Katrina Aid Today is a relief charity in the United States, that works to provide long term recovery support to survivors of Hurricane Katrina. United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church, manages the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sponsored program. Nine national partners and sixteen local organizations, who specialize in availability of benefits, resources and services, aim to deliver assistance to 300,000 of the most vulnerable survivors in the United States.
Consortium agencies work from offices in 31 U.S. states utilizing case managers to assist people that have been affected by the storm. In addition to the $66million grant funds from FEMA, donated by foreign governments, consortium members have also committed an estimated $35million ($5million from UMCOR) including in-kind contributions totaling $101million for long term recovery.
The program aims to assist survivors by the creation of recovery plans, identification of unmet needs, and facilitating access to necessary resources. Case management through this program is facilitated nationally through the use of standardized forms and direct data entry into CAN: Coordinated Assistance Network – a web-based database developed by the American Red Cross.
UMCOR established its case management system during recovery from Hurricane Andrew and improved it during the September 11 attacks. Partners were selected based on nonprofit status, national volunteer network capacity and case management experience. Grassroots organizations were selected based on a similar evaluation process and are funded by UMCOR private funds.
Local: These organizations work to expand the reach of the nine-member consortium through their service to special populations of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Accepting Challenges to Improve Our Nation (ACTION), Houston, TX
Advocacy Inc, Dallas, TX
Disability Rights Florida, Tallahassee, FL
Asian Social Services Center, Philadelphia, PA
Autauga County Family Support Center, Prattville, AL
Hope Community Services Inc., Orange County, CA
Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Mennonite Central Committee and El Comité de Récuperacion, Houston, TX
Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League, Tulsa, OK
National Spinal Cord Injury Association, (NSCIA) Bethesda, MD
New Concept Staff Development Center, Inc., Milwaukee, WI
Sabathani Community Center, Minneapolis, MN
Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Services, St. Charles, MO
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 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.
Emergency management, also called emergency response or disaster management, is the organization and management of the resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies. The aim is to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of all hazards, including disasters.
National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), or AmeriCorps NCCC is an AmeriCorps program that engages 18- to 24-year-olds in team-based national and community service in the United States. Under the CARES act, however, the maximum age of entry is 26. National Civilian Community Corps teams complete about four different six- to eight-week-long projects during their 10-month term of service. Each team is made up of eight to twelve Corps Members and one Team Leader. Corps Members and Team Leaders are representative of all colors, creeds, states, and economic status. Approximately 1,200 Corps Members and Team Leaders are chosen annually to serve at one of four regional campuses, located in Sacramento, California; Denver, Colorado; Vinton, Iowa; and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Each campus serves as a training center and hub for a multi-state region. Members are required to complete a minimum of 1,700 hours of service, including 80 independent service hours, though members complete an average of 1,850 service hours per term.
Hurricane Katrina was a large and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially 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.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian aid and development organization of the United Methodist Church (UMC). UMCOR is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization operated under the auspices of the General Board of Global Ministries. One hundred percent of donations are directed to an earmarked project or relief effort. Administrative expenses are funded by an annual offering collected by United Methodist churches on UMCOR Sunday.
Michael DeWayne Brown is an American attorney and former government official who served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2003 to 2005. He joined FEMA as general counsel in 2001 and became deputy director the same year. Appointed in January 2003 by President George W. Bush to lead FEMA, Brown resigned in September 2005 following his controversial handling of Hurricane Katrina. Brown currently hosts a radio talk show on 630 KHOW in Denver, Colorado.
Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina was a major political dispute in the United States in 2005 that 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.
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.
Hurricane Katrina had many social effects, due the significant loss and disruption of lives it caused. The number of fatalities, direct and indirect, related to Katrina is 1,833 and over 400,000 people were left homeless. The hurricane left hundreds of thousands of people without access to their homes or jobs, it separated people from relatives, and caused both physical and mental distress on those who suffered through the storm and its aftermath, such as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The reconstruction of New Orleans refers to the rebuilding process endured by the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city on August 29, 2005. The storm caused levees to fail, releasing tens of billions of gallons of water. The levee failure contributed to extensive flooding in the New Orleans area and surrounding parishes. About 80% of all structures in Orleans Parish sustained water damage. Over 204,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced—the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Wind damage was less severe than predicted. The damage that took place that needed to be repaired cost about $125 billion.
