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Reconstruction work has begun in New Orleans after the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina, with the electricity and water supply restored in some buildings, but many of some 2,500 Korean Americans who lived in the city have lost fortunes they worked their whole lives to build.
Kwon Oh-su (51), who had a laundry, cannot even access the store because the area is still under water. New washers he bought two days before the disaster hit the city have become debris without ever being used. ¡°I moved to New Orleans after I lost everything because of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but here I am, left with nothing again,¡± he says. His wife, he says, has no more tears left after crying her heart out for several days.
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Moon Jeong-suk, the president of the New Orleans Korean-American Association, was speechless after looking at the ruined Korean-American commercial district.
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Koreans staying in the U.S. illegally but hoping to get green cards by working as taxi drivers, cooks or cleaners, in the touristy city of New Orleans, are hit even harder. A 52-year-old Korean who gave only his surname Kim said he cannot apply for relief from the federal government because that would expose him.
What the Korean Americans fear most is a protracted aftermath. The stores can be restored by personal efforts, but if the entire commercial district collapses, there is no hope they can bounce back. Many of the residents of New Orleans are reportedly moving to other big cities such as Atlanta, Georgia to find new jobs.
Even the Korean-American commercial quarter in Houston, Texas, a six-hour drive from New Orleans, is feeling the fallout from Katrina. Here, sales dropped by 20 to 30 percent because many of the main customers of beauty products, bags, accessories, and medical instruments wholesalers in Houston were from New Orleans.
But Koreans are sticking together. A Korean Baptist church in Baton Rouge, 100 km from New Orleans, has set up a temporary shelter for the victims and is packed with relief supplies like clothes, rice and beverages from Korean-Americans in other areas. On the Church notice board, messages offer jobs, temporary accommodation or simple encouragement. Lee Dae-seob, who teaches at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, says he has been helping victims by cleaning the church and giving them a ride. The association of Korean-Americans in Baton Rouge decided to make songpyeon -- the rice cakes Koreans eat on Chuseok or Thanksgiving Day on Sept. 17 -- and share them with the victims.
But what the victims need the most is cash. Lee Hee-shin (56) says there is enough food and clothes. ¡°But we need cash, however little,¡± he says.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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