Survivors angered by slow aid
2005-09-09 12:49
Louisiana - Authorities in the hurricane-ravaged community Covington north of New Orleans allowed residents to return on Friday as tempers flared over the slow pace of relief.
Life is slowly returning to normal in St Tammany Parish after Hurricane Katrina roared through August 29, but many residents are still desperate, having lost homes and business and reduced to subsisting on handouts of military rations and bottled water.
Parish President Kevin Davis announced evacuated residents could begin returning home, acknowledging that conditions had improved. But with most media attention focused on the flooded city of New Orleans, those still suffering Katrina's impact feel overlooked.
They try to call the number for disaster assistance, but it does not work. There is no mail delivery, and many businesses are closed. Cell phone service is spotty, and many land lines are down.
'Close to a riot'
Many have waited up to three days to apply for emergency food stamp benefits before Friday's deadline. The frustration boiled over on Thursday in a crowded parking lot at the state Department of Social Services office in Covington.
"The National Guard were screaming and hollering at us like we was in boot camp," said Bettie James, from the nearby town of Abita Springs.
"The came as close to having (a riot) as they could come without having one," added Roxie Myers of Covington.
State and federal officials say they are doing the best they can.
Americans have contributed a record $587m in aid for the more than one million people affected by Katrina, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The United Sates State Department has accepted another $1bn in cash and material goods from 45 countries.
And late on Thursday President George W Bush approved $51.8bn in Hurricane Katrina emergency funding.
The huge aid bill, approved overwhelmingly on Thursday in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, is the second tranche of Katrina emergency funds passed.
When all of the casualties are counted and the costs tallied, Katrina may turn out to be the worst natural disaster in US history.
Jay Kleinman lost his Covington home and the restaurant he owns in nearby Long Beach, Mississippi, when Katrina roared through, uprooting trees from the ample pine forests in the parish and turning buildings into piles of rubble.
"It disappeared. Couldn't find a dish, couldn't find silverware. ... It's gone," Kleinman said of his restaurant.
"I don't know what to do. It's like you want to cry. What do you do?"
Kleinman has insurance, but he said he can't reach the insurance company, which is why he was sitting in a plastic chair in the corner of the Social Services office parking lot, waiting for aid.
- AFP