Published: September 02, 2005
Massive U.S. Response To Aid Hurricane Katrina Victims
After Hurricane Katrina caused massive destruction and death across Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama, almost every federal agency contributed people, equipment and supplies.
It is one of the largest domestic response mobilizations in U.S. history.
Federal agencies, working with state and local officials offered food, water, shelter, medical care and supplies, as well as help with power lines and infrastructure.
Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff said the President declared major disasters for affected areas in the four states.
"Along with these declarations," he added, "the full range of federal resources and capabilities is being directed, as we speak, to assist and protect those citizens who have borne the brunt of this catastrophe."
Canada, France, Honduras, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and many more foreign governments offered to help in the Gulf Coast area search-and-reconstruction efforts, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"These are general offers of assistance at this point," McCormack added. "We appreciate each and every one of them and we are going to work in the coming days and weeks with foreign governments to see how we can best channel these offers of assistance."
The U.S. State Department is assisting foreign missions in locating their citizens who might have been in the affected areas.
Chertoff is chairing a Cabinet-level task force to coordinate assistance from Washington, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown is in charge of federal response and recovery efforts in the field.
Recovery efforts are focused on three priorities, Bush said – saving lives; sustaining lives with food, water, shelter and medical care; and executing a comprehensive recovery effort.
"This recovery will take a long time," he said, "This recovery will take years."
Federal agencies are helping local officials in New Orleans evacuate everyone still in the flooded city. For 25,000 residents who had taken shelter in the city’s Superdome sports arena, the city of Houston, 350 miles away, offered shelter in its Astrodome, where they may stay until December.
FEMA provided 500 buses to transport people to the Astrodome, a six-hour drive away. Evacuees began arriving at the 40-year-old former sports complex in the early morning hours of September 1.
The agency has deployed 39 disaster medical assistance teams from all across the United States to staging areas in Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana to provide emergency medical assistance.
The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting search-and-rescue missions, working alongside local officials with local assets. It has also activated three national strike teams (units skilled in specialized salvage and pollution control) to help remove hazardous material.
The Coast Guard has rescued nearly 2,000 people since the hurricane struck, Bush said, and its ships and boats continue to support the national relief effort.
The Defense Department is sending the USS Bataan, a multipurpose amphibious assault ship, to conduct search-and-rescue missions. The ship has hospital facilities to care for up to 600 patients, including six fully equipped medical operating rooms.
Defense is also sending eight swift-water rescue teams, the three-ship Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group to help with disaster-response equipment, and the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, to help provide medical care.
The National Guard has nearly 11,000 guardsmen on state active duty to help governors and local officials with security and disaster-response efforts.
FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are working around the clock with Louisiana officials to repair breaches in New Orleans' levees and ease the city’s flooding.
Source: U.S. Department of State
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