When disaster strikes, religion ceases to exist

Forecasters warned that it would be a major disaster with some predicting that it could be the strongest storm to hit the country since 2005.

Inhabitants were advised to evacuate as Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster for 30 Texan counties.

He said: “I strongly urge all Texans to heed warnings from your local officials. I also urge that you immediately follow evacuation orders from all impacted counties, particularly in Corpus Christi and Houston where the storm surge and flooding from Hurricane Harvey are most likely.

“Please take all necessary precautions to save your life and minimise risk.”

On Friday, August 25, 2017, the storm and the ensuing flood hit the city.

Daryl Cornett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hazard, Kentucky who witnessed the flood described it as “traumatic.”

In his words, “It’s just the saturating rain, the rain right now is just sort of relentless. Just imagine it just raining and raining and raining and the water having nowhere to go.”

This flood has done a lot of damage in the city. Within five days, many homes have been destroyed, leaving over 30,000 people homeless and at least 300,000 people without power.

ALSO READ: Latest on 'catastrophic,' 'unprecedented' flooding

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the world has witnessed people of different races and faiths coming together to offer help to the victims.

Churches and community centres have opened up their doors to displaced people seeking shelter.

Muslims have also pitched in. Independent reports that Muslim youth were seen helping their Houston neighbours during the storm.

Reportedly, over 100 members of Muslim Youth USA and 40 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association were out on the streets passing out food and water.

Madeel Abdullah, director of humanitarian affairs for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, said the volunteers are simply “helping anybody else that’s in distress”.

“We’ve already provided basic supplies such as food items and water bottles and we have a few members who have boats who are going around making sure everyone is safe.”

Mosques belonging to The Islamic Society of Greater Houston are also open to survivors of the storm.

ALSO READ: Pastor Joel Osteen faces backlash for not opening his doors during flood

In a time like this, it is safe to say that no one is thinking about their prejudice against the other’s religion.

No one remembers that this is Trump’s America, a country where anti-Muslim hate crimes have spiked 91 percent.

None of these matters as everyone is simply trying to help as many people as possible in the face of this crisis.

If only this was our reality, the world where religious bias did not exist and people just treated one another with kindness like we are doing now.

Hopefully, a time will come when we do not have to wait for disasters to unite us.

Meanwhile, more people have been rescued. According to the Independent, over 3,000 people have been picked up since the storm hit.

Unfortunately, at least nine people have been reported dead.

At this rate, Hurricane Harvey might just surpass the 2008’s Hurricane Ike that left 21 people dead in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas to become the worst storm in US history.