Katherina
Geschrieben von Parivadi das am 31. August 2005 20:39:52:
Hier ist ein Bericht aus der Gegend von New Orleans von den Hare-Krishna-Devotees:
Dear Devotees,
Hare Krsna! Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Nrsimhadeva!
Yesterday New Talavan and New Orleans were hit by Hurricane Katrina, a
devastating Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 MPH. The eye of the
storm came ashore near Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, and passed within
10 miles of New Talavan.
By Krsna's grace and Lord Nrsimhadeva's mercy, everyone here at New Talavan
is OK. There were no casualties or injuries. However, we have had no contact
with New Orleans temple since the storm. The situation in New Orleans is
critical: extensive wind damage and flooding, highways into the city are
devastated, and many casualties. We advised the New Orleans devotees on
Sunday to evacuate to the farm before the storm hit, but they could not be
convinced to leave. We are very concerned about the devotees there.
Here are the details: the storm hit yesterday early morning. By dawn the
winds were over 60 MPH. The hurricane peaked about 11 AM. There was a short
lull and then the winds picked up again in the reverse direction. Many trees
are down—up to 50% of trees in some wind-exposed areas. The roads are
completely blocked, electricity and phones are down, even cell phones
because the towers rely on electricity to function.
We had no significant damage to the Temple and kitchen. There was some
slight damage to the men's ashram, temple office and sannyasi quarters.
There was heavy wind and rain damage to the Gurukula building, and our
workshop building was devastated. One devotee's trailer was destroyed by
falling trees, and another devotee's cottage lost part of the roof. There
may be other damage in remote parts of the farm that we have not yet seen.
Extensive cleanup and repairs will be required before we are back to
anything near normal status.
Krsna's cows are fine; as far as we know none were injured by falling trees.
They were seen placidly grazing in 120 MPH winds! Cows are something else.
We do have a lot of fence damage, however, and will have to manage our herds
carefully to keep them on the property and out of danger until the fences
are repaired.
We do not expect to have electricity for a few weeks. Roads everywhere are
blocked by fallen trees until county bulldozers can get around to clearing
them. So no one is going anywhere for awhile. Fortunately, we have plenty of
food, gasoline and diesel fuel. Our water system has a propane-powered
generator. As soon as we can clear some roads, we will have a diesel
generator for the temple and kitchen. The devotee community is pulling
together to repair the damage, and we expect that things will turn out well.
We are thankful for Krsna's merciful protection.
Our only means of communication is via our satellite internet system. All
other means of communication and travel are presently down. We can't even
get out of our driveway because of huge fallen trees! We will check our
email daily and keep the devotional community up to date on our progress.
Please especially pray for the well-being of the devotees trapped in New
Orleans.
Now we know why Srila Prabhupada wanted self-sufficient farm communities.
What happened in New Orleans can happen anywhere.
your servant,
Dasanudas Vanacari
Secretary,