The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.
Biloxi is a city and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054, and in 2019 the estimated population was 46,212. The area's first European settlers were French colonists.
Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic hurricane which caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record, and is now tied with 2017's Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States.
Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina consisted primarily of condemnations of mismanagement and lack of preparation in the relief effort in response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Specifically, there was a delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Many countries and international organizations offered the United States relief aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina included federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and National Guard soldiers, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private individuals. Tens of thousands of volunteers and troops responded or were deployed to the disaster; most in the affected area but also throughout the U.S. at shelters set up in at least 19 states.
Canada was one of the countries to provide the most aid and relief for Hurricane Katrina. They provided ships, supplies, volunteers, search-and-rescue teams, and more. It has also accepted some evacuees to stay in Canada.
Following the devastation of the United States and Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sent his personal letter of condolences to U.S. President George W. Bush while the Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo sent his personal letter of condolences to the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, promising support for the American people in their relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"Come Together Now" is a charity single made to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The song was written by Sharon Stone, Damon Sharpe, Mark Feist, and Denise Rich and released on November 21, 2005.
"S.S.T." is a song by American musician Prince which was recorded and released directly after the impact of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. It was officially released as a digital download by the NPG Music Club on September 3, 2005 and reached number one on the iTunes R&B chart. It was later made available as a CD single through commercial outlets. All proceeds from the recording went to hurricane relief.
Hands On USA (HOUSA), now All Hands Volunteers, was a relief project established to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. HOUSA was organized by the non-profit relief organization Hands On Disaster Response.
"The Saints are Coming" was the third single by the Scottish punk rock band Skids, featured on their 1979 debut album, Scared to Dance. The song became an international hit when it was covered in 2006 by U2 and Green Day. It was covered again in 2008 by Von Thronstahl.
"Always Tomorrow" is a single by American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan. It was released worldwide in October 1992 as the first single from her fourth solo album, Gloria Estefan Greatest Hits. It is an adult contemporary, guitar-driven acoustic ballad about starting over in the wake of tragedy or disaster. While on tour, Estefan has played the guitar while singing the song. The video of the song is one of Estefan's simplest clips, focusing on how the victims of Hurricane Andrew rebuilt Miami. Estefan donated royalties from single sales to the hurricane victims. In 2005, the song was featured in a medley with her No. 1 smash "Coming Out of the Dark" in the compilation "Hurricane Relief: Come Together now", created for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Living Legend: Certified D-Boy is an independent album by Master P under his new imprint, Guttar Music. It released on November 29, 2005 and saw Master P make a return to his "Ice Cream Man" persona. Although he released the album Ghetto Bill earlier that year, he released this album to raise relief funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It has independently sold over 75,000 copies on Sound Scan and includes the single "Cookie Money," featuring P's cousin and fellow New No Limit/Guttar Music rapper Black.
"George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" is a protest song by Houston-based hip hop duo The Legendary K.O. It was released on September 6, 2005, just days after Hurricane Katrina. The song was made available free on the Internet. The song was a single first made available from FWMJ's Rappers I Know website. It was released using the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. It has been described as "vividly topical", and "one of the best political protest songs of all time".
America's WETLAND Foundation (AWF) is a nonprofit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization with the stated mission to save and conserve coastal wetlands in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The organization aims to achieve this mission through a public awareness campaign on the impact Louisiana's wetland loss has on the state, region, nation and world.
The Consulate-General of Indonesia in Houston is Indonesia's diplomatic facility in Houston, Texas, United States.
The New Waveland Café and New Waveland Clinic together formed a disaster response center consisting of a combination café, soup kitchen, medical clinic, donation center, and market, that operated free of charge from September 5 to December 1, 2005 in immediate Post-Katrina Mississippi Gulf Coast in Waveland, Hancock County, Mississippi. The cafe and clinic were founded in response to Hurricane Katrina and provided free food and free medical care to hurricane victims for three months. They were located in tents in the parking lot of Fred's Department Store at 790 Hwy 90 in Waveland, across the street from the destroyed and gutted Waveland Police Department. The New Waveland Cafe served three free meals every day to thousands of residents and volunteers. The New Waveland Clinic provided free health care to over 5,500 patient contacts. As well, a group of hippies and Christians came together to form a unique group which worked together to provide emergency relief.
Elenora "Rukiya" Brown is an artist from New Orleans who has appeared in several art shows and exhibits around the country. In 2008 she was featured in the African American Fine Arts Show. Her style of crafting dolls is unique and contributes to education in art of the African diaspora.
