Houston is Katrina Pt. 2

UPDATE: We are being told that folks have attempted to go to FEMA POD stations by carpool, with a piece of mail and thier ID to prove residency (as in, everyone in this car does not live in the same house), since FEMA started requiring people in need of assistance to seek it in cars and not on foot (scroll down if this is news to you) and were still denied food/water and ice for more than once household.  That’s your government at work.

UPDATE: A message came in that out-of-state electrical workers are in various parts of Houston.  At least south of Houston however, they did not have the authority or resouces from the local companies to do any work.  Yes, they are sitting on their hands.

If you take a browse through mainstream media coverage of Hurricane Ike’s destruction in Texas, you might fall under the impression that “everything that can be done, is being done”. 

You would be mistaken.

FEMA and local government want desperately to appear to not be repeating the mistakes that shocked the world during the aftermath of Katrina in 2005.  Michael Chertoff has been on the news every other 5 minutes to give “updates” that carry very little helpful information; if ever he or anyone else are questioned about why something has not been done, the question is brushed aside.

So here’s the real deal folks.  I happen to have people in Houston (including good friend AC) who have, over the past few days, been able to get out messages to let me know what is really going on in Texas, and have asked that I do what I can to get the word out.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Missouri+City,+TX+77489&ie=UTF8&ll=29.662399,-95.465698&spn=0.173632,0.280151&z=11&iwloc=addr&output=embed&s=AARTsJocOKDapcJawBy6uNxO7982F9IXww&w=425&h=350]

This is Missouri City TX, on the outskirts of Houston in Ft. Bend County.  Blacks and minorities make up 57% of the population in MO City and nearly 60% of the nearly 500,000 people who live in Ft. Bend County.  According to AC, there are large populations of edler African Americans who live in these subdivisions, who are still without power.  Many of them have medical conditions, such as diabetes, and cannot properly medicate themselves because their medications have gone bad without refrigeration.  These elders do not have access to food, water or ice.

The local FEMA station, known as a “POD” ( on Hillcroft @ the
Fountain of Praise Church) began turning folks away who arrived on foot, claiming that it was unfair to those who were waiting in a longer line of cars; apparently tempers were short.  If you lost your car in the Hurricane or never had one to begin with, you’re SOL when it comes to getting help- that is criminal -and it must be said- stupid.

Black people in and around Missouri City feel that they are being passed up in favor of helping more affluent neighborhoods.  Of course anyone and everyone would deny that outright, but it doesn’t change the fact that a large population of people, who just happen to be Black, are going without right now.

Houston had a slight break from the heat today- it only got to about 78 degrees; tomorrow it’s expected to get into the high 80′s; still elders will be without food, water, ice and medical attention.

There were many places in and around the Houston area that fell under a mandatory evacuation; though many did not.  That being said, mandatory evacuations require police, fire and whoever else, to go door to door across neighborhoods, cities and counties; FEMA needs to go door to door and deliver food, ice, water and medical attention.

We are talking about marginalized populations of people that need help.  The media wants to focus on the houses that were blown away, and the evacuations near Galveston.  Tragedy is tragedy here, and we need to stop propping one above the other.  If we do not bring attention to what is going on and put pressure on the media to cover it, then to quote my dear friend AC in Houston “people are going to die from despair”.

The scene on the ground has been described to me more times than ten as “pitiful”, “shameful”, “criminal”, and “a massive failure on the part of the government; this is another Katrina”.

This from the Houston Chronicle’s Ike Blog:

Despite promises from state disaster officials, Fort Bend County has been unable to get any shipments of ice and water, County Judge Bob Hebert said Monday.

“I’m frustrated, I’m very frustrated,” Hebert said.

The judge said the county put in a request to get emergency shipments of ice and water from the state and was assured some would come. “We were told a truck would arrive at 4 p.m. today in Sugar Land.” He said volunteers manned the site. “Four o’clock came and no truck.”

“We still haven’t heard why it didn’t arrive,” he said.

When Fort Bend officials called a state command post they were told there was no record of the county filing a request.

“we wish they would have told us so we could have secured our own supply.”

If Fort Bend County doesn’t get assurances of shipments from the state, he said, it will order five truckloads of ice and water from a private company in Texarkana, “and we will pay for it ourselves.”

