Response Paper to Buffalo Creek Flood and Buffalo Creek Revisited

Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man and Buffalo Creek Revisited are both documentary films about the disaster that happened on February 26, 1972. Pittston’s (the name of the coal company) dam broke and released 132 million gallons of waste water in Logan County, West Virginia USA. This paper would feature the author’s response towards the two documentary films inspired by the Buffalo Creek disaster. Response to the Films The title of the first documentary is a parody to the claim of the Pittston company that the disaster was an â€Å"Act of God,† claiming that God had simply put more rain water on the dam than it could hold.It is always disturbing to hear anyone blame God for the tragedies that happen in life. It is blasphemy to do such a thing. Instead of blaming God for their mistakes, they could have built a stronger dam, but they did not. As proof of the company’s deranged minds, they did not even warn the residents that the dam was on the brink of coll apse. The company even assured the residents that everything was okay, but once they assessed the condition of the dam, they were off in the other direction.These films show, although not in detail, the events that caused the disaster and the events after it through an interview of those involved. What is alarming in this film is how lightly the Pittston coal company took the matter lightly—in an interview. The company president was asked about the responsibility of the company; having pre-conceived the safest answer, he just said that they were still waiting for the results of the investigation when it was clear that they were at fault. Also, when asked about the proper spelling of his name, he laughed and commented that it was the hardest question he had to answer that day.The second film, Buffalo Creek Revisited, is about the condition of the residents after the disaster. Again, alarmingly, the company responsible had not made any significant moves to compensate for the lo sses the residents have had. References Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man Transcript (n. d. ) Retrieved April 26, 2009, from http://appalshop. org/buffalo/media/BCF-transcript. pdf. Buffalo Creek Revisited Transcript. (n. d) Retrieved April 26, 2009, from http://appalshop. org/buffalo/media/BCR-transcript. pdf.