2008 Woodie Awards
More room for help with Hurricane Katrina relief
Scott Wagner
Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: Features
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The potential devastation to this region had been documented preceding such warnings by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers have been referenced in publications such as Scientific American and National Geographic since 2000.
The risk of hurricane related damage to New Orleans has always been of great concern, considering 80 percent of the metropolitan area is below sea level. So when Katrina was upgraded to a category five storm on Aug. 28, mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first ever, mandatory evacuation of the city.
According to the Louisiana State Evacuation Plan, the means of evacuation are up to the individual citizens, parish governments, and private caretakers. A lack of planning and resources resulted in thousands of people, locals and tourists, who were unable or unwilling to evacuate.
Katrina struck hard. According to Wikipedia.com, as of Jan. 18 the official death toll stood at 1,417 people but 3,200 people still remained unaccounted for, so the number may grow.
Although suggestions arose that FEMA and the Bush administration responded inefficiently to the needs of the people of the effected areas, the nation as a whole certainly did not.
A total of $75 billion in damages were estimated in Katrina's aftermath, a deficit that would almost be completely paid for by President Bush's September proposal and signing of a bill to contribute $51.8 billion towards disaster relief in addition to the $10.5 billion already approved by the U.S. Senate according to CNN.com
A press release from FEMA, dated Jan. 4, 2006, announced that $4 billion in disaster assistance funds were now in the hands of the victims. Of the 1.4 million people registered for disaster relief, 98 percent have received some sort of assistance. On Jan. 27, FEMA distributed twelve new grants totaling $37.1 million to help Louisiana communities.
Locally, SHU took a private course of action in the relief effort. The Campus Ministry teamed with members of the faculty, staff, and student body to initiate the SHU Disaster Relief Fund, which organized the Hurricane Relief Collection Center that ran in the University Commons from Sept. 17 to Oct. 29.