The county’s goal is to have at least three points of distributions open tomorrow. Locations won’t be announced in advance, because “we don’t want to have 5,000 people waiting for it.”

Debris cleanup in the county will cost $16 million to $20 million, he said. About 20,000 homes sustained damage and 20 to 40 homes were totally destroyed.
The total loss for Fort Bend County is estimated to be hundreds of millions, he said.

According the AC- it’s crisis time.  People are hot, tired, hungry, discouraged and from what he is describing, Ike’s victims are reaching the breaking point and a whole lot of mess is going to break out if people don’t start getting the basics met.  He says that the local, state and federal government are constantly reciting “Who’s on First” in an effort to not blaim each other while also not taking any blaim themselves- the ice/food/water scenario in Ft. Bend county where AC lives is a clear and pathetic example of that.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=FEMA+Relief+Station+%4029.62207916700265,-95.49509525299072&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=Missouri+City,+TX+77489&f=d&hl=en&sll=29.626407,-95.493035&sspn=0.017123,0.027466&ie=UTF8&ll=29.61076,-95.495425&spn=0.03248,0.00689&output=embed&s=AARTsJpsQMoWRm78dM814p2PqHhIDLik1Q&w=425&h=350]

Per FEMA’s list and on the ground reports, there are NO FEMA relief stations in Missouri City or in the entire county of Ft. Bend; what are those people supposed to do? 

Blacks and other minorities make up roughly 57% of MO City, and nearly 60% of Ft. Bend County, which has about 500k residents, which leads me to ask the question, why is there no active FEMA effort in Ft. Bend County?  Why do folks have to travel to Harris County to get food, water and ice?  
 
Some are saying, “well the POD station is only 3 miles from MO City”.  Again, what if you don’t have a car?  What if you’re further into Ft. Bend County than MO City (which is right on the county line, right next to Harris County)?  It’s ridiculous, seriously.  That POD is never going to have adequate supplies because it has thousands of people coming to it from an entirely different county, let alone those who live right around it.

HALF A MILLION PEOPLE LIVE IN FT. BEND COUNTY; WHY IS THERE NOT AN ABUNDANCE OF FEMA STATIONS TO SERVE THESE COMMUNITIES?  WHAT AN OUTRAGE!

In addition to having no FEMA on the ground, registering with FEMA via telephone is a joke; victims are met with a message that says all lines are busy, followed by the dial tone.  The rumor is they prefer folks register via email- sort of hard to do when the power company is passing by your house to attend to the more affluent neighborhoods.

I ask that you spread the word and start asking the tough questions; blog this information or post something with a link to this; we cannot allow people to suffer (again) at the hands of a failed relief effort.

Peace-

Sable Verity

MORE INFO:

FROM THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Tiffany Cunningham cools off baby Isiah, 10 months old, while they wait in line to get essential supplies such as water, ice and MREs Monday at a FEMA distribution hub in north Houston.

Thousands of desperate Houston-area residents waited in line for hours Monday for simple items — food, water and ice — that became as precious as jewels in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Lines stretched for blocks at some of the 19 Harris County distribution sites, and volunteers at some locations ran out of certain supplies. But officials said the system generally was working well and sought to downplay previous reports of friction between local and federal officials.

By 8:30 a.m., volunteers were unloading and passing out crates of water, ice and nonperishable food supplied by the state, and were told that the federal government would soon be sending shipments.

 

More than 10,000 people had showed up by 10:30 a.m., FEMA spokeswoman Mary Bell Lunsford said.

“Oh, my goodness,” said Charlene Matthews, 43, as she walked from her car toward the church, trying to catch a glimpse of the end of a line of pedestrians that wrapped around the building, along a stretch of sidewalk and down more than two city blocks. A separate line of waiting cars stretched for two miles.

Patricia Roberts, 53, had to get out of line when a family friend, 29-year-old Katrina Collins, complained of cramping in her legs and shortness of breath.

 

Collins tried to walk to the family’s car, but was too weak and ended up sitting on the sidewalk, crying, with her head resting on her hand. A police officer spotted her and called an ambulance.

“Now we’re not going to get nothing,” said Roberts, who said they’d been waiting nearly two hours before Collins fell sick. “Why put all these trucks in the same spot?”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6003905.html