In early June, the White House reversed a Bush administration plan to evict the thousands of FEMA-trailer residents still living in the Gulf Coast. Instead, those living in the trailers will be allowed to purchase them for $5 or less. There's just one very big problem: An estimated 33 percent of the 134,000 FEMA trailers housing survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita have formaldehyde problems, according to the federal government.
For some homeowners, these trailers are still a much-needed base from which they can continue to repair their houses. But for others, renters in particular, these small trailers may mark the end of government assistance and national attention to the ongoing plight of those with the least resources still struggling to rebound from the devastation.
This collection of images shows the devastation faced by the people of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck on Aug. 29, 2005.
Katrina - Before and After
Cars travel over a bridge crossing the Industrial Canal to the Lower Ninth Ward July 18, 2006, in New Orleans. A year earlier, two men paddle in high water. (Mario Tama, Getty Images)
Residents walk through floodwaters on Canal Street in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A lone street car waits a year later. (Bill Haber, AP)
Hurricane Katrina evacuee Kimi Seymour, takes a break along Interstate 10 as she walked along the highway with a shopping cart of possessions after Katrina. (Irwin Thompson, The Dallas Morning News / AP)
Residents inspect damage left by Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Miss. (Robert Sullivan, AFP / Getty Images)
Rhonda Braden walks through the destruction in her childhood neighborhood, Aug. 31, 2005 in Long Beach, Miss. (Rob Carr, AP)
Katrina victims carry merchandise from downtown businesses in New Orleans. (Eric Gay, AP)
A woman and her child wait with hundreds of other flood victims at the convention center in New Orleans. (Eric Gay, AP)
People walk along Interstate 10 near the Louisiana Superdome early on Aug. 31, 2005, in New Orleans and a year later traffic flows down the same road. (Melanie Burford, AP)
The destroyed Hyatt Regency hotel, left, is shown next to a statue in New Orleans and the way it appeared a year later. (Mario Tama, Getty Images)
Young Tanisha Belvin holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina survivor Nita LaGarde. (Eric Gay, AP)
Some excerpts from the Katrina Pain Index:
0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant – compared with 116,708 home owners.
160. Number of units that will be public housing-eligible in the new St. Bernard area after demolition and rebuilding. St. Bernard was constructed with 1,400 public housing apartments. Only a small percentage of the 4,000 families in public housing in New Orleans before Katrina will be allowed to live in the new housing being constructed on the site where their apartments were demolished.
27,279. Number of Louisiana home owners who applied for federal assistance to rebuild after Katrina and were determined eligible for assistance but have still not received any money.
0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental-health care as of September 2009, despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and mental-health problems.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2008.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant residences.
2. Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana under a $74 million federal program as of the 2009 hurricane season.
52. Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
88. Percent of the 600 New Orleans residents who will be displaced by a proposed new hospital complex that are minorities. Source: Bill Quiqley: Katrina Pain Index 2009, Counterpunch.org
One of the data points that jumps out at me is the lack of in-patient mental-health care. If you're traumatized or depressed, then it's virtually impossible to get back on your feet. For many already living on the brink of disaster before the storm, the pain index is likely to intensify, while our national attention wanders off in other directions.
Comments: (1)
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By: ADMR on 8/27/2009 3:43PM
The Aftermath Of Hurricane K was Eyeopening to say the Least.
May an Angel be sent your way to assist with the final " clean - up "
BEST
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