Interview with someone who was out of town during the hurricane and has not return home yet.

My name is Beatriz Quintairos. The purpose of this interview is to collect a historical perspective of the experiences and thoughts, before and after the hurricane.

Cristina Quintairos is a medical student at Georgetown University in Washington D. C. This is her first year in medical school and first time away from home. She has lived in Miami, her hometown, for twentyone years. It will be four months before she will see what the effects of the hurricane were.

Today is November the twelfth, nineteen ninetytwo. The interview is being done over the phone, long distance.

Beatriz Quintairos: Where were you and when did you first realize that hurricane Andrew might hit Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: I was at a friends house in Gaithersburg, Maryland; and it was a Sunday evening; and I realized the hurricane was going to hit during the six o’clock news, and the newscasters announced that the hurricane was going to hit, and that was on Sunday evening.

Beatriz Quintairos: How did national news perceive the strength of the storm?

Cristina Quintairos: The hurricane was perceived as the strongest to hit the nation, that would hit the nation, and it was even stronger than Hugo, and it will cause more damage than Hugo, and was predicted to be a national disaster.

Beatriz Quintairos: And how did the community perceive the strength of the storm?

Cristina Quintairos: The friends I was with weren’t as threatened as I was, because they weren’t aware of the damage a hurricane could cause; but they probably saw the damage Hugo caused, but they weren’t aware that it could be worse, or they didn’t know much about hurricanes, or asking what was actually a hurricane. They didn’t know the difference between a hurricane and a tornado, and so they didn’t have so much concern, as I did, at that time.

Beatriz Quintairos: And what was the first thing that went through your mind after the news?

Cristina Quintairos: Well, I wanted to go back to my apartment in Virginia, and call home and find out what was going on. And I wanted to check if my family was prepared, and to ask them about the winds, and the rains, and what was actually happening with the weather at the time; and I was already scared because they already made it to category five or one of the strongest; and I was just hoping that nothing would happen to my home or people I knew.

Beatriz Quintairos: Where is your home located in Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: It is located in Coral Gables, which according to the news, it was the area that the hurricane was going to hit.

Beatriz Quintairos: Why were you not able to go home to Miami to help make preparations for the storm?

Cristina Quintairos: I had left Miami during the first week of August to attend graduate school, and at the time, I was not aware of the hurricane, and so obviously I couldn’t do anything, and I did not make plans to go back to Miami once I heard about the hurricane, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t have been able to go because the flights to Miami were either extremely limited or they were canceled.

Beatriz Quintairos: Did you fear destruction of your home, your family’s and friend’s?

Cristina Quintairos: Yeah, I feared the destruction, especially after knowing the destruction Hugo caused and being told that this hurricane was more powerful, and I just hope that everyone was prepared, or if they had to evacuate, they would go, and just to be prepared for it.

Beatriz Quintairos: Was your local news channel keeping your city informed as the hurricane approached the Florida peninsula?

Cristina Quintairos: Yeah, the hurricane was the only subject the news was covering as the hurricane approached. It was like top news.

Beatriz Quintairos: As you saw the hurricane getting closer to Miami, did you fear more destruction since its strength didn’t diminish?

Cristina Quintairos: Okay, before the hurricane got close, I assumed it would turn away; because I have been through two hurricanes that got just as close, but eventually they turned back. But being that the hurricane seemed to be getting stronger, and not weaker, and just actually just aiming towards South Florida, I started to believe that it was actually going to hit, so throughout all this time, I was just anxious and nervous, just wondering what would happen.

Beatriz Quintairos:Were you in contact with someone in Miami as the hurricane approached that night?

Cristina Quintairos: Yeah, I was in contact with my family, and my boyfriend’s family, throughout most of the night of the hurricane, on Sunday night, and I believe I was contacting until, like about, two o’clock in the morning.

Beatriz Quintairos:So you were actually speaking with them as they were noticing some differences in the outside, in the environment, with the weather?

