Ramblings On My Mind - Feb 2010
Written by Greg Johnson Tuesday, 19 January 2010 21:35
Bookmark with:
Greg Johnson / CBA President
This month’s president’s message is taking a slight turn for a change. Because it’s time for a reality check, people. As you are more than aware, a major earthquake struck Haiti this past month in perhaps the worst possible conditions imaginable. A highly populated area made up of mostly poor people living in not the best of conditions to begin with. A former co-worker of mine has been working with Doctors Without Borders for the past couple years now. He was assigned to Dafur where he saw extreme conditions brought about by man against itself. But the organization was forced to leave that country. Over the past couple months he has been reassigned to Haiti, working for the group’s security force at a hospital in Port-Au-Prince. Then Mother Nature brought about a greater calamity in just a matter of minutes than mankind could ever dream of doing to itself and that hospital is now a pile of rubble. In an e-mail he sent from the nightmare, his words were frightening: “Many are dead. Total devastation everywhere.”
Just because this event took place several thousand miles away, do not for a moment believe it cannot happen to us at any given time. The Pacific Northwest lies on one of the deadliest faultlines on earth, the Cascadia Subduction Zone that stretches from Canada to Northern California just off the Pacific Coast shoreline . There are also three large faults running through Portland, one on each side of the West Hills and another along the east bluff of the Willamette River. In other words, pretty much the core of downtown Portland. Though the Cascadia has been silent for the past couple hundred years, scientific evidence and stories from Native Americans tell a terrifying story. The earthquake in Haiti was a 7.0 with many large aftershocks ranging in the mid-to-upper 4 levels. History shows the Cascadia usually brings about quakes in the range of 9.0, occurring usually about every 300 years or so. The last one in the early 1700s. All of these quakes have been followed by tremendous tsunamis that have spanned across the Pacific Ocean.Emergency Planning is practiced routinely by the City, State, Region and emergency services such as hospitals, police, fire and ambulances. But can you really be prepared? Is there really any way to prevent Mother Nature from delivering such grief upon the earth?
Yet in times of disaster, the world seems to come together. In the past decade we have seen it with the Indonesian Tsunami, we saw it with Hurricane Katrina, and now we’re starting to see it for Haiti. Many large benefits are arranged and musicians are always the first to reach out a hand when needed. I am certain we will see several events over the next few months, but please take note of the special night scheduled to occur on Sunday, January 31st at The Refectory. Quickly pieced together by A.C. Porter and Kevin Selfe this night of all-star blues talent is not asking for an admission fee, rather they’re suggestion giving at the door whatever you can to help Mercy Corps’ efforts to try to relieve the suffering of a nation. Please try to make this event and give what you can. Even if you cannot stay for the entertainment, drop by and offer something if possible. It is the humane thing to do, and as I have said, it could be us living in the same situation at any given time.
lessings to all who offer support and prayers to the people of Haiti in their time of need. Music can be curing during such happenings in the means that it can raise awareness and donations. The blues are a healing music; let it do its magic here even in its own small way. It may not seem like much, but it means millions more than can be imagined.