This article contains a historical timeline of the events of Hurricane Katrina on August 23–30, 2005 and its aftermath.
Hurricane Katrina struck the United States on August 29, 2005, causing over a thousand deaths and extreme property damage, particularly in New Orleans. The incident affected numerous areas of governance, including disaster preparedness and environmental policy.
A FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force is a team of individuals specializing in urban search and rescue, disaster recovery, and emergency triage and medicine. The teams are deployed to emergency and disaster sites within six hours of notification. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created the Task Force concept to provide support for large scale disasters in the United States. FEMA provides financial, technical and training support for the Task Forces as well as creating and verifying the standards of Task Force personnel and equipment.
The term FEMA trailer, or FEMA travel trailer, is the name commonly given by the United States Government to forms of temporary manufactured housing assigned to the victims of natural disaster by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Such trailers are intended to provide intermediate term shelter, functioning longer than tents which are often used for short-term shelter immediately following a disaster. FEMA trailers serve a similar function to the "earthquake shacks" erected to provide interim housing after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) was a bi-partisan initiative in the United States House of Representatives to require states seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance to accommodate pets and service animals in their plans for evacuating residents facing disasters. Introduced by Congressmen Tom Lantos (D-California) and Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut) on September 22, 2005, the bill passed the House of Representatives on May 22, 2006 by a margin of 349 to 29. Technically an amendment to the Stafford Act, it was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 6, 2006. The bill is now Public Law 109-308.
The National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster is a coalition of the major national voluntary organizations in the United States that have made disaster-related work a priority. National VOAD member agencies provide skilled direct services along the continuum from disaster prevention and preparation to response, recovery, and mitigation. NVOAD is the only nationwide organization of VOAD members in the United States.
Boat People SOS (BPSOS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization devoted to Vietnamese-American civic and political activism. It is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. BPSOS' mission is to "empower, organize, and equip Vietnamese individuals and communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity." BPSOS claims that one in 10 Vietnamese Americans has received assistance from BPSOS while still in Vietnam, on the high seas, in a refugee camp, or after arriving in the United States. Through their 17 office locations in the U.S. and two office locations in Southeast Asia, they provide a web of services to support individuals, families, and communities.
The effects of Hurricane Georges in Louisiana included $30.1 million in damage and three deaths. Forming from a tropical wave over the Atlantic Ocean, Georges attained a peak intensity of 155 mph (250 km/h) on September 20, 1998. Over the following several days, the storm tracked through the Greater Antilles and later entered the Gulf of Mexico on September 28, the Category 2 storm made landfall in Mississippi before dissipating on October 1. Before landfall, about 500,000 residents in Louisiana evacuated from low-lying areas. The mayor of New Orleans declared a state of emergency to allow federal assistance into the state. After nearly 1.5 million people were urged to evacuate coastal areas, officials described the evacuation as "probably the largest [...] we have ever achieved".
Camp Restore is a Christian organization that operates a shelter for up to 240 people at the Prince of Peace Lutheran church in New Orleans East. First opened on September 10, 2006, these accommodations are used to house volunteers from across the United States as they help rebuild homes and buildings in the surrounding communities that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. It also has locations in Baton Rouge and Detroit.
Due to the common occurrence of hurricanes in the coastal state of North Carolina, hurricane recovery in North Carolina is a large component of the state's emergency management efforts. Recovery from these tremendous storms at the local and state level is a large part of the aftermath of a hurricane. Gavin Smith and Victor Flatt stated that "Disaster recovery remains the least understood aspect of hazards management, when assessed relative to preparedness, response, and hazard mitigation." Smith and Flatt also went on to state that the role of the states is even less understood. The review of the plans and policies that instruct recovery, agencies involved, funding processes and budgets, and the environmental effects of a hurricane creates a better understanding of how North Carolina recovers from a hurricane.
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