Cristina Quintairos: When I was speaking to my boyfriend’s grandmother, she was telling me how loud the wind was, and she was able to see the garbage flying out of the bins in the front of her house, and she also heard tiles hitting her house, and at that time, she hadn’t lost her power, yet, because I was talking to them, probably at the beginning of the hurricane, when it was going through, and then after that; I called my house; and I was talking to my sister; and she was telling me that the wind was howling, and that a lot of things were flying and hitting walls and the windows of the house, and she told me that the sliding doors were, and windows were, vibrating, and she thought that they would get sucked in, and also she was looking outside into the porch, and she saw the fans that were swinging back and forth, and she thought that they would fly off. At one time, she heard a loud noise in the back of the house, but it was too dark to see what would had actually happened at that time; but the next day, they went to see, and it was a tree that fell, that had hit the side and the roof of the house; and then two days later, they had found out that this was causing a leak inside the house, and she also told me that it wasn’t pouring rain, but it was lightly showering, and she told me it was a so called “dry hurricane”; and at one point the electricity went out, and she started to listen to the radio, and the radio newscasters were saying that the hurricane was going into Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, and later it turned out that they announced that it was going towards South Miami, and also throughout this whole time she was hearing transformers blowing, and seeing the lights flashing from the transformers, and she said this was the only source of light, during the hurricane, that they had.

Beatriz Quintairos: How did the person you spoke with feel?

Cristina Quintairos: When I called home, I talked to my mother first, and I was just asking a lot of questions, and she didn’t seem to be nervous, or anything, like she would answer my questions: “Yeah, it’s windy, and the trees are blowing, and it’s raining,” and I was just asking what was happening, and just asking about the dog, and he was just going crazy, and I just ask so many questions, just because I, since I wasn’t there to experience the hurricane, I just wanted to know as much about it, as possible, like what they were seeing, and just because I just felt left out, that everybody at home was able to go through the experience, and they will be able to relate to it, together, in a different way than I can relate with them, to it, about it actually, and so I was just simply like on the outside looking into the hurricane; and then I also talked to one of my sisters, and I asked her questions, she has fish, I was just asking her, if they were going to die when the electricity goes out, and she was just pretty calm, she was on the couch, just hearing the news, and she was telling me that the wind was blowing real hard, and I also called my boyfriend’s house, and I was talking to him, and he was just wondering what was going to happen, and he sounded pretty nervous, but of course, he wouldn’t say anything, and I spoke to his grandmother, and asked about his little two and a half year old cousin, and asked if she was scared, or if she was crying, and she told me that she had explained to her earlier that there was going to be a lot of bad weather, and that the hurricane was happening, and that they were just explaining to her just what might happen, and that she shouldn’t get scared.

Beatriz Quintairos: Did you feel they were threatened or not threatened by the storm?

Cristina Quintairos: I feel they were threatened, and maybe they didn’t show as much fear as I thought they would, because I know all that they could, was just sit and wait out the storm.

Beatriz Quintairos: Did you feel more threatened?

Cristina Quintairos: I personally was not feeling more threatened, but I was still as concerned.

Beatriz Quintairos: What were your concerns and thoughts during the hurricane?

Cristina Quintairos: During the hurricane, I was just wondering what was happening, I was thinking whether or not my home was going to be destroyed, whether my family was safe. I was already picturing the destruction that could occur in Miami, just picturing, like the familiar sites, just being destroyed, and at that time, I already knew if something serious happened to my family, I would return home and help out, because I felt it wouldn’t be right for me to be here, living the good life when everybody at home was either hurt or despaired, or there’s just a lot of loss.

Beatriz Quintairos: After the hurricane were you able to contact anyone in Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: I contacted Miami like at six o’clock in the morning on Monday, and at that time they told me that the first half of the hurricane passed, like the eye was going through, and that everything was pretty calm, and that they just had to sit and wait out for the other phase of the hurricane, and they told me that there wasn’t any serious damage, like I called both my house and my boyfriend’s house, there wasn’t any serious damage, just like tiles and trees, at least in their areas, and later that afternoon, like at one o’clock, I contacted my home, and everything was okay, and the hurricane went through, and everything the same answers to my questions as before, and after that, ‘cause I wanted to contact my family again to see how everybody else was, because they would know, because they probably were calling everybody up, but then I had trouble getting through, I couldn’t call my home, and so I had to be calling either some other friend’s or my boyfriend’s house and have them call my house, so that they could call me out, because I think at that time you couldn’t get long distance phone calls into Miami, into a lot of areas, but they could call out, so I pretty much was having a hard time getting through.

Beatriz Quintairos: What were the person’s thoughts and emotions?

Cristina Quintairos: Well, that I guess that they were glad that it was over, and that they were relieved, that they just had to pick up the mess.

Beatriz Quintairos:How did you feel?

Cristina Quintairos: I was glad that nothing happened, at least to the knowledge of that I had, at that time, from day to day, that nothing happened serious to my family. I know that cousins loss their apartments or part of their homes, and stuff, but they had evacuated, so nothing happened to them, so I was glad that nothing really serious happened.

Beatriz Quintairos: Serious meaning what?

