance companies
have shown a blind eye to working people, focusing instead on
recovery plans that include big profits.
Images
are still clear in people’s minds of Hurricane Katrina, which hit
New Orleans in 2005. Survivors who sought food and water for others
were called looters and the National Guard was given shoot-on-sight
orders. Residents waited on rooftops for days to be rescued. More
than 1,800 people perished in the hurricane and subsequent floods.
But it was the residents themselves who organized and saved thousands
of people. One group of young men found a boat and pulled more than
300 people to safety working tirelessly for two days.
As
the government worries about their tarnished image, little media
coverage has been given to the untold number of heroic acts of the
people in the South who sheltered neighbors and strangers as
tornadoes destroyed their towns. Others were first responders who
assisted in rescuing the victims in the wake of the rubble.
In
Sanford, N.C., employees of Lowe’s Home Improvement store quickly
reacted, herding 100 customers to the safest part of the building and
avoiding injuries as a tornado hit April 30.
While seeking
shelter in a basement, student Adam Melton, from Tuscaloosa, recalled
how the building was ripped right off the foundation, then he and the
group were hit by a Jeep Cherokee. “After we got hit, we pulled
five or six people out, but it was gone—the house was gone,”
said Melton.
Across
the South, many people were made homeless by the tornadoes and have
since been placed in shelters; others have gone to stay with
neighbors whose homes were not destroyed. Volunteers are now
gathering throughout the devastated areas to ensure that people
receive needed medications, food and water.
In
stark contrast to the outpouring of support and donations from people
around the United States stands the greed of multi-billion-dollar
insurance companies who already need to be coerced simply into
assessing the damage to pay out for people’s coverage.
Profit
system takes charge in recovery
Insurance
experts hesitate in estimating the extent of the damage, but believe
it could be in the billions of dollars, with the worst impact
concentrated in the Alabama cities of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.
Property
damage is expected to reach up to $5 billion or more. There is no way
to control natural disasters, but under capitalism it is the poorest
people who suffer the most. This region of the United States has some
of the poorest communities, many of whom live in mobile homes or
other inadequate housing. All the affected states are among the top
ten poorest states in the United States with the exception of Georgia
and Virginia.
Yet
concern from insurance companies and the government that supposedly
represents them is far from adequate.
An
example of profit-hungry insurance companies eager to not honor
insurance policies can be found in the announcement by Alabama
Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling that advised during the storms to
provide policy holders a 30-day grace period on premium
payments—hardly a sympathetic response in the wake of such
devastation.
At
the same time, in Florida, which was not damaged by the storms,
rather than expressing support for those affected just north of
Tallahassee Governor Rick Scott is calling for more expansive rule by
big insurance. Scott’s plans are to eliminate or at least reduce
the size of the state-run Citizens Insurance that 1.3 million
Floridians depend on to protect their homes from hurricanes, floods
and tornadoes—all common climatic realities in the state.
Socialist
planning can save lives
Social
systems cannot prevent meteorological tragedies or other natural
disasters, but they can impact fatalities, recovery and assistance to
those in need. The United States has more tornado activity than any
other part of the world, yet secure shelters and warning systems are
inadequate due to a system that lacks planning in the interest of
people.
Under
a planned economy adequate shelters would be constructed and the
population systematically trained in early response techniques to
save lives. In socialist Cuba, hurricanes account for very few deaths
because of such plans, while other Caribbean islands under the thumb
of imperialism have much higher death tolls with no such plan and
emergency response in place.
