Assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina finally moved into high gear this weekend as state and local officials and volunteer groups rose to a mammoth challenge in magnificent fashion.
Hooray for Houston. The city of Houston, and more broadly the state of Texas has been tireless in helping its neighbors. The state is sheltering an estimated 200,000 victims, with most staying with friends or relatives or in hotels. Though Houston shelters are full, the city continues as the intake center for evacuees who will be sent to shelters in Dallas, San Antonio, and smaller cities stretching to El Paso. Gov. Rick Perry has pledged to open 48 shelters and to have state employees help expedite claims for food stamps and Medicaid benefits. Pharmacies will fill out-of-state prescriptions, foster homes will be found for orphans, and state prosecutors will watch for price gouging, Perry said.
The American Red Cross was housing more than 96,000 refugees in nine states, including the Gulf states themselves. Louisiana has 127 Red Cross shelters; Mississippi 102 shelters; and Alabama 47 shelters.
Colorado joined the relief effort after community college chief Nancy McCallin told Gov. Bill Owens that dormitories on the former Lowry Air Force Base could be used to house 1,000 refugees. By Saturday morning, Owens had assembled a task force of more than 30 state, local and private volunteer agencies at the state emergency operations center to plan the aid. The first planeload of 130 victims arrived at Buckley Air Force Base yesterday and were whisked by waiting RTD buses to Lowry.
Federal relief efforts finally gained momentum too as President Bush ordered 7,000 additional troops to the Gulf Coast states to crack down on lawlessness and to evacuate thousands of refugees.
Colorado’s new emergency operations center and the interdisciplinary approach it embodies quickly showed its value in the hurricane’s aftermath. “These dorm rooms were not in use, so it was quite a massive undertaking,” Owens’ spokesman, Dan Hopkins, said. “We had to bring in new bedding, new supplies and put furniture back in. These are Spartan little dorm rooms but for some of these people, it’s the first private shelter since hurricane hit.
“There’d have been no way to pull this off if we hadn’t been able to pull these 30 agencies together and have them help with the planning. We always hoped this emergency operations center would be used only for natural disasters, not terrorist attacks. But if you can respond to terrorism, you can respond to floods, fires and other things too,” Hopkins said. After handling immediate needs such as food, clothing, housing, and medical care, the Colorado crisis team will tackle longer-term issues like job searches and finding schools for the children.
“Some of these folks have nothing to go back to,” reflected Hopkins. “They may be new residents of Colorado.”
We’re sure all Coloradans will join in extending a warm welcome and a helping hand to our new neighbors.
