I'm a katrina evacuee can you give me advice???
406986
i would say just keep you head up...
45077
katrina support, huh. i was in hancock county, ms. when it hit. i have to say that if it were not for the private sector, things would have been alot worse than they were. the first morning after, there was no law, there was no government. it was the second day after the storm when we first saw the busses and trucks loaded down with water and supplies. not one the the supply trucks we saw in the first days were government. now it's 4 months later and there are still people living in tents. my personal experience with fema has been a complete joke. i don't want to take anything away from the people who drove hours on end to deliver the needed supplies or the thousands of people who donated their time and money to help people pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. but i am damn mad at my government. i have had to relocate to another state. the only assistance my family has gotten was the initial $2000 check from fema. past that we have been made to feel like charity cases. we are not begging. these are our tax dollars. since i have been in nc, i have paid in more taxes than i recieved from fema since this whole nightmare began. when i got to nc, so i didn't have to sleep on someones floor, i got a job to provide for my family and because i got that job, was told that i didn't qualify for any public assistance. so no, i don't consider it support, no, it wasn't soon enough, racial bias, i'm white. thanks for letting me vent. and by the way, have any of you asked yourself where all the money you gave went?........
986576
How about doing a search on Hurricane Katrina.  the issues there were huge\n\ngood luck
640312
True Story:   I stayed at home in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, had plenty of supplies, food, water, cat food, etc.  There were 6 other people in my apartment building who also stayed.  3 of them were just as prepared as I, the other 3 had decided at the last minute to ride out the storm and thus had very little supplies.  When the flooding began, and we realized we were going to be stuck for a while, the 3 with no supplies immediately ate and drank all they had.  The other 3 kept to themselves and didn't share anything.  I took a hard look at what I had and decided it would be in my best interest to at least appear social, in case things got nasty later (these people were drug addicts with no drugs and becoming irate) so I gave them some of what I had and I pretended it was ALL I had.  I saw how they had been so wasteful with their own stuff.  I hoarded most of my food and water and never let them know just how much I did have.  Two days into the flood, they looted a bed and breakfast down the street, and they looted a pharmacy for drugs.  They shared the food from the B&B with me, because they thought I had shared my last with them.   After a week, I was forcibly evacuated onto a bus.  I carried with me the food I thought would be portable, crackers and tuna fish.  The other people on the bus had been removed from a hospital and hadn't eaten in three days.  I gave them everything I had, walked up and down the bus aisle in the dark, handing out crackers and holding out cans of tuna for people to dip into.  I'll never forget that trip.  So, to answer your question, the idea of charging money never entered my head.  My only concern was how long my supply would last.
248650
Let us all remember that we have never had a Natural Disaster of these porportions before.  People not evacuating when they were told to is a big part of the problem.  People will need to go home to New Orleans to rebuild they can not do it from the different states they have landed in.  Many do not plan to return, yet they have left homes behind.  In order to rebuild you have to demolish what is there, without owners being involved it may take some time before the demolition can happen.  Two things should have been learned from this disaster and that is the Government always needs to be ready for something of the porportions that they have never seen.  Also that responsible citizens should have left with the first notice's of evacuation.  You have a City that was built below the level of the sea on the sea and you were waiting for this kind of thing to happen. Experts knew that the dykes and retaining walls would not stand up to more than a category 3 storm and the citizens knew it as well, people just choose not to believe it would actually happen to them, which is natural in these circumstances, but not the best choices to make.  There may have been the most impoverished people in this country living in New Orleans, yet they should have had enough notice to get out and not choose to stay there.  It was the lack of people leaving the area that caused the police and National Guard to have to stay there to try to keep order when those effeorts could have been directed to other places.  There still has to be major decisions as to what the new New Orleans will be.  Is it going to be the city of almost a half a million or will it be a remnant of it's former self.  Until we know what we are rebuilding there can be no blaming the government because it isn't done.  Yes we had poor government response, but we also had poor cooperation from the citizens at the sametime.  The government will always bear the brunt of the blame for this, however it should be up to the citizens of New Orleans where we go from here and not the rest of the country.\n\nAs some things never change Mardi Gras is going on as usual, if you want to help the economy of their city this would be the time to go there and help their economy.
570188
I survived Rita, the hurricane that LEVELED lower Southwest Louisiana, which has a high population of elderly people. I get so sick of hearing about Katrina. All of the hurricanes were bad. Anyway, The Red Cross was helpful, however, the church groups and groups of students using their spring breaks in the clean up effort here has been so awesome. I don't know what happened to the Red Cross. But I have faith in humanity again!!!
755703
AS A VICTIM OF FEMA AND THE RED CROSS AS WELL AS KATRINA THE BEST THING THATS HAPPENED IS THE PRIVATE VOLUNTEER GROUPS!  HERE ON THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST THEY ARE DOING MIRACLES!  WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO!  BUT WITHOUT JUST THE DONATED HELP WE WOULD BE DEAD!\n\nFORGET ANY FORMAL HELP!  THE GOVERNMENT HELP IS REBUILDING THE ROADS AND BRIDGES AND INTRASTRUCTURE!  BUT PERSONAL HOMES ARE FROM VOLUNTEER HELP ALONE!\n\nON THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST RIGHT NOW THERE IS A YAHOO GROUP COORDINATING ALL THE DISTRIBUTION OF SUPPLIES, IT IS LISTED BELOW!\n\nTHEY NEED ANY HELP YOU CAN FURNISH CONTACT THEM!\n\n\nAPS\n\nKatrinaVolunteersHancockCounty@yahoogroups.com
45541
The worst thing people can do is expect the government to take care of them.  As seen in Katrina they will let you down.  People need to take repsonisiblity for themselves.
