Posted on 08/30/2005 10:15:25 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
Edited on 09/02/2005 12:00:06 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
American Red Cross: PO Box 37243, Washington, DC, 20013, or online at www.redcross.org.
Salvation Army: Online at www.salvationarmyusa.org.
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.
American Red Cross: PO Box 37243, Washington, DC, 20013, or online at www.redcross.org.
Salvation Army: Online at www.salvationarmyusa.org.
Now that I know that the federal government, in spite of Constitutional restrictions, in spending huge amounts on my behalf, I no longer feel compelled to contribute privately.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
RE: Hurricane Katriana,
I find the Red Cross to be offensive to Military People so I never link to them
here are two good ones instead to volunteer or provide cash donations,
Salvation Army: 1-800-SAL-ARMY or http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
Texas Response to Hurricane Katriana.
One Star Foundation: 1-800-707-6768 or http://www.onestarfoundation.org
KATRINA TIME LINE
August 28, 2005, Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.
August 29 - Katrina made landfall on, causing severe damage to New Orleans.
August 31- Nagin estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died as a result of the hurricane, one of the nation's worst ever.
September 1, (Tuesday) 2005, Nagin expressed his frustration and fury at the response of other city government officials
September 2, 2005, Nagin continued his criticism of Authorities--particularly those on the federal level.
Hurricane Katrina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nagin's performance in the Hurricane Katrina crisis has been criticized as well in his role as leader of the first responders and Nagin has been accused of deflection or letting his own people die in New Orleans for no reason. (see Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff's press conference, 3 September 2005). Nagin was criticized for not calling a mandatory evacuation until Sunday morning, with his reason for not doing so sooner being that he had to consult with city attorneys to see if he had the legal authority to do so on Saturday. As mayor, Nagin was also responsible for establishing evacuation centers and keeping local order. Yet apparantly there were no meals ready to eat (MRE's) stored at his designated evacuation center - the Superdome. There was no water purification equipment on site, no chemical toilets, anti-biotics or anti-diarrheals stored for a crisis. The mayor had not designated any medical staff to work the evacuation center. Nagin himself admitted "The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15,000 to 20,000 people."[1] The city had not established a secure sick bay within the Superdome. The city had not sent police or other vehicles through the poorest neighborhoods with evacuation announcements prior to the storm. There were no functioning backup emergency communications police or fire-rescue radios available. Additionally, the city stored the school buses on low ground where they were flooded and then not available for evacuation. [2]. City-Journal summarized their criticism this way, "Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco lost whatever fragile authority they ever had over New Orleans early Monday, as the waters still rose."[3]
Bump
We have heard FEMA wants 'things; and the Red Cross wants 'money'. Being a poor community ourselves, 'things' are easier to give than 'money'.
Additionally, every year, the fire departments and businesses in the area raise money for the Crusade for Cjildren', and organization in place for over 50 years - that gives money to handi-capped children all around the area. We have raised money for the local children's hospitals, Children's homes, etc.
This is the first time we have ever encountered problems with the R.C. - but I have been told by other FReepers this is the norm.
We give all we can, whenever we can - and it matters not where people are - we do our best. JK
Or were you trying to be smart and suggest that a special occassion is not the time to give? Just curious - we only have the semi's for one week - and they were donated. In Christ, Kimberly
Thank you for posting this info! JK
LOL
I saw reported on FoxNews that an evacuee in Baton Rouge, LA witnessed two empty grain barges crashed through the levee during the hurricane. This was a new reinforced concrete levee, and funding was not an issue. Even if it was a Category 5 Levee I doubt it would of held 2 barges being rammed into it by hurricane force winds. Someone needs to get this reported in the media.
Just to clarify, the link to the Red Cross was the Christian Science Monitor's, not mine.
I don't give to the RC and don't recommend them. The Salvation Army is my first choice, and Texas Baptist Men is another great group that's especially well situated to help in this case. Links to both have been posted here.
I'd also trust giving through any national retailer (Lowes, WalMart, HomeDepot, OfficeDepot, etc) more than giving to the RC. They took in untold millions for the OKC bombing and the OKC tornado and just never got around to distributing much of it back to actual victims...
God bless you! You're exactly right...this illustrates the folly of thinking any government can take care of you. Care for yourselves and others and there IS no "red tape" or "miscommunication".
The HomeDepots (and, I'm sure, Lowes, but I wasn't in their stores during that time) REALLY stepped up after the 5/3/99 tornados ripped through OK. We were spared, thank God, but were in the middle of a big project and every morning for over a week I'd pull up around 7:30, just as three semis of company-donated supplies...plywood, tarps, generators, ladders, chainsaws, gloves, dustmasks, you name it...were pulling out. Then, as I'd check out at the contractor's desk, they'd already be getting together the load list for the afternoon trucks. They also took pains to make sure not all of it went to the F5 zone, but was sent to little towns that were hit but weren't getting much attention and didn't have any home centers nearby.
Having good neighbors like that makes it easy to be a good customer.
Many thanks. We have already raised over $1,500.00 in our company (not a big company, actually a small family owned company) and sent it their way.
God Bless.
Triton Boats is donating several shallow draft aluminum boats for wildlife officers to use in rescue efforts and Mercury Motors is donating the motors.
YEA!!!!!!
Thanks for posting this!
That's good news. but they sure need air boats. Navigating over all those street signs and cars, props are not going to last long.
On another post I mentioned the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has sent 30 WL officers and radio operators to New Orleans.
Several states have done so, and I'm thinking Florida has probably sent some airboats.
The shallow draft jonboats will work but they'll have to maneuver all that slowly, maybe with trolling motors. I have run those kind of boats over stumps and trees, so they'll work.
Thanks for posting the SoldiersAngels link!
http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/Operation_Katrina_Soldiers_Relief_Fund.php
Frankie Mayo is THE BEST...I've corresponded with her a couple of times at Operation AC...and I can guarantee any money sent for helping families of deployed military get their lives back on track is well spent with her group! Donating now, and thanks again!
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