Posted on 09/05/2005 10:48:27 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Phase 1 of the government's plan to provide desperately needed transitional housing for tens of thousands of hurricane evacuees is scheduled to begin this morning, when homeless elderly people from various Texas locations board 30 buses destined for two Carnival cruise ships in Galveston, Tex.
Relief plans also call for housing evacuees in emergency trailers, hotels, motels, military bases and schools.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency chartered three vessels from Carnival Cruise Lines of Miami, the world's largest cruise-ship company, to lodge evacuees of Hurricane Katrina for up to six months. (All guests whose bookings have been canceled have been offered full refunds, according to the company).
The two ships, each capable of holding 2,600 people, will remain docked in Galveston; another, with an occupancy of 1,800, will be in Mobile, Ala. They will be used primarily for elderly victims and people with special health problems, with families a second priority, according to James McIntyre, a FEMA spokesman.
Red Cross personnel and the ship's medical team will be on board, but "this is not for those who are severely ill, it's for those who can be effectively independent," Mr. McIntyre said. Nor is it for those expecting luxuries associated with cruises.
"We bought a basic package without amenities - a room to live in, based on need, and food to eat," Mr. McIntyre said. "This is not about being bathed in luxury - it's to get people out of the Astrodome."
A FEMA spokesman said the agency has also put out a call to producers of "manufactured housing" and recreational vehicles - campers and the like - asking for assistance, and has placed orders for more than 50,000 trailers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It is also a chance to learn a trade that pays well. My black plumber makes more than the doctor that lives across the street.
Sorry. Those jobs have already been promised (contracted) to Halliburton. I think the people of New Orleans should have a stake in rebuilding their own city.
I agree. Gis and police were working supplies, and the evacuees were just standing around. We've had floods here in NC, and WE ALL work together. I don't get it when these slobs just sit around, waiting for others to... forget it. I'll get banned.
This reminds me of the early 1970s when New York City began placing welfare mothers in the Waldorf Astoria hotel -- only to hear complaints about the maid service!
It nauseates me that we, Americans everywhere, will pay for a rebuild and the elected trash who botched the disaster will retake their thrones of corruption.
I was thinking right along the same lines. Reusing Conexes like you describe.
They rent the Office type conexes at work and from what I have seen of them, I would live in one of the rehabbed ones with insulation and A/C.
Such a great idea, you know they wont do it.
A company called Port-a-Kamp uses containers in just this manner They make up really great deer hunting shacks out of them. Shack being a relative term. Deer Hunting shacks in Texas are very luxurious.
Six years ago, Hurricane Floyd flooded eastern NC. FEMA moved poor folks into temporary mobile homes until they could find permanent housing. Amazingly, some still cannot find permanent housing. Surprise, surprise. Will Carnival ever get its cruise ships back?
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