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Published by The National Herald, September 9, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Devastates New Orleans' Historic Cathedral

NEW YORK – Almost two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a possible death toll of thousands, Greek Americans are still trying to assess the loss of life and extent of property damage in their communities across the South.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Metropolis of Atlanta have opened a webpage at www.forums.goarch.org to facilitate communication between survivors of the storm and their relatives. Apart from the discussion board, the webpage offers information about the communities affected by Katrina, as well as information on how to help with the relief effort and host a dislocated family through reputable agencies.

"If used properly, this webpage could help considerably," Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta told the National Herald. Asked about the Greek Americans of Mobil, Alabama, Metropolitan Alexios said that the area’s 40 families are all well, but added that contact with many Mississippi Greek Americans had not been established. "We are praying for swift recovery of the damaged areas," the Metropolitan said.

"I’m afraid that many of our parishioners did not have time to evacuate New Orleans in time," said Rev. Anthony Stratis, pastor of the historic Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in New Orleans. "I am afraid for them and for our Church. Please remember us in your prayers," he added.

Father Stratis urged his parishioners, or anyone who has any information about any of his parishioners, to contact htrinno@bellsouth.net. He said he has already received dozens of messages daily at the above e-mail both from parish community survivors, as well as from Greek Americans expressing their solidarity and support at this time of crisis. "Even though we are undergoing an immense trial, we are trying to recover. God will help us this time, too," he said.

Father Stratis’ plea was one of many made by survivors of the devastated Louisiana city now agonizing about those who are missing. Together with his wife Presvytera Eleni and their two children, the priest left New Orleans 24 hours before Katrina struck. The family found shelter in the home of Father Stratis’ brother in Tallahassee, Florida where the pastor now tries to locate his parishioners from the Tallahassee’s Holy Mother of God Church community center every morning. "Home and cell phones are not working in New Orleans, and it’s exceedingly difficult to establish contact with our parish’s 400 families," Father Stratis told the Herald. As witnessed by aerial photographs, the Cathedral and its cultural center, which was inaugurated by Archbishop Demetrios in 2001, have been totally inundated by flooding waters that swept through the historic city, which is situated below sea level.

"The cultural center is destroyed, along with the school, our offices and our community room which had a capacity of 400," added Efstratios Malachias, 72, a member of the community. "The waters have reached six to seven feet and you can only access it by boat," he added. Holy Trinity Cathedral was founded in 1864 after a donation made in 1860 by businessman and then Greek Consul Nicholaos Benakis and Demetrios and Ioannis Botassis. Father Stratis said it was too early to assess the damage to the church edifice and its beautiful frescoes.

Concern about the property left behind, along with a sense of gratitude for having been spared by the catastrophic storm was evident among other survivors.

"We went through so much. It all seems like a nightmare," said Anastasia Pyliou, 85, who along with her two daughters Eleni and Natalia, her two grandchildren and her son-in-law, was among the first to respond to New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s call for evacuation two weeks ago. "I praise God that my family is safe and sound," she said, adding that she was concerned primarily for the valuable icons she left behind at her two-story home, which is located close to Mississippi River. The family now stays in Shreveport, Louisiana with Mrs. Pyliou’s two other daughters, Aspasia and Martha. She said that, when she left New Orleans, she thought she was leaving only temporarily from the city in which she spent most of her life. "It is almost certain that my home has been flooded. I want to go back to see what happened to our home, but my children won’t let me," she said.

Humanitarian relief assistance for hurricane victims like Mrs. Pyliou, who lost their properties and communities within days, has been arriving to the wider New Orleans area from throughout the world, to include aid from Greece and many Greek American organizations. Apart from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and AHEPA, the International Orthodox Christian Charities, IOCC, has also been assisting the relief efforts. IOCC deployed a disaster response team was last Wednesday, August 31, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in order to assist Katrina survivors.

Father Peter Preble, a Romanian Orthodox priest and qualified emergency first responder from Southbridge, Massachusetts, and IOCC Board Member Lee Kapetanakis of Houston, Texas were assigned with identifying the most urgent needs of the thousands of people displaced by the storm and setting up a logistics and distribution center for aid arriving to Baton Rouge. The pair has also been joined by Frank Carlin, an IOCC volunteer with extensive domestic and international relief and development experience with Catholic Relief Services. The team plans to focus on providing essential care and support items to survivors who are in immediate need of assistance.

The IOCC has reported the team’s impressions of the situation in the devastated area, describing a scene which is still chaotic and marked by insufficient available aid. "Grocery stores are trying to restock, but the population of Baton Rouge has swelled so dramatically in the past few days that provisions are in short supply," Mr. Kapetanakis said. "The most important thing right now is to help people with basic needs – water, hygiene items and diapers," he added. IOCC is coordinating the effort in close cooperation with Catholic Charities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, Church World Service and local partners.

The organization is also coordinating a Pan-Orthodox effort in Houston to respond to hurricane survivors arriving daily to that city, by established an operation center in Houston which was expected to open by Friday.

Orthodox clergy participating in the IOCC Emergency Response Network are also providing pastoral assistance to the devastated communities after clergy and parishes throughout the Gulf Coast region were contacted for help. The organization has urged all Orthodox parishes to assemble and send personal hygiene kits containing basic items such as soap, a washcloth, toothpaste and a toothbrush as part of its ongoing "Gift of the Heart" program, run in cooperation with CWS. The kits should be sent to the CWS warehouse in New Windsor, Maryland. The address and required contents of the kits may be found on IOCC’s website at www.iocc.org/kits.

Meanwhile, authorities took the first steps towards dealing with the damage in New Orleans this past week by pumping out floodwaters, exercising forced removals, and counting the decaying corpses scattered around the sunken city. Mayor Nagin has estimated New Orleans’ death toll could reach as high as 10,000.

The mayor authorized law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late this past Tuesday, September 6, to evacuate the city for their own safety, warning that the fetid water could spread infectious disease, and that natural gas was leaking all over the inundated city. The order came after rescuers scouring New Orleans found hundreds of people ignoring warnings to get out.

"A lot of people don’t want to leave. They’ve got dogs, and they just want to stay close to their homes. They say they’re going to stay until the water goes down," Captain Scott Powell of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources told the Associated Press.

The pumping had begun during Labor Day weekend, with hundreds of sandbags and rocks being thrown into a 200-foot gap in the 17th Street Canal levee, which burst in the aftermath of the storm and swamped the city.

Although toxic floodwaters have been receding inch by grudging inch, only five of New Orleans’ normal contingent of 148 drainage pumps were operating, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the massive drainage project. How long it will take to drain the city depends on the condition of the pumps and water, which is full of debris, making it necessary for pumps to be frequently cleaned.

According to police, lawlessness in the city has subsided tremendously. Officers warned that those caught looting in an area where the Governor has declared a state of emergency can get up to 15 years in prison.

President Bush and Congress pledged on Tuesday to open separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina and New Orleans’ broken levees, a decision which met with skepticism.

"I don’t think the Government can investigate itself," Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) told NBC’s Today show on Wednesday morning, September 8, reiterating her call for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has been widely criticized for its response to the disaster, to be made independent from the Department of Homeland Security, and for an independent commission to investigate the federal response to the disaster.



Volume 7 Number 37 - Tuesday, September 13th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY