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“They ordered the evacuation, but there were no buses, nothing”
About one million people have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, according to various reports. Most of the survivors have left New Orleans and the surrounding areas, dispersed throughout the country in emergency shelters, military bases and donated living spaces. A majority moved in with friends and family, and so their new location is not known. Nearly 60,000 remain displaced within Louisiana’s overburdened shelter system.
At least 60,000 moved to Arkansas, immediately increasing the state’s population by 2.5 percent. More than 220,000 have been brought to Texas, which has sought the aid of other states to provide shelters. From there, authorities have flown them to places as far as Michigan, Arizona, Utah, West Virginia and Iowa.
Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site went to the Southfield, Michigan, Ramada Inn, which donated rooms and food to nearly 200 evacuees from Louisiana.
A 28-year-old mother with two children, aged 11 and 12, said she was extremely upset with what has happened. She was at the hotel with her friend who had encouraged her to come to Detroit. “I lost my car, my home, I lost everything in the flood,” said the mother who did not want to reveal her name. “And it upsets me because it didn’t have to happen this way had they just spent the money to fix the levees. My kids and I are homeless, and we don’t know where we are going to live.”
She continued, “They issued a mandatory evacuation to leave the city, so I took my kids to Houston, Texas, so that they would be safe.” Later, they went to the Astrodome.
The mother had a hard time recalling the days of the events, because “it was all such a whirl. I thought it was on Tuesday, but I am not sure. We were at the Astrodome for a couple of days when I saw someone circulating around asking if anyone wanted to go to Detroit. I decided to go because I had a good friend there who could help me.”
About 80 percent of New Orleans evacuees were able to leave before Katrina hit, while the rest remained in the city during the storm, abandoned by a nonexistent evacuation policy. Many of those left behind are being loaded on to buses and planes by FEMA and scattered across the country, without receiving a hint as to their destination.
In another cruel blow, FEMA suddenly announced late last Friday that it would discontinue its two-day program of handing out $2,000 debit cards to evacuees. It will distribute the remainder of the cards to those in shelters in Texas, and no other states will receive them. Many people waited on lines for hours in expectation of receiving one, only to find out they were duped into waiting to fill out FEMA paperwork without obtaining any immediate financial assistance. FEMA officials have pledged to make direct deposits into evacuees’ bank accounts on an individual basis some time in the future, but with many victims left with no mailing address or open account, such a plan is fraught with problems.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/mich-s14.shtml
Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site went to the Southfield, Michigan, Ramada Inn, which donated rooms and food to nearly 200 evacuees from Louisiana.
A 28-year-old mother with two children, aged 11 and 12, said she was extremely upset with what has happened. She was at the hotel with her friend who had encouraged her to come to Detroit. “I lost my car, my home, I lost everything in the flood,” said the mother who did not want to reveal her name. “And it upsets me because it didn’t have to happen this way had they just spent the money to fix the levees. My kids and I are homeless, and we don’t know where we are going to live.”
She continued, “They issued a mandatory evacuation to leave the city, so I took my kids to Houston, Texas, so that they would be safe.” Later, they went to the Astrodome.
The mother had a hard time recalling the days of the events, because “it was all such a whirl. I thought it was on Tuesday, but I am not sure. We were at the Astrodome for a couple of days when I saw someone circulating around asking if anyone wanted to go to Detroit. I decided to go because I had a good friend there who could help me.”
About 80 percent of New Orleans evacuees were able to leave before Katrina hit, while the rest remained in the city during the storm, abandoned by a nonexistent evacuation policy. Many of those left behind are being loaded on to buses and planes by FEMA and scattered across the country, without receiving a hint as to their destination.
In another cruel blow, FEMA suddenly announced late last Friday that it would discontinue its two-day program of handing out $2,000 debit cards to evacuees. It will distribute the remainder of the cards to those in shelters in Texas, and no other states will receive them. Many people waited on lines for hours in expectation of receiving one, only to find out they were duped into waiting to fill out FEMA paperwork without obtaining any immediate financial assistance. FEMA officials have pledged to make direct deposits into evacuees’ bank accounts on an individual basis some time in the future, but with many victims left with no mailing address or open account, such a plan is fraught with problems.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/mich-s14.shtml
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The discovery of 45 bodies at a flooded hospital in uptown New Orleans on Sunday is the latest grisly testament to the needless loss of life from Hurricane Katrina. Like many of the victims, the majority of these 45 people were not killed by the impact of the storm itself, but by the failure of authorities to evacuate stranded, dehydrated and starving people for days on end after Katrina struck.
The grim recovery was announced on Monday just after President Bush completed a swift, 45-minute tour of the ravaged city. He responded testily to a reporter who asked whether he was dissatisfied with the response of federal officials to the disaster. “Look,” he said, “there will be plenty of time to play the blame game. That’s what you’re trying to do.” He added glibly, “My impression of New Orleans is this: that there is a recovery on the way.”
With these hospital deaths and other body recoveries, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals on Tuesday afternoon raised the official death toll in the state to 423, up sharply from 279 the day before. This brought the overall confirmed deaths from Katrina to 648, including 218 in Mississippi and 7 in Florida. The bodies found at the hospital were the largest cluster so far recovered, and many more undoubtedly will be recovered in the days to come.
Officials at the Memorial Medical Center said that the dead were left there after a frantic evacuation from the hospital, with many not leaving until Friday afternoon, more than four days after Katrina hit. Steven Campanini, a spokesman for the hospital’s owner, Tenet Healthcare Corp., said the hospital was told Wednesday “that we were on our own to evacuate, [and] we brought our own helicopters to take the patients out.” Floodwaters had cut off roads. Some people reportedly eventually escaped by boat.
While Tenet Heathcare asserted in a statement that “a significant number had passed before the hurricane,” Campanini told the New York Times the dead included patients who died awaiting evacuation, as conditions grew increasingly desperate at the facility. Many of the patients were in long-term acute care for serious illnesses. As patients, families and hospital staff waited to be evacuated, temperatures rose to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
Medical professionals inside Memorial Medical Center described the conditions to the Washington Post. “Things looked like they were going downhill quickly,” said Scot Sonnier, an oncologist. Electricity was lost and the hallways were dimly lit with emergency power. Water grew scarce and medical supplies were dwindling. Heat, dehydration and lack of medicine—not flood waters or hurricane winds—led to the deaths of the vast majority those who languished waiting to be evacuated.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/hosp-s14.shtml
The grim recovery was announced on Monday just after President Bush completed a swift, 45-minute tour of the ravaged city. He responded testily to a reporter who asked whether he was dissatisfied with the response of federal officials to the disaster. “Look,” he said, “there will be plenty of time to play the blame game. That’s what you’re trying to do.” He added glibly, “My impression of New Orleans is this: that there is a recovery on the way.”
With these hospital deaths and other body recoveries, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals on Tuesday afternoon raised the official death toll in the state to 423, up sharply from 279 the day before. This brought the overall confirmed deaths from Katrina to 648, including 218 in Mississippi and 7 in Florida. The bodies found at the hospital were the largest cluster so far recovered, and many more undoubtedly will be recovered in the days to come.
Officials at the Memorial Medical Center said that the dead were left there after a frantic evacuation from the hospital, with many not leaving until Friday afternoon, more than four days after Katrina hit. Steven Campanini, a spokesman for the hospital’s owner, Tenet Healthcare Corp., said the hospital was told Wednesday “that we were on our own to evacuate, [and] we brought our own helicopters to take the patients out.” Floodwaters had cut off roads. Some people reportedly eventually escaped by boat.
While Tenet Heathcare asserted in a statement that “a significant number had passed before the hurricane,” Campanini told the New York Times the dead included patients who died awaiting evacuation, as conditions grew increasingly desperate at the facility. Many of the patients were in long-term acute care for serious illnesses. As patients, families and hospital staff waited to be evacuated, temperatures rose to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
Medical professionals inside Memorial Medical Center described the conditions to the Washington Post. “Things looked like they were going downhill quickly,” said Scot Sonnier, an oncologist. Electricity was lost and the hallways were dimly lit with emergency power. Water grew scarce and medical supplies were dwindling. Heat, dehydration and lack of medicine—not flood waters or hurricane winds—led to the deaths of the vast majority those who languished waiting to be evacuated.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/hosp-s14.shtml
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