美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Humbled To Ask For Help' — Low-Income Communities Struggle To Recover After A Wildfire

'Humbled² To Ask For Help' — Low-Income Communities Struggle To Recover After A Wildfire

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Fires have already destroyed nearly 1,400 homes in California this year, the latest in a string of blazes that have ravaged³ the state in recent years. As with all natural disasters, the people who end up suffering the most are those who had less to start with. From member station KQED, Sam Harnett has the story of two families in Northern California at different points in the struggle to start all over again.

SAM HARNETT, BYLINE⁴: Wendy and Norm Alvarez lost everything in the wildfire that swept through Redding earlier this summer.

NORM ALVAREZ: That's the shop area. That's just (unintelligible).

WENDY ALVAREZ: Yeah, there was a wall here. I'm going to step down over on the other side to the other room.

N. ALVAREZ: This was our garden.

HARNETT: They lost their possessions, their affordable⁵ living situation, even what Norm used to make money, his tools.

N. ALVAREZ: Yeah, table saws, chop saws, generators⁶, ladders, all that. It's history.

HARNETT: Norm's a general contractor⁷. All he has left now is a drill that happened to be in his truck when they fled. Wendy and Norm rented a house in Redding, about three hours north of San Francisco. It's a rural area where good jobs and affordable housing are hard to replace. The couple's in their 50s, and they thought they were set for retirement⁸ - not anymore.

W. ALVAREZ: Financially, we are in a tough position that we haven't had to be in. And that has been very uncomfortable - to humble¹ yourself, to ask for help.

HARNETT: Like many displaced by the fires, the couple didn't have renters insurance. Local nonprofits gave them some money for food and clothes, and FEMA helped cover a few months' rent. Right now, Wendy and Norm are splitting an apartment with other fire survivors⁹.

W. ALVAREZ: None of us know what direction we're going to go.

HARNETT: Wendy and Norm may never recover financially. A study published last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed¹⁰ 90 years of national disaster data. It found that major disasters increase the poverty rate. They encourage those with means to leave, and they push the low income deeper into poverty as they struggle to recover. John and Ellen Brackett lost their home a year ago, and they're still in limbo¹¹.

ELLEN BRACKETT: Right here we had a two-bedroom house with a...

HARNETT: The couple owns 2 acres of land and had a house in Mendocino County. It had been in the family for three generations. Now the couple is living in trailers.

E. BRACKETT: These are our lovely ghetto¹² FEMA trailers.

HARNETT: How long you been in here?

E. BRACKETT: What? We got here February of this year...

JOHN BRACKETT: Yeah, something like that.

E. BRACKETT: ...At least.

HARNETT: Their property was packed with old vehicles, trailers and motorbikes. That's all gone. They couldn't get insurance for all that stuff. After the fires, FEMA gave them $21,000. They used all that money just to get fresh water.

E. BRACKETT: Just for our well was almost all the money we got from FEMA.

HARNETT: The family has no real savings¹³. Ellen has a job doing in-home care, and John was a sheetrocker. But a motorcycle accident and years of hanging drywall destroyed his shoulder. He just had surgery, and his doctor told him he's done with manual labor¹⁴.

J. BRACKETT: I'm one of those kind of guys that like to give help. I don't like to receive it. I like to give it.

HARNETT: So what are you - what's the hope? Like, what are you...

J. BRACKETT: I've been to prison half my life, and I got out and I started doing good (sighing).

E. BRACKETT: Yeah. He started doing really good and then just loses everything.

HARNETT: Over 400 families in Mendocino County lost their homes to fire last October. According to a local community organization, only one has been rebuilt. Around 50 families like the Bracketts are living in FEMA trailers. Ellen and John are hoping to get one of a handful of low-interest rebuilding loans from the state.

E. BRACKETT: We're just going to slap in a five-bedroom modular and hopefully get our life back to normal 'cause this is a little crazy.

HARNETT: And the clock is ticking. FEMA only lends out trailers for 18 months. Ellen and John lose theirs in April. If they don't have a house by then, Ellen says the couple and their two kids and John's mother are going to have to live in tents.

In Mendocino County, I'm Sam Harnett, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUSTRALIA'S "EXHALE")

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

3 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

6 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

9 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

10 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

12 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

13 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

14 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。