Vietnamese Evacuees Shun Shelters

Sun Sep 11, 11:54 AM (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.thsv.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=721

With Vietnamese evacuees continuing to pour into Houston, some Asian representatives worry the community may be trying to do too much on its own.

The uncounted thousands of Vietnamese storm victims are not going to the Astrodome or the George R. Brown Convention Center to seek help from the government, leaders say. Instead, many gather at Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire, a privately run mall where they are being connected with ample free food and housing from fellow Vietnamese — help that cannot last indefinitely.

"The problem is, because the Vietnamese are not in the shelters, they are not receiving assistance" from the government and the American Red Cross, said Nguyen Dinh Thang, the head of Boat People S.O.S., a group that has helped Vietnamese from its Hong Kong City Mall office.

Many of the Vietnamese from New Orleans and Mississippi are staying with family and friends, while others are staying at Vietnamese Catholic churches and Buddhist temples. Some need medical attention, and many continue to look for lost relatives.

Nguyen Van Thanh, 37, a shrimper, was at sea when the storm neared, and he called his wife via cell phone to tell her to wait for him in New Orleans. His boat landed a day or two after the hurricane hit, and he was shocked to find the city abandoned and his family missing. He made his way to Houston last week and has stayed at the Vietnam Buddhist Temple while putting the word out on Vietnamese radio that he is looking for his wife and 4-year-old daughter.

"I'm very afraid," he said through an interpreter.

Some Vietnamese say they expect to stay in Houston permanently, which should solidify the city's role as the Vietnamese cultural center for the Gulf Coast. Though no one has an exact estimate, leaders say they think well more than 10,000 Vietnamese evacuees are now in Houston, on top of the 60,000 who already live in the region.

Quan Huynh, the president of the Vietnamese American Community in Louisiana, said he has talked to a number of evacuees who first went to Dallas and Austin but are coming to Houston because they hear it is the center for resettlement.

About 24,000 Vietnamese lived in Louisiana and another 5,000 each lived in Mississippi and Alabama, according to the 2000 Census. Many worked in the fishing industry, which meant they lived in the areas hardest hit by Katrina: New Orleans; Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile and Bayou la Batre, Ala.

With shrimp prices so low and diesel prices so high, many Vietnamese shrimpers were considering leaving the fishing towns even before Katrina hit. Pham Thanh, a shrimper from New Orleans, said he won't go back, even though he bought a house there less than a month ago.

"It used to be Louisiana, but now we call it Lousy-ana," said Thanh, who is staying at the Buddhist temple.

Some Vietnamese are starting to take advantage of more mainstream services. Word spread recently that Catholic Charities was handing out $200 in cash to storm victims and $100 in grocery vouchers, and more than 4,000 Vietnamese showed up, Catholic Charities' Bob Fleming said.

"If you had driven by on Monday, you would have thought it was Saigon and we were lifting helicopters off the roof," Fleming said.

YMCA International Services also began helping a few families this week, said director Jeff Watkins.

"The Vietnamese are not plugged into the mainstream services, and they need to be," said Watkins, who speaks fluent Vietnamese. "The people who were coming into our office were getting desperate."

Some had been staying in hotels they could no longer afford, while others had worn out their welcome at the houses of friends and relatives.

Asian leaders met with Mayor Bill White and City councilmen Gordon Quan and M.J. Khan earlier this week to consider ways to coordinate relief efforts among Asians.

But Quan later acknowledged it was proving difficult to get the different Asian groups to work together.

"It's like herding cats," he said. "The groups each want to do it on their own."

While conceding that it is a sensitive topic, some Vietnamese leaders say their community is reluctant to seek help at the Astrodome in part because of a history of racial tensions between Vietnamese and blacks.

The Vietnamese perceive the Astrodome and convention center as being shelters for blacks, said Thang, the Boat People S.O.S. head.

Katrina hit less than nine months after the tsunami devastated much of Asia.

Thai Ambassador Kasit Piromya came to Houston on Thursday for a series of events including ThaiFest, a downtown festival being held today to highlight Thai food and culture.

The festival was originally designed to thank Houston for help after the tsunami.

But now, the Thai are returning the favor. After Katrina came ashore, organizers of ThaiFest announced that the money raised will be used to help the hurricane victims.