499270
Hey Blondey. You can find heaps of information just by using the Yahoo! search engine. Just type in "Hurricane Katrina".\n\nI just did a presentation on Katrina last week, myself. \n\nKatrina made landfall on Monday, August 29, 2005. It came ashore just east of Grand Isle, Louisiana, at 6:30 A.M. E.T. (eastern time). Katrina was a category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds on Saturday, Aug. 27th- but by Sunday, it had intensified to a Category 5 storm, with winds of 160 mph.\n\nThe president of the New Orleans city council estimated that more than 100 people in the city were stranded on their rooftops or in their attics, because there was up to 14 feet of floodwaters in and around their homes (reported by Dave Cohen of CBS radio affiliate WWL).\n\nSome facts that support the government response:\n\n1. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and other search and rescue units were in New Orleans or elsewhere in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on Monday, after the storm passed out of the area. \n\n2. The full extent of the devastation to the Gulf Coast Region and the levee breaches in New Orleans were not known until Tuesday.\n\n3. A convoy of about 500 buses reached the Superdome late Wednesday.\n\n4. The first of 500 busloads of evacuees reached Houston early Thursday.\n\nThere was a lot of criticism towards the government's response to Katrina, as well. Do a little research, and you will find plenty of things to talk about. Good luck!
155613
http://www.safety.com/weather-and-disaster/articles.html\n\nhttp://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/katrina/
824688
I don't think my little tornado survival kit would cut this one !!!\n\nWhat would be the first thing I'd do ??\nFind a clean pair of pants !!!\nThen I would ask God if I should be thankful or \ntake this as a challenge --I wouldn't expect an answer--
799019
Hello,\n\nThank you for considering me for your position as used car sales manager.  I have lots of experience lying to people and taking advantage of people by talking very fast.  I am good at pressure techniques and know when to turn on the heat.  I am familiar with rolling back odometers and power booking.  I know how to cover up flaws in lemons.  I know where to get lots of flood damaged cars cheap from the New Orleans area.  I am your person for the job.  \n\nHire me or else, you have five minutes to decide.\n\nSincerely,\n\nYou\n\nTry this approach, I think it will work.
346019
Try http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Hurricane_Katrina_Recovery.shtml I hope that you and your friend are able to reunite.
1145594
Try living in a FEMA trailer for 8 months because there aren't enough workers to rebuild your home.  Then when you find a group of Mexicans that do the job, beyond your expectations and at a reasonable cost, tell me if you care about their "legal status"!!!
444933
I moved away from NOLA (Gretna) several years ago.  I was thinking about moving back the beginning of last year, but my mother became ill so I stayed in Texas.  When I found out Katrina was heading for New Orleans I stayed glued to the T.V. I couldn't sleep.  When the mandatory evacuation order was issued I broke down and cried like a baby.  I got so depressed watching the footage of the aftermath I had to make myself stop watching.  Next thing I knew here comes Rita, heading straight for my area. (Texas coast)  The poor people evacuating from N.O. now have to evacuate, because of Rita, along with all the people from Galveston, Houston, Baytown etc. It was horrible!!!\n\nTo answer your question about going back to N.O., yes, I plan on moving back.  You can take the people out of New Orleans, but you can't take New Orleans out of the people!!!
1170916
I am sorry to hear that--and very angry.  I was at the gulf coast not too long ago and saw some of the damage.....\n\nFirst of all, go through the fine print of the insurance to see if you can find anything on them cancelling insurance because of that storm.  Next, make sure that all premiums were paid, that nothing was beyond a due date.\n\nThen call Federel Emergency Assistance Program--now under the umbrella of Homeland Security and explain them your situation and that you do need emergency assistance.  To be honest, if I were in your shoes, I also would mobilize newspapers and radio stations to make everyone aware of this, because you are probably not the only one who has to go through this canellation.\n\nIn the meantime, go to the Salvation Army to see if they can help you out with some financial assistance.  Usually the local YWcA, the Homeless Shelters, and a lot of Christian agencies do get grants for this kind of thing.  No one should lose their home over something like this--absolutely no one.\nGood Luck
1082453
As a part of my work, I went on a trip with the Mayor of our small town in Alabama, and all of the department heads for the city.  We visited Waveland, Mississippi.  \n\nWaveland had a population of about 8,500 people and was directly on the coast.  Waveland was covered by 25 foot waves, twice during Katrina.  The water traveled as far as 10 miles inland!!  The water was incredibly destructive.  A house that has been completely covered in water is a rubble pile.  The amount of debris still left to be cleared 6 MONTHS LATER  was mind blowing.  The Mayor of Waveland and all of the city employees were soldiering on in a crisis state every day.  They divided the town into north and south (south being by the beach) and the city oversaw clearing and re-constructing the South.  The North was to be delt with by the Corps of Engineers.  The Corps took over the six dump sites the city already had in place and permitted (the city had been through hurricanes before) and told them they had to find and permit other sites.  (Where DO you put 15 million tons of debris?)  The city got to it and had accomplished 10 TIMES what the Corps had been able to do!  \n\nWaveland complained that the response from the Federal Government was too slow,  the communication was terrible, and the rules changed constantly.  \n\nI don't think the Feds CAN respond to a  disaster like Katrina.  The process is toooooo sssllooooww.  Also the Department of Homeland Security (over FEMA) was never intended or structured to deal with a disaster like this.  They were put in place for invasions.  We need some major renovation or a new department!!\n\nFYI - the money is still there - it just takes them soooo long to distribute it.  We are still getting checks and funding from IVAN!!