An arts perspective on the tragic Typhoon and Hurrican Sandy: Humera Afridi
Share Humera Afridi: Tell Them Our Stories November 25, 2013 On storytelling and survival in post-disaster landscapes, from Tacloban City to Staten Island. Image from Flickr via International Labour Organization - ILO PHOTOS By Humera Afridi As heart-wrenching appeals from survivors of Typhoon Haiyan rupture the scrim of our days—as do the images of uprooted coconut orchards, decomposing bodies and incomprehensible destruction—I can’t help but think of the silence that will, in all likelihood, all too soon, cloak the tragedy and the Philippines’ long struggle towards recovery. The barrage of disaster news reminds those who’ve survived a cataclysm that media attention brings with it a tincture of healing. When plight is public, loss and commiseration become communal. In October 2005, after a massive earthquake struck Pakistan, I joined the relief efforts of a local NGO in the country’s mountainous north. Traveling to rural villages an...