[Roy21]

I am from Australia and we havnt heard much about whats been happening recently following Hurricane Katrina, For the 1st 2 weeks it was all over the news every night however since then we have had very little follow up storys to see how things are currenly unfolding with the people who were stranded and the cleanup efforts. Just wondering if you guys know much of whats happening atm, I watch the American Today show on NBC early in the mornings here (4am) sometimes however even that show has not mentioned very much.

Thanks,

Roy.

[jmo531]

Hey Roy

Glad to see you popping in.

The sad part about this is that once the "media hype" is gone everyone forgets about those who were effected by this tradgedy.

The last I heard is that the Federal Government is trying to blame the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana (please forgive my spelling mistakes )

Other then that, I dont know much. Thank you for asking though.

[(JD)]

I guess you mean in Louisiana and Mississippi? They are in a baby boom, even though the area will take a decade or longer to rebuild. The inhabitants of New Orleans, whose homes were damaged, are still in limbo until the local government decides whether they are going to raze the area or allow them to stay. NO still going with Jazz festival downtown Bourbon street?

Building materials for Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi are scarce...due to the thousands of damaged homes. (Florida is still with areas that haven't been able to rebuild since the hurricanes of 2004!) There is a big shortage of roofing tiles...and many homes continue to "wear" the blue roofing tarps (plastic) to keep the weather out.

The animals that were evacuated to other states are slowly getting homes... mostly. Insurance premiums for Florida homes will rise at least 47% this year.
The cities that took in evacuees (people) are having problems now due to lack of available housing, jobs, and relief funding... in addition to increased crime.

Not very positive... other than, we are a strong people... and in spite of the lack of "assistance" from the media, will go on. Church organizations are the biggest assistance that is ongoing.

[(JD)]

Just heard stats... there are still 5000 families living in temporary housing from Florida's 2004 hurricane season... and they went through the 2005 season this way? Grrrr Floridians have nearly $4 billion in reserves still.

[jmo531]

Sky,

This is awful to hear. We had alot of people flee here to San Antonio from New Orleans when Katrina hit.

I am from VA so I never really knew or at least seen the devistation that a hurricaine can cause until Katrina. Living in Texas when this occured, really opened my eyes to the true devistation of these storms, and I wasnt even directly effected. I send all my positive vibes to those that have been affected in FL, MS and LA. These areas have been hit hard and I hope that their needs are not overlooked and hope that they are not forgotten.

[Azalysa]

Hi, Roy, nice to meet you!

First of all, how kind and gracious of you to ask how the people in our country hit by those killer storms are faring. Sky is right...the federal and local government swoops in at the beginning, then sort of backs away to the next "big story."

Our church has adopted a church that was destroyed, as well as its people and those in the area. Our church donates needed items then every 2 weeks or so a group goes out to distribute them. Interstingly, I received this email from our church listserv just this weekend:

(Names deleted for privacy)returned on February 1st from a week at Camp Coast Care, the Lutheran-Episcopal recovery center located at Coast Episcopal School, Long Beach, MS.

Overall conditions in the Pass Christian – Long Beach areas have improved since our last visit there in late October. Gone are most of the crushed automobiles and refrigerators dumped along the roadsides. Some, but not all of the totally destroyed homes have been bulldozed and removed. Most key city offices are now staffed and operating from trailers. In areas where city services have been restored, trailers are frequently parked alongside homes undergoing repairs.

On the downside, but probably inevitable, is the news that FEMA tent villages are being closed this month, with little or no information on where the tent dwellers will be relocated.

As to the needs of the camp, the official source of information is the website at www.campcoastcare.com. After working in the food and clothing distribution tent for a week, we would add the following personal observations:

[There followed a listing of particular items in that are greatly needed.]

In its five month existence, the camp has hosted nearly 4500 volunteers, who have provided medical care, home restoration and repairs, and food distribution to almost 200,000 storm victims.

That is a small report of two individual churches joining together to help. (Our church has a membership of 600 so we're not talking huge churches here.)

Again, thank you, Roy, for being so kind to ask!

P.S. OOHHHHHH, how could I have forgotten!!!! Many of the animals rescued from Katrina made it here to Central Florida. My constant companion cat for 20 years had *just* died. I went to the SPCA and adopted Kali, a sweet calico who made it safely through the storm and into my arms!!! I can only image how scared those poor animals were, but seems , from what I'm hearing in this area, they are getting good homes!!!