Bail Out the Hurricane Ike Victims--NOW!

By Si Dunn

Two months after Hurricane Ike slammed into Texas' Galveston Bay area, many people are still waiting for help from the Federal Emergency ("You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie!") Management Agency (FEMA).

Coastal residents who live and work in fishing communities especially have been hit hard and remain caught up in a vortex of federal buracracy and red tape that has delayed the arrival of the infamous FEMA trailers. According to the Dallas Morning News, at least 2,000 families are still without FEMA trailers in areas devastated by Ike.

"People's lives are literally stacked up on the side of the road," Anahuac, Texas' mayor, Guy Jackson, told the Morning News.

Still Stuck in the Mud

On tiny Oak Island, for example, what once was a bustling fishing community "is now a giant mud flat, dotted with cheap tents and interrupted by heaping mountains of debris," according to Morning News reporter Emily Ramshaw.

In a few cases, FEMA trailers have been delivered but must remain padlocked until inspectors show up and okay them for occupancy. So some families are having to keep living in tents right next to trailers that are supposed to be helping them.

Meanwhile, their houses, jobs and belongings have been swept away, and they are trying to restart their lives literally from nothing.

Many Americans generously have donated food, clothing and other items to Hurricane Ike's victims, and this assistance has reached even remote locations such as the Oak Island community, which is settled by Vietnamese and Anglo commercial fishing families.

But, too often, the federal government still can't seem to organize a one-car parade when it comes to delivering disaster relief. We are supposed to be the world's greatest and most capable nation. Yet what kind of great and capable nation forces its disaster victims to camp in the mud for two months until somebody "official" shows up with a clipboard?

Can't Others Help?

And why wait for FEMA? Surely there are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard personnel in need of training in debris removal, reconstruction and taking care of refugees--just as our military units are doing overseas. Why can't more of our stateside military help here now and get that training?

The State of Texas has provided some relief, but more aid must be forthcoming from the federal government. According to the Morning News, Gov. Rick Perry has asked for additional federal aid to fund costly removal of Hurricane Ike debris. But a month after making the request, Gov. Perry--a Republican--still has received no response from fellow Texan George Bush's FEMA.

Many private relief agencies have been doing what they can to provide assistance, but their resources are limited and their roles often are constrained by the very federal government that is still printing out and stacking up forms to deal with Hurricane Ike, which blew ashore in September.

Show Them the Money

The private relief agencies need more cash donations as soon as possible to help the victims of Hurricane Ike, the recent wildfires in California, and many other calamities, past, present and future. These private agencies, such as the American Red Cross, often have online sites where donations can be made.

Contributions frequently can be targeted to one specific need or disaster area. But you may have to follow a procedure that is less convenient than simply entering some credit-card digits online. For example:

"If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster," the Red Cross website points out, "please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-REDCROSS or mailing your donation, with the designation, to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013."

A dollar, five dollars, ten, twenty. Anything you can afford to give in these economically troubled times can help private agencies provide a measure of comfort and relief to those facing the holidays and winter with much bigger worries.

As for FEMA, the Obama-Biden Administration hopefully will figure out how to kick it into gear again, so its good people can start reclaiming--and redeeming--their battered and troubled agency.

#