Cristina Quintairos: Like you know, people getting hurt, I think it’s worse to end up being in the hospital, then actually getting your house destroyed. Their houses weren’t completely destroyed.

Beatriz Quintairos: What was your local news’ reaction to the hurricane after it hit?

Cristina Quintairos: Okay, the news automatically said it was a national disaster, and that a lot of destruction occurred, that Homestead was destroyed. They showed photo aerial shots of Homestead, and all you saw was just plywood, and just nothing, flat ground. They were already estimating the damages over thirty billion dollars; and it will take years for recovery.

Beatriz Quintairos: How did you feel when you saw the coverage of the hurricane aftermath of your hometown?

Cristina Quintairos: In a sense, I was relieved that what happened to Homestead, didn’t happen to my home or family or friend’s homes, but I still felt bad for those people, and I felt their loss, and I did see the destruction, and I wish it never occurred, and I knew those people, especially those people in Homestead, would have a much harder time to get their lives started again, like everything would just stop for a very long time.

Beatriz Quintairos: How did people in your community feel about the disaster in Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: Well, people here don’t know much about hurricanes. Everybody in my school would ask me questions, being that I’m the only one there, that they know, that’s from Miami, just ask me if my family was okay, and like what happened, was the house still standing, people just weren’t aware of what kind of damage a hurricane can do, and they were concerned, and it immediately, the community, started to collecting money, and food, and getting everything together to send help.

Beatriz Quintairos: How did you feel when you saw people from out of town helping people in Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: I was happy, being that people usually only fend for themselves, and usually don’t care about others, but when it came down to it, people realized that enormous amount of help was needed in Miami, and they went out of their way to collect food, money, clothes, water, and building materials to send to Florida. People donated many hours of their time for this task, even now, months after the hurricane, people at my school, in Georgetown University, are collecting money to help South Florida. This showed that people here are sincerely concerned about the people in Florida, being that they are still doing something about it, because many times when people start with great enthusiasm to help others, it usually dies off. I feel great to live in a nation, that even though people are thousands of miles apart, they can still reach out and help one another.

Beatriz Quintairos: Is there still coverage of the hurricane in your community, even now that several months have passed?

Cristina Quintairos: Nah, there’s no coverage, maybe I saw something mentioned about Hurricane Andrew three or four weeks ago, but I really don’t remember.

Beatriz Quintairos: Did you feel the need to go back to Miami and help?

Cristina Quintairos: No, because nothing serious happened to my family and home, and although like my cousins lost parts of their homes, they were okay, and their families were okay, and they were able to get help from them.

Beatriz Quintairos:Does your heart go out to those dealing with the disaster in your hometown?

Cristina Quintairos: Yeah, they lost their homes and all their memories in their homes, and I mean they need to start over, and it will take years for them to recover, and it just puts a whole stop in their lives. It’s something they will need to work to get through.

Beatriz Quintairos:How do you anticipate what you will see when you return home?

Cristina Quintairos: I picture everything will be extremely different, being that I have lived in Miami all my life, I know pretty much everything there, and I’ll notice when trees are missing, and the mess, things that haven’t been picked up yet, just areas with buildings down, especially in Homestead, just seeing everything completely different, like the loss of things.

Beatriz Quintairos: When will you be returning to Miami?

Cristina Quintairos: I will be returning home on December the eighteenth, which is about four months after the hurricane

Beatriz Quintairos: Do you think everything will be the same since you left?

Cristina Quintairos: No, I would definitely notice the changes, and I think Miami will never be the same; at least in my home, everything will be back to normal because everything was picked up, but I will only see like missing trees, and broken fences that haven’t been fixed, and missing roof tiles that haven’t been replaced. I think where I will see the most effects of the hurricane is when I go drive to Homestead, where I will see Homestead all destroyed, and debris that has not been picked up. I think it will look like a ghost town that people are trying to revive.

Beatriz Quintairos: Is there anything else that you would like to tell us that I haven’t asked you?

Cristina Quintairos: Well I guess I missed the first hurricane that has hit South Florida in over twenty years, and I feel I can not directly relate to the hurricane the same way people in Florida did, but I did feel in a more similar way to them then people who are not from there, just because my concerns were personal and greater than theirs, and because I had more knowledge about hurricanes; and although I tried to keep in constant contact with them in Miami, I think hearing and actually seeing the hurricane are not the same as just like actually experiencing it, being there, and my heart does go out to the people in South Florida, because I feel the loss of their homes and memories, and as well as the damage done to my hometown, and the hurricane left a scar that will take many years to heal in Miami.