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DonationsNews
- Questions About Operation Blessing, Robertson's Katrina Charity (ABC News)
"Charity and religious leaders are questioning why the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated Operation Blessing as the No. 2 charity for donations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."
"Operation Blessing is the charity founded and still chaired by Pat Robertson, the politically well-connected television evangelist, who recently called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela."
"According to its most recent filing with the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Blessing gave more than half of its yearly allocation of cash donations — $885,000 — to the Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, of which Robertson is also the chairman." 9-05
Papers
- -09-01-05 Crisis in New Orleans (BBC News)
"Thousands of people have congregated in the New Orleans convention centre - a spacious, largely dry building, where they have been told buses will arrive to take them out of the city."
"Most are short of food and water and there is little sign of any organisation, let alone supplies to help those waiting to leave." 9-05
- -09-01-05 Governor Sends SOS (BBC News)
"New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has issued a 'desperate SOS' for thousands of people stranded with no food or water at the city's convention centre."
"Up to 25,000 people are at the centre, in addition to tens of thousands more still trapped by the flood waters unleashed by Hurricane Katrina." 9-05
- -09-05-05 Clinton: Government Failed (CNN News)
"Former President Bill Clinton on Monday said the government 'failed' the thousands of people who lived in coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and said a federal investigation was warranted in due time." 9-05
- -09-05-05 Displaced Americans Try to Make a Life in Astrodome (USA Today)
"Smith is — well, was — a machine operator at a New Orleans seafood plant. Now he sleeps maybe two hours a day, from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., eats, showers, catches snippets of news on a TV in one of the concourses, minds his four kids with his wife, reclines on his cot, reads the Bible, or wanders his new home, trading numb stares with other aimless people."
"Many folks here have lost contact with loved ones, and they worry if this will be permanent. They feel adrift, detached, anxious. What they did to deserve this, how long they'll stay, where they go — they've got plenty of time now to mull these questions." 9-05
- -09-05-05 Levee Plugged, Up to 10,000 Dead (CBS News)
"A week after Hurricane Katrina, engineers plugged the levee break that swamped much of the city and floodwaters began to recede, but along with the good news came the mayor's direst prediction yet: As many as 10,000 dead." 9-05
- -09-07-05 Bush Requests $50 Billion in Aid (CBS News)
"President Bush is asking Congress for as much as $50 billion in immediate aid for the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, and the White House indicated Wednesday more money eventually would be needed."
"New York Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton is calling for FEMA's removal from the Department of Homeland Security."
"On whether Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Mike Brown should be fired, 'I would never have appointed such a person,' Clinton told CBS News' The Early Showco-anchor Hannah Storm (video). 'You would appoint somebody that is experienced.' " 9-05
- -09-07-05 Police Told to Clear New Orleans (BBC News)
"New Orleans' mayor has told police to use persuasion or force to evacuate anyone still refusing to leave the flooded city, as health fears grow." 9-05
- -09-08-05 Environmental Damage from Katrina Huge (Guardian Unlimited)
"The extent of the environmental damage inflicted on the southern US states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama began to emerge yesterday with reports of an entire group of islands disappearing, serious oil slicks and the potential ruin of the seafood industry." 9-05
- -09-20-05 Rita Becomes a Category 5 Storm (USA Today)
"Hurricane Rita strengthened into a Category 5 storm as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas and Louisiana, surpassing the power Katrina had when it swept ashore three weeks ago and became the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history."
"Rita has winds of 165 mph (265 kph), putting it in the highest intensity level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the National Hurricane Center said. Category 5 storms have winds of 156 mph or stronger."
"Since record-keeping began, only three Category 5 storms have hit the U.S.: an unnamed storm that hit the Florida Keys in 1935; Hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi in 1969; and Andrew, which devastated southern Florida in 1992." 9-05
- 08-28-05 New Orleans Braces for Katrina (CNN News)
"A solemn New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuations Sunday as his city faced its worst fear -- the threat of a direct hit from a major hurricane that could swamp the low-lying city."
