By Isabella Zamora
Hurricane HarveyHoustonians have experienced their fair share of natural disasters. Growing up, I remember Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike. I remember staying at home with my sister and mom while my father, working in television at the time, was in the field bringing news into the homes of Houston residents.
I was an adult living with my sister when Hurricane Harvey devastated our city. We prepared the same way we always did. However, this time was a little different for me. This time, I was one of the “essential workers” working in an Emergency Department (“ED”) in the Heights. My new preparation plan included coordinating alternate routes to the hospital (in the event of inevitable flooding because, well, it’s Houston).
The days following Hurricane Harvey were a chaotic blur. In the midst of all that chaos, I remember a nearby restaurant brought food to feed the entire ED team. I remember a family dropped off homemade cookies with a handmade card from their children to say “Thank You.” I remember a man donated his coffee maker telling us “I don’t have power at home anyway. You need it more than I do.”
Hurricane Harvey was a major blow to the city of Houston, but the community grew stronger because of it. Houstonians were helping save their neighbors from floodwaters and hundreds of people jumped into action to help at shelters across the city. Hurricane Harvey had no bias for who was affected by its strong winds and floodwaters. Houstonians of all social classes and backgrounds were displaced and the city rallied around their communities to help families get back on their feet.
If you’re from Houston, you’re really proud of it. We’re known to almost obnoxiously “rep our city” any chance we get. That pride we have for Houston only grew after Hurricane Harvey. We are stronger, today, because of it.
COVID-19As news of COVID-19 escalated in Madrid and when the city-wide lockdown was implemented, it felt oddly familiar to bracing for a hurricane back in Texas. I quickly realized the storm that is COVID-19 was going to be a very different kind of disaster.
I am still in Madrid, a city that became the epicenter of COVID-19 two weeks after its first confirmed patient. Infection cases continue to rise and the number of deaths are reaching records highs every day. I’m confined to my apartment for what was originally 15 days (just recently extended to April 11) and there is no sign of when the storm will pass.
The difference between Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 is that it’s not just affecting one community. The literal definition of a pandemic is “prevalent over a whole country or the world.” COVID-19, like a natural disaster, has no bias. Anyone and everyone is susceptible to its wrath.
Already we have seen the world come together, the way Houston has in times of disaster. I feel the strength of Madrid fighting together at 8 p.m. every day when not just my street, but all of Spain, stands out on their terraces clapping and cheering for those on the front lines. I feel the strength of the world when I see physicians from Cuba walking off planes to help those in Italy. I get a profound sense of unity as I read about schools distributing food to children who depended on them for meals and when I see celebrities perform free concerts from home to entertain the masses in self-quarantine.
We Are In This TogetherIn times of crisis, people come together. This time it’s not just Houston, it’s not just Madrid — it’s the world. The entire world is in this together even as we are physically isolated from our communities. It’s time to show the same strength and resilience I saw after Hurricane Harvey, across the world in this fight against COVID-19. The world may all be “social distancing” but we have never been closer. I keep reminding myself of a tweet from astronaut Scott Kelly saying: “We are all seeing now just how interconnected we are. What we share is much more powerful than what keeps us apart, for better or for worse. We can prevail if we work together.”
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