Posted on 09/05/2005 10:46:52 PM PDT by Lorianne
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WOMENSENEWS)--Overwhelmed by the utter challenge of quickly moving tens of thousands of hurricane survivors to safe ground, Louisiana and federal officials had no time to ensure the security of New Orleans' most vulnerable: children, women and the elderly.
Following unconfirmed reports that girls as young as 10 were raped inside the Louisiana Superdome and convention center, relief workers now say they've taken steps to ensure that large shelters such as the Houston Astrodome will provide a safe haven for refugees.
"We have been hearing about episodes of violence, including rape," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters reported Thursday.
That is unacceptable to organizations such as Amnesty International, which monitors governments, shelters, prisons and refugee camps around the world for human rights violations. Relief groups have an obligation to make vulnerable populations a top priority when planning and operating shelters, said Sheila Dauer, director of women's human rights for Amnesty International USA, in an interview Friday night with Women's eNews.
"The authorities are responsible for making sure these vulnerable populations are protected," Dauer said. "With thousands of people thrown in there together, there are people extremely vulnerable to violence and abuse, the very young, the very old, women, children, and they have a human right to be protected."
Law Enforcement Was Lacking A key ingredient of this new protection is a very visible presence of law enforcement officers in the Astrodome, something that was lacking in the Louisiana shelters during the early stages of the disaster, said Margaret Pepe, client services administrator for the American Red Cross.
"In the shelters that are being established for evacuees, we are very well aware of the vulnerability of this population," Pepe said. "By a very large visible presence of law enforcement keeping a much higher profile, we hope to avoid some of the problems these supershelters pose."
Until the end of the week, the few police monitoring the Superdome, for example, primarily guarded the perimeter and didn't mingle with the evacuees inside. Police at the Astrodome will be inside, talking with people and watching for telltale signs of abuse or potential abuse such as antisocial behavior and grownups who spend too much time following, hanging around or playing with children who are not their own.
Crisis counselors and psychologists will also be a big part of the mix in the new shelters being opened to take in evacuees, Pepe said.
"We are very vigilant," she said. "We are very protective of our shelterees."
The sheer size of the shelters and their many hiding places, coupled with a lack of lighting due to power outages, makes them less than ideal for emergency housing, said Pepe. She hopes the advance planning that went into making the Astrodome available will help alleviate some of those problems.
Establishing order and preventing crime should be the first priority of emergency management officials, and shelters should have stockpiles of food and medical supplies before they are brought into operation, say Florida emergency coordinators. Florida, which has had so many hurricanes in the past two years that coordinators perform their duties almost by rote, is lending its expertise, millions of dollars in aid and hundreds of personnel to its neighbors to the west.
Florida Prefers Small Shelter System In the fallout following five major hurricanes in the past 12 months, Florida has moved toward using smaller community shelters holding several hundred people mixed with law enforcement, counselors and aid workers when possible, said Luci Hadi, who is a key coordinator of emergency response for the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Advance preparation is crucial, Hadi said Friday.
"The difficulty that you have with these huge shelters is that they were never, never designed for this kind of work. There's no infrastructure provided, there's no stockpiling of food and water, there's no infrastructure of crisis counselors like we have here ready to go in," Hadi said. "They are essentially a big group of people unrelated to each other who have been crammed together now for days without adequate support and infrastructure. We unfortunately have enough experience in Florida that we plan far ahead."
The Red Cross is doing all it can, said Pepe. In addition to the licensed mental health professionals that are part of the Red Cross network, the aid organization is also recruiting counselors from airlines and other businesses who have large numbers of crisis counselors on staff or as consultants.
In the meantime, Red Cross staff and volunteers are trying to stress their safety rules to those seeking shelter. No firearms, alcohol or drugs are allowed in shelters, children must be with their parents at all times, cots should be arranged so that family units are as close together as possible, and women and children should always shower and use toilet facilities as family groups.
Get a clue and stop making shit up blaming me for deaths. You are a piece of work. The RC and SA were not kept out of NO due to lack of police. They were kept out so as not to encourage people to stay during the evacuation. Further, I am talking about ordinary citizens who have those obligations as a member of a civilized society. Exactly the opposite of your claim that I think the RC and SA should bear the responsibility.
The mayor at a minimum could have secured the Superdome with police and city workers. He failed to even do that.
Read what I wrote. Don't make up stuff that I never said about charities. Don't change the meaning of my posts, they are self-sufficient. I made a comment about society, not charities, having obligations. Get over yourself.
And tell us, please, why you think I am responsible. You have the gall to blame me for deaths based on my single comment , "Common decency and civility is an obligation. And it includes to make sure women are not raped. Sorry you think that is communism." Yeah, you are a real deep thinker.
Most likely, it was to keep the riff-raff out of Chicago and
Detroit and Los Angeles,wheere generous welfare was attracting
them. This was why the Feds did it.
With me it is practically weightless.
The question I have is how many blacks can achieve a college education and make over 50k even with the greatest guilt-based attempt to give them both on a platter in the history of the world?
I believe fewer than could've achieved it without it being offered as a gift. Which would explain, to a degree why they come up short.
I am honest, and fully recognize the repeated and prolonged failures and don't adhere to the belief that races and cultures are intrinsically equal in particular abilities, but only in the eyes of their Creator. However, I firmly believe that all races and peoples are capable, in this country, of securing a college education and/or earning 50k/year, provided no one has convinced them they aren't capable and they are willing to put forth the neccessary effort. Sadly, certain cultures have been convinced that something or someone other than themselves and their own actions are holding them down.
The reason the people in New Orleans are so pathetic is because they are stupid; the vast majority of poor people are also quite stupid, that's why they are disproportionately poor.
You'll get no argument from me here other than to say other factors come into the equation. You can be brilliant, but if you're lazy you'll likely be poor; you can be stupid, but if you work really hard at something others value, you'll achieve financial success. Like John Wayne said, "Life is tough, life is tougher if you're stupid". I would add that if you stay in a coastal town that sits below sea-level with a cat-5 hurricane approaching, life is going to be tougher.
Blacks are about a full quintile behind other races, cognitively, and are subsequently poor as well.
While this may or may not be true, I would simply say that it is largly irrelevant as to the question of poverty; people are paid to produce, not to be cognitive.
Be well.
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