"By mid-morning Sunday, Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 175 mph. It was expected to make landfall Monday morning. Category 5 is the most intense category on the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity." 8-05
- 08-30-05 Two Levees Break to Deepen New Orleans Crisis (MSNBC News)
"Two levees broke and sent water coursing into the streets of the Big Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped." 8-05
- 08-31-05 Health Emergency Declared (CNN News)
"The Bush administration declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast on Wednesday in an effort to stop the spread of disease in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."
" 'We are gravely concerned about the potential for cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases that could come as a result of the stagnant water and the conditions,' Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Wednesday after announcing the emergency." 8-05
- 09-01-05 Bush to Ask Congress for 10.5 Billion in Aid (Bloomberg.com)
"U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress to approve $10.5 billion in emergency spending to help pay for cleanup costs associated with Hurricane Katrina, Republicans familiar with the plan said."
"Bush may send his proposal to Congress as early as Friday as lawmakers cut short their recess and return to Washington, the officials said." 9-05
- 09-01-05 Superdome Relief a National Disgrace (USA Today)
"An angry Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans' emergency operations, watched the slow exodus from the Superdome and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency response was inadequate. The chaos at the nearby New Orleans Convention Center was considerably more hostile than the Superdome, with few options for refugees to leave the scene."
"Capt. John Pollard of the Texas Air Force National Guard said 20,000 people were in the dome when the evacuation efforts began. By Thursday afternoon, the number had swelled to about 30,000. Pollard said people poured into the Superdome because they believe it's the best place to get a ride out of town."
" 'This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control,' Ebbert said. 'We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans.' " 9-05
- FEMA Delays (CBS News)
"Internal documents which came to light on Tuesday reveal that Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown waited until about five hours after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast before he asked his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security workers to support rescuers in the region."
"Brown, in asking Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff to have workers sent to the hurricane zone, is also said to have given the workers two days to arrive."
"The airline industry says the government's request for help evacuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon."
"Fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were urged by FEMA not to send trucks or emergency workers into the disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments." 9-05
- Hurricane Arlene in 2005 (USA Today)
"Tropical Storm Arlene weakened as it blew ashore Saturday on the Gulf Coast, but still packed enough punch that it brought sheets of rain, 20-foot waves and heavy wind to the same area that was devastated by Hurricane Ivan nine months ago." 6-05
- Hurricane Ruins Gulfport (BBC News)
"Gulfport, Mississippi, was once a tourist town, filled with beach-goers and gamblers drawn to the casinos on barges permanently moored just offshore."
"Now, not a building along this coast has been left unscathed by Hurricane Katrina."
"The wreck of this town is unbelievable." 9-05
- Survivors Lash Out (USA Today)
"The city rescued Isaac Clark and his family and left them in bedlam: surrounded by thousands of increasingly angry, uprooted people, with no food or water and nobody to protect them."
"A man died the night before, his body left in Thursday's hot sun on a grassy median in front of the city's convention center. Residents smashed into hotels for meat while others cooked it on a parking lot barbecue. People broke in to tears from thirst, frustration and fear."
" 'They came and took us in buses. And left us right here,' said Clark, 68. 'We are out here living like pure animals. We don't have water. We don't have food. We don't have help.' They've been waiting for two days." 9-05
- Water Must Be Pumped Out (CBS News)
"Dr. Walter Maestri is the director of emergency management for Jefferson Parish, La., which borders New Orleans."
"He told co-anchor Hannah Storm, 'The greatest risk is really from tidal surge flooding, given the fact we're surrounded on … basically 3½ sides by water.' "
" 'New Orleans exists below sea level, basically in a bowl,' he said. 'It resembles a soup bowl, surrounded on all sides by levees, the entire metro area. If the levees are topped by the tidal surge flooding, the water comes into the bowl and remains, because every drop of water that falls here has to be pumped out.' " 9-05
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