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| Big relief effort meets Katrina |
| 2005-09-07 |
| HOUSTON – Even before hurricane Katrina made landfall Monday, a massive relief brigade - one that officials hoped would be an equal match for a huge Category 4 storm - was being deployed to help residents along Louisiana's low-lying coast. Among them: The Red Cross called upon some 5,000 volunteers, including some who drove in from Washington State. Members of Fark.com, an online discussion board, offered to host fellow forum participants who were fleeing Katrina. And FEMA, the federal disaster-response agency, moved its search-and-rescue teams - as well as stockpiles of ice, water, and food - as close as safety would permit. The outpouring of aid, possibly the largest the US has ever seen to cope with a domestic natural disaster, stems from Katrina's imposing size as well as its destination so near the major population center of New Orleans. Such early deployment of relief is unusual in disaster-aid work. But damage projections had been so severe - and New Orleans deemed so vulnerable in its dependence on a network of levees, canals, and pumps to keep dry - that President Bush on Saturday went ahead and declared an emergency in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to mobilize ahead of the storm. Forecasters, scientists, and government officials have long worried that a hurricane could swamp the Big Easy, parts of which are 10 feet below sea level, and cause months of misery. As a result, relief agencies - public and private - moved with urgency once Katrina, which led to nine fatalities when it hit Florida Thursday as a much weaker storm, turned toward Louisiana. "This storm is so large ... that it's like all the storms from last year rolled together and probably [those were] still not as bad," says Margaret O'Brien-Molina, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross in its southwest region. "So our coordinated efforts have to be huge." Last year, the Red Cross mobilized 7,000 volunteers total to handle the aftermath from four major hurricanes. For Katrina alone, it is working on sending upwards of 5,000. Staging areas set up at both Houston airports allowed arriving volunteers to get off their planes and onto the road as quickly as possible. Red Cross emergency response vehicles, or ERVs, are crucial in a situation like this, says Ms. O'Brien-Molina, because many skeptical New Orleans residents didn't take the mandatory evacuation seriously enough and then were unable to get far enough away because of jammed evacuation routes. In addition, the Red Cross warehouse in Baton Rouge is filled with key supplies, and 283,000 heater meals are on their way to the state. Hot meals are also on their way - 80,000 per day - thanks to the Texas Baptist Men, a ministry with a history of disaster response. It plans to have available more than a dozen kitchens in Louisiana that can serve "one-pot meals," such as stew, chili, or chicken and rice. The kitchens are self-sufficient, with generators, water purifiers, and propane. To get to the most devastated areas, the group's members bring their own chain-saw units, along with chaplains and portable showers for those in need. The Red Cross typically pays for the food, and the Texas Baptist Men prepare it. The Texas chapter alone has 18 mobile units. Seven are on their way, and the rest are on standby, says Gary Smith, disaster relief coordinator for the Texas Baptist Men in Dallas. "Earlier this year we mobilized for hurricane Emily," he says, "but it was nothing like this." FEMA, meanwhile, had moved generators, ice, water, and food into the region for deployment after the storm. FEMA also brought in urban search and rescue teams from Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas, and set them up in Shreveport, La. Similar teams from Indiana and Ohio were staged in Meridian, Miss. FEMA also deployed 18 disaster medical assistance teams to staging areas in Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee. Louisiana deployed 3,500 Army National Guardsmen to help hurricane victims, and another 3,000 were on standby as of Monday morning, according to a Guard spokesman. Statewide, 48 Red Cross shelters opened to residents in the storm's projected path. Hotels were packed as far away as Houston and Jackson, Miss. For New Orleans residents who couldn't - or didn't - leave, the city opened the Superdome. Katrina's 145-m.p.h. winds ripped away part of its roof Monday but as of press time had not forced an evacuation. Other private and public aid - as well as volunteers - have been pouring into Louisiana over the past 48 hours. Office Depot says it will donate $1 million to the Red Cross, while Anheuser-Busch shipped 300,000 cans of drinking water to relief agencies in Louisiana and Mississippi. Wayne Elsey, president of Kodiak-Terra, a footwear company that donated thousands of pairs of shoes to South Asia after last year's tsunami, is setting up a "Katrina Relief Effort" fund. The US Coast Guard shut down and evacuated its Gulf coast facilities, even as it sent more than 40 aircraft from the Eastern seaboard, and at least 30 small vessels, to the surrounding area. The units will be used for search-and-rescue operations and repairs of damaged waterways. Though New Orleans has not taken a major direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy, a Category 3 in 1965, Katrina is being likened more to hurricane Camille in 1969, says Frank Lepore of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before making landfall, the storm's winds exceed 200 m.p.h. but weakened to less than 150 by the time it hit just east of New Orleans. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #4 From my experience, CC, is stellar |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-07 17:41 |
| #3 Catholic Charities as well, amigo. NO was a Catholic enclave before it be came welfare projects central. I gave to both CC and Salvation Army....both are well-run, low o/h and the $ get put to good use. RC has cleaned up a lot, I just prefer not to use them |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-07 15:00 |
| #2 Here are two e-mails I received over the weekend from my cousin who lives near the Mississippi line west of Mobile. My point being these people aren't sitting on their butts waiting for "the gubmint" but doing what needs to be done themselves. FYI... Just a quick note to let my genealogy friends know that I am alive. My family live on the Alabama-Mississippi State line with George County, Miss. We all rode out the storm here. My mobile home lost its roof and had other damage. I have "sky light" in the living room. There were many mobile homes in our community destroyed from tornadoes, winds, etc. We have no city water and are relying on a regenerator to pump well water. It is somewhat rough here as gas is almost non-existent at this time. Many people from George County (Lucedale), Miss., and Jackson County (Pascagoula), Miss. are wandering over in desparation to find water, ice and gas. People are literally camping out at any gas station that they hear may have gas. Rumors has it that people in Mobile County are also being held up and robbed; not fr money but but gas. People are having to "guard" their vehicles so no one ciphines gas out, etc. Generators are also hot items for theft. Please keep us and our neighbors in Mississippi in your prayers. Well, I will send this email now and many more later. Larry E. Caver, Jr. P.O. Box 520 Wilmer, Ala. 36587 Friends, The power came back on here last night (Sat.). This morning I used some of the gas we had on hand for generator power and put it in my F150 truck to make a delivery to Miss. I took ice, water, food, cokes, candles, etc. and made a delivery to a trailer park on Hwy 90 between Pascagoula and Moss Point, Miss. All the trailers in the park were damaged and/or destroyed, but many people were still staying in them. They were very thankful for the items. I was glad to see that more trucks were getting out to remote areas to distribute ice from local Volunteer Fire Depts. We may make another run that way with food. Take care where ever you are. Larry E. Caver, Jr. Wilmer, Ala. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-09-07 14:04 |
| #1 Private donations are just under $500 mil and growing. The article gives the usual press to the Red Cross. The Salvation Army, the Methodists and the Southern Baptists are there in force, doing the same thing without the PR. Foreign aid is also pouring in. The folks in NO should look up. There are copters from the Singapore Air Force overhead. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-09-07 09:39 |