Friday, September 09, 2005
Pacific News Service > News > News Feature, Andrew Lam,
Pacific News Service, Sep 09, 2005
Editor's Note: The Vietnamese American community relies heavily on their own mass media in times of crisis, and the Katrina hurricane accentuates how indispensable it is.
SAN FRANCISCO--When the levee broke in New Orleans and water rose to his knees at the Lavang Church in Versailles, a small town outside of New Orleans, Father Vien Nguyen reached for the phone. He did not call CNN or 911. Instead, he called Saigon Television Broadcasting Network to report that dozens of elderly Vietnamese were taking shelter in his church and to ask for help.
At a time when America was wringing its hands, wondering why government did too little and too late to help hurricane Katrina's victims, Vietnamese Americans affected by the disaster -- there were some 55,000 who lived in the areas hardest hit by the hurricane -- looked first and foremost to their own.
Within a few hours, the story was headline news in the Vietnamese American media, and Vietnamese communities across the United States were immediately mobilized to give help. Calls were made to the Red Cross, other emergency services as well as local politicians. National Public Radio got hold of the story when a resourceful woman named Trang Nguyen spammed news organizations and politicians in Washington, D.C. The priest and his congregation were rescued a couple days later.
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