My post for today will describe the way assistance is delivered.
In the overall scheme of things, the American Red Cross is the agency designated to provide mass care. The ARC is charged by the US government with developing organizational and financial capability to step in to take care of people harmed in a disaster. Both operations are conducted by paid and volunteer staff. In a major disaster thousands of disaster trained volunteers working under the direction of paid staff and senior (battle hardened) volunteers are deployed in the disaster area. The American Red Cross does not get taxpayer funds even though it has a federal mandate to act. The ARC funds are all donated by Americans.
The RC works closely and operates to perform specific designated tasks with/for FEMA. ARC is charged with opening and operating shelters to administer MASS CARE. That is the primary function of the RC in a disaster is MASS CARE. FEMA tends to deal with infrastructure and business/industrial and the RC deals with people. The early MC is food and shelter. The mass care function includes taking food to the affected areas and feeding in the field. This work is done by the fleet of Emergency Response Vehicles deployed from local ARC chapters across the country. ERV’s, the red and white ARC vehicles seen on TV are typically prepositioned before a hurricane to be ready to serve the damaged areas as soon as possible. There was an AP photo of one of these vehicles, Number 2017, that was prepositioned too far forward.
To administer long term care, that is to bring some degree of normalcy on a long term basis, it is necessary to determine the precise status of every person harmed by the disaster. The aid must be precisely tailored to each individual. At some point the individuals must be separated from the mass and have persona, specific needs administered. The RC has an army of volunteers who sit down and interview the families to determine what is needed. Drugs, eyeglasses, oxygen, etc etc are all required in specific but variable quantities that must be determined by face to face interview.
Another important part of the MC task is damage assessment. The Red Cross is responsible for assessing the damage to residential structures. That is, the ARC being responsible for MC to people determines the damages to people’s living quarters. The Damage assessment is done by RC volunteers trained to make the field surveys. The DA people visit every residence with damage. Again, the damage assessment involves locating on the ground every residential structure and making a determination of the damage and habitability. The damage assement data is done street by street, blick by block, house or apartment by house. The data is used to determine what level of care is required. There is commonly fairly high level of people claiming a much higher degree of loss than that actually experienced. It is unfortunately, necessary to try to separate those truly in need from those who want to improve their position of minor damage. A person who has lost their home must be given a higher degree of assistance than a person with water in the basement or water leaking around the chimney. This difference will not be of importance in NO where all is gone as it will be in MS where houses are gone and houses are merely damaged.
The application of all of the above is very difficult in NO. The sheer number of persons is extreme. The Damage Assessment is really not too hard for much of the city. The residential city is uninhabitable. The residential city is totaled. The criteria for a total loss is water over 24” over the floor level. This is generally the height of electrical outlets and water over this height generally means the residence is destroyed. It can not be restored to habitable condition. The reasons are complex but in a legalistic society subject top law suit by sneezing on someone, this degree of damage is considered to be uninhabitable.
To sum it up, NOLA is now a collection of uninhabitable structures that must be essentially replaced before the population can return.
The current efforts in NOLA seem to portray a failure to deliver needed services to the affected people. I have come to believe that a purposeful effort is being made to cause total evacuation. Services can’t be delivered ever in the destroyed, uninhabitable city. The people staying think they can stay…… they can’t . They must leave. Eventually, perhaps today, the message will dawn that if I’m going to survive I must get out of here. The busses will come and haul them away to Red Cross shelters where they will be cared for as it all gets sorted out.
These are 800 words attempting to describe an organizational relationship and the job of the American Red Cross. I hope the details are all currently correct. Don’t pick it to death, it is mostly correct.
There are many retired Freepers who can call their local chapter this morning and ask about a disaster training class. They will train you and send you to the area for three weeks. It will be long hours and hard work. They might even have disaster jobs locally to support those who have gone to the field. It is going to go on for a very very long time.
Thanks for your post describing the way assistance is delivered.
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It, the Red Cross, is preferrentially mentioned as the place for donors to send money.
I didn't realize that it has a preferential relationship with the government. It's a quasi-gevernmental agency, in a similar mold as Underwriter's Laboratory. That is, mandatory, but not directly funded by tax revenue.