From the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon web site
Commemorating Katrina: Reflecting on the past year
By
Aug 29, 2006, 06:51
On the anniversary of one of the biggest natural disasters in US history, communities come together to look back and look forward in the year since Hurricane Katrina barreled through the Gulf Coast. Episcopal Relief and Development and our partners have accomplished a great deal in the recovery efforts but the needs are still immense.
Immediately after Katrina…
Mississippi’s Bishop Duncan Gray recalls the first few days after the disastrous storm struck. “I saw a picture of a washed out shell of St. Peter’s by-the-Sea. That impressed me as to how dramatic this storm was,” he said.
More than 1,600 people were killed and over 270,000 homes and 35,000 businesses destroyed. Within days, ERD sent emergency response funds to our Episcopal and ecumenical partners around the country. The combined efforts with our partners in the Gulf Coast regions saw critical supplies such as food, water and medicine get distributed to more than 500,000 people. “ERD was the first to send a major grant,” Bishop Gray said.
The response from the Episcopal and Anglican community was enormous. More than $15 million was raised to assist Katrina survivors. Seventy-five hundred volunteers came from every part of the country to offer countless hours of service to people in need. ERD partnered with 17 agencies to distribute goods and services.
ERD implemented short-term and long-term recovery programs designed to meet the physical and emotional rebuilding needs of survivors.
The recovery effort involved a three-to-five year plan that included ERD’s partnership with the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM). ERD received $3 million from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to expand our case management program for the Katrina diaspora around the country. Survivors are given psychosocial support, trauma counseling and in the set-up of individual recovery plans.
In Louisiana, ERD partnered with the Diocese of Louisiana and organized the Office of Disaster Response (ODR) to reach out to affected communities in New Orleans and on into Baton Rouge. Through distribution centers in the local churches, we were able to provide emergency supplies and urgent medical care to over 126,260 people.
ODR also continues to support Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a food delivery service that circulates in low-income neighborhoods to deliver much-needed food to people. So far, 11,750 have benefited from this program.
In order to rebuild the many homes washed away by Katrina, ERD and the Diocese of Louisiana also helped to create the Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative. The program will construct affordable homes and rehabilitate damages ones for low-income residents. The plan is to build 500 homes over a period of five to seven years.
In Mississippi, ERD partnered with the Diocese of Mississippi and the Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi (LESM) to create Camp Coast Care, a response program to meet the immediate needs of the survivors. Our reach began in Long Beach, Mississippi and extended to Bay St. Louis.
Camp Coast Care provided life-saving medical services to nearly 22,000 people during the critical period after Katrina first hit the region. Emergency supplies such as food, water, clothing and cleaning supplies were distributed to 403,635 people. A pastoral care service was also implemented to support clergy handle the emotional impact of the devastation, a program that Bishop Gray said “provided enormous help for what the clergy needed.”
ERD is now supporting Camp Coast Care to operate as a long-term care facility. Volunteers are housed there while they assist in the rebuilding efforts of the various communities. “ERD’s particular gift has been in long-term rebuilding,” said Bishop Gray.
Up to 135 homes have been rebuilt to date. ERD’s long-term efforts in Mississippi will involve continued support for the construction of homes and businesses.
A year later…
“Progress is being made slowly, coalitions are being built, long-term recovery round tables are becoming effective,” said Richard Ohlsen, ERD’s director of domestic response and preparedness. He cautions, “Normalcy will not be reached for another decade or two.”
In Louisiana, damaged homes are just now being taken down and slabs of concrete are still lying in the roads. “Entire communities haven’t returned,” said Archdeacon Dennis McManis, operations director for ODR. “Eighty percent of the flooded areas are still inhabitable. We’re still gutting out houses.”
The need is still great in all areas of the Gulf Coast. Volunteers are still highly in demand. There is a great need for people to assist in all aspects of labor in Louisiana and Mississippi—flooded homes need to be gutted, food needs to be prepared and served, traumatized survivors need to be counseled. “My greatest concern is that people are going to forget about New Orleans,” McManis said. “Volunteers will be needed for years,” he said. For more information on volunteer opportunities in Mississippi’s Camp Coast Care please visit http://www.dioms.org/coastcare.htm. To volunteer in Louisiana, please visit ODR’s Web site at http://www.edola.org/odr_volunteer_main.php.
McManis maintains his optimism though. Even though the visible signs of recovery have come in small increments, there is still hope that given time, affected regions will revitalize. Likewise, Bishop Gray feels the general mood of his community as positive and full of hope.
The commemoration will begin in New Orleans on Sunday, August 27. Events will highlight ceremonies in which Bishop Jenkins and Bishop Gray will be officiating. The Christ Episcopal Cathedral in New Orleans will host an interfaith service officiated by Bishop Jenkins, Rabbi Cohn of the Temple Sinai and Rafeeq Nu’man of the local Muslim community. In Mississippi’s Christ Church in Bay St. Louis, there will be a community ringing of bells in honor of those who lost their lives. There will also be a Hands-Across-the-Coast ceremony on Highway 90 in which people will join hands from one of end of the coast to another.
To view a copy of ERD’s One Year Katrina report, please visit the Hurricane Center page on our Web site, http://www.er-d.org/documents/KatrinaReportFNL.pdf.
If you would like to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, please visit http://www.er-d.org/ to make a donation, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief and Development “Emergency Relief Fund.” P.O. Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.
Episcopal Relief and Development is the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the United States. An independent 501(c) (3) organization, ERD saves lives and builds hope in communities around the world. We provide emergency assistance in times of crisis and rebuild after disasters. We enable people to climb out of poverty by offering long-term solutions in the areas of food security and health care, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.