[Dialogue] Katrina refugees & What if?

[Darrell Walker]

> Janice -- BRILLIANT! The rest of you -- Where could we start?
> Sunny
>
    To give some perspective as to what is happening on the ground today, 
below is an article from a Houston paper.
      Can you imagine the effect of getting some singing going in the 
Astrodome?
    Darrell Walker -- California



> By BILL MURPHY and SALATHEIA BRYANT
> Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
>
> Volunteers were pouring in to the Reliant Astrodome and George R. Brown
> Convention Center today to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina and
> Harris County officials said that about 24,000 people have been
> processed at the Reliant complex thus far.
>
> About 5,000 of those evacuees have been sent to smaller shelters,
> Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt said.
>
> The city sent out a call this morning for donations of supplies at the
> covention center.
>
> Cots, sleeping bags, air mattresses, full-size linens, nonperishable
> foods, baby food and supplies -- especially diapers -- and underwear
> for men, women and children are priority needs. These items can be
> dropped out at the south end of the facility on Polk Street. Volunteers
> will be at curbside to assist donors.
>
> Elsewhere, volunteers who showed up to start the 1 p.m. shift at the
> Houston Food Bank on the Eastex Freeway at Cavalcade today were told
> about 1:30 to leave. The food bank had so much food they were having
> to take time to organize and stack it out of safety concerns. About 200
> volunteers outside the food bank had traffic stacked up in that area.
>
> Admitting they grossly over-estimated the number of evacuees who can be
> sheltered safely at the Astrodome, local leaders agreed Friday to open
> the convention center and other Reliant facilities to Katrina victims
> and canceled upcoming events at some of the venues.
>
> About 200 evacuees arrived at the convention center about 11:30 p.m.
> Friday, most of them in private automobiles from Baytown, where they
> had been temporarily sheltered after driving from New Orleans. A
> busload of evacuees arrived about 8 a.m. today, but it was not known
> where they came from.
>
> Local officials were also stationing people on the road between Houston
> and Lafayette, La., to count the buses en route here and to evaluate
> passengers so more will be known about their needs once that arrive
> here.
>
> "Our system has been tested and we are ready for the rest of the week,"
> City Councilman Adrian Garcia said. "We are expecting from a couple of
> hundred to 5,000 more people (at the convention center)."
>
> Aaron Bayles, a registered nurse who works at St. Luke's Hospital,
> brought his stethescope and blood pressure cuff to the Astrodome this
> morning after he heard there was a need for medical personnel, but
> officials there asked him to go to the convention center instead, where
> they said there was a need for registered nurses.
>
> Officials postponed today's scheduled Labor Day Classic at Reliant
> Stadium between football rivals Texas Southern University and Prairie
> View A&M. And they canceled Fiestas Patrias, a Mexican independence day
> celebration that had been expected to draw up to 50,000 to Reliant
> Center on Sunday.
>
> Mayor Bill White said the situation was so dire in Louisiana and
> elsewhere on the Gulf Coast that the Houston area needs to do what is
> necessary to aid that region's homeless.
>
> "We're going to kick people out who were planning to do things. This is
> an emergency," he said. "If it entails somebody suing us, then OK."
>
> Six Flags Astroworld, across the South Loop from Reliant Park,
> announced it will be closed today, Sunday and Monday to ensure traffic
> does not interfere with relief efforts.
>
> During a visit to Reliant Park Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he
> would be sending 1,000 National Guard troops to Houston to help with
> security around shelters. Some may be arriving by Sunday, he said.
>
> The Astrodome housed 15,000 evacuees Friday night, with 3,000 at
> Reliant Arena and 8,000 at Reliant Center, Red Cross spokeswoman Denise
> Bishop said.
>
> Local officials had planned since early Wednesday to use the Dome as
> shelter for 25,000 evacuees from the Louisiana Superdome in New
> Orleans, which lacked electricity, air conditioning and working
> toilets.
>
> The plan was based on the premise that a stadium that held 62,000 for
> football could comfortably house 25,000.
>
> But late Thursday, officials at the Astrodome stopped taking evacuees
> when its population reached 12,000, and Mike Ivy, interim fire marshal
> for the Houston Fire Department, deemed it overcrowded.
>
> Some evacuees were moved into Reliant Arena, while others remained on
> the buses.
>
> Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said emergency planning coordinators
> in the county Homeland Security & Emergency Management division are
> learning on the fly what works and what doesn't.
>
> "The plan is evolving, continuously changing," he said.
>
> About 35,000 cots had been delivered to the Astrodome, but only a few
> thousand were set up on the Dome floor, and the fire marshal's office
> concluded more would be dangerous.
>
> Evacuees slept Thursday night in Dome seats, on the floor and in the
> grass outside.
>
> "Easily, 800 people were sleeping outside the Dome on the grass on
> cardboard boxes," said Tracy McGaugh, a South Texas College of Law
> assistant professor who worked an overnight shift as a Dome volunteer.
>
> On Friday night, only 4,500 of the 15,000 evacuees in the Dome had
> cots, Bishop said.
>
> McGaugh and Kathy Bergin, a colleague from the law school who also
> volunteered, said security at the Dome seemed inadequate. Few officers
> were in sight, and groups of young men congregated in various places,
> making passers-by uneasy, McGaugh said.
>
> Eckels said security has been added, along with an increased presence
> of volunteers among the evacuees.
>
> White said Houstonians have nothing to fear of the recent arrivals.
> "I've met with some of the survivors," he said. "They are just people
> who are scared. They've been through hell and are thankful there's a
> city with a big heart to welcome them."
>
> Eckels said he hoped to reduce the number of evacuees in the Dome from
> 15,000 to 12,000. Reliant Arena eventually will house 3,000, with
> another 8,000 in the large exhibition halls at Reliant Center. George
> R. Brown will take about 7,500, White said.
>
> White's staff called an emergency City Council meeting for Monday to
> decide whether to set aside $10 million in a special fund to help with
> the evacuees.
>
> The council is expected to be briefed then on the
> efforts.
>
> The money would pay for shelter, transportation, food vouchers and
> clothing. The city would seek reimbursement from the federal
> government.
>
> Louisiana officials initially intended to send only Superdome evacuees
> to the Astrodome. That plan has changed. Evacuees from around Louisiana
> are now being bused to Houston, Eckels said.
>
> Earlier Friday, a long line of cars formed on Kirby, waiting to turn
> into the Reliant Park complex or a makeshift donation site that has
> popped up nearby.
>
> Gracie Conner of Sugar Land inched along in her SUV on a return trip to
> the site. Earlier, she had met evacuee Danielle Harper, who began
> crying, saying she couldn't find any clothes that fit her. Conner
> bought a load of clothes, gave some to Harper and dropped the rest off.
>
> She invited Harper to stay with her and her husband, and Harper
> accepted.
>
> "It hurts me. Can you imagine one day you wake up and you have no
> house, no car, no food? I am going to put people in my house," Conner
> said.
>
> Volunteers from a number of churches may begin helping prepare meals
> for Reliant Park evacuees Tuesday or Wednesday, Eckels said. They would
> likely supplement the services of Aramark, which is providing food now.
>
> Aramark is not taking food donated by area restaurants and residents on
> the orders of city officials, said company spokeswoman Kathleen Keenan.
>