By Staff
Our View
With all the news circulating about the tsunami in Asia and all of the relief efforts going out to those people many survivors of the California landslide have been forgotten by the media.
Soon after the 9-11 disaster every newscast spread word of the survivors and fatalities in the World Trade Center and Pentagon explosions. The smaller death tolls of the Pennsylvania crash kept the broadcast media spending a fraction of the airtime the larger crashes received.
Just because one tragedy is not as large-scale as another victims and their families were overlooked.
While death tolls in Asia after the tsunami were much greater than those of the California landslide, California should not be put on a media back-burner.
Charities and news organizations have flocked to India, Taiwan and other Indian Ocean nations but the drastically smaller southern California flood is almost unheard of.
Only 800 homes were evacuated in Southern California and flash floods tore through the area around Prado Dam in the Chino area 50 miles east of Los Angeles.There weren't nearly enough homes to warrant wide-scale media attention, it seems.
A local emergency was declared after a small hole was discovered in Prado Dam water levels rose in the Santa Ana River.
Southern California was hammered for nearly two weeks by some of the heaviest rainfall on record,causing flash floods, road closures and mudslides.
The leak grew over night with the additional water pressure.
Police and firefighters went to door-to-door ordering residents whose homes were below dam level and sent them to a local high school for shelter.
An entire hillside, bombarded by heavy rains and water pouring from the dam carried off several local residents and killed at least 10 people.
No this wasn't an international flood of near Biblical proportions. This wasn't a tidal wave that swept thousands out to sea or buried them under debris.
Millions of lives weren't affected.
Only a few people were killed so the television didn't cover it. Only a few lives were destroyed; no big deal.
Every life is valuable. From the most vile criminal to the most revered priest, preacher or pontiff, every life has a value.
Is it right to allow a handful of hurt families to be pushed aside.
Aide overseas is very valuable and important. The lives of millions in Asia should not be overlooked but neither should we, as Americans or as members of the media, overlook the lives of a small handful of Americans.
Whether in war, act of nature or civilian violence, no death is unimportant.available.