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Lawsuit
alleges feds failed Katrina victims
By
Howard Manly
Bay State Banner (Boston)
December 1, 2005
In
one of the first legal and political blasts targeting the poor
federal response to Hurricane Katrina, a national civil rights
organization filed a petition and class-action law suit last month,
charging the federal government with failing to meet its obligation
to care for victims of natural disasters.
Equal
Justice Society President Eva Paterson said the goal of both actions
is very clear: “to take action to rectify the injustices
that have resulted from our government’s willful disregard
for human suffering and ensure that such injustices will never
again occur.”
At
the heart of the petition is the question of race and whether
it played a factor in the government’s dismal handling of
the catastrophe.
John
Bonifaz, a noted civil rights and constitutional lawyer, said
during a recent news conference that the federal government failed
in a “colossal way” to carry out its obligations.
“What
we saw in New Orleans in terms of who was left behind was a clear
picture of people who are locked out of our political process,
who lack any real meaningful political voice,” Bonifaz said.
“And it is no wonder that they were disproportionately poor,
disproportionately people of color. And they are kept out of the
halls of power in Washington, and because of that they were wholly
and willfully ignored.”
The
petition contrasts the treatment afforded Florida residents during
the aftermath of its 2004 hurricane season—and presidential
campaign — with those affected by Katrina.
A 2005
Department of Homeland Security audit found that FEMA wrongly
distributed to Miami-Dade residents: $8.2 million in rental assistance
to 4,308 applicants who “did not indicate a need for shelter”
when they registered for help; $17,424 in rental assistance to
24 people who reported that their homes were not damaged; and
$97,500 for 15 automobiles with a combined total “blue book”
value of $56,140.
Those
numbers are peanuts in comparison to the short- and long-term
needs of the Gulf region. So far, Congress has approved $62 billion
in disaster relief aid for victims of Katrina, which hit Aug.
29, and Rita, which followed on Sept. 24. But nearly all of that
money was directed to FEMA and about half of that money has gone
directly to the immediate victim’s needs — housing,
food and clothing — instead of long-term rebuilding projects.
Louisiana
officials have estimated that those long-term projects could cost
an estimated $200 billion, or roughly ten times the $20 billion
amount that President Bush pledged to rebuild New York after Sept.
11.
Making
matters worse in New Orleans, according to the petition, is that
the federal government knew that a flood could devastate the Gulf
region in general and New Orleans in particular, and failed to
adequately prepare for such a disaster.
“In
2001 FEMA issued a report stating that a hurricane striking new
Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S.,
including a terrorist attack on New York City,” the petition
argues. Still, despite FEMA’s own four-year advance warning,
despite widespread knowledge that levees would be breached and
floods would ravage the New Orleans community and despite a national
weather service warning predicting “a most powerful hurricane
with unprecedented strength” that would leave the area “uninhabitable
for weeks” and “result in water shortages (that) will
make human suffering incredible by modern standards,” FEMA
did little to prepare for Hurricane Katrina. Medical supplies
were not stocked; food and water supplies were inadequate.
FEMA’s
lack of preparation was underscored by the fact that the agency
only had one employee working in the Superdome to assist 26,000
people who took refuge there, the petition states.
The
Equal Justice Society puts the blame squarely on President Bush
and his budget cuts that left FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers
unable to spend the necessary money to prevent a disaster.
In
2001, for instance, the Corps spent $147 million on construction
projects. By 2004, that amount was down to $82 million—a
44 percent reduction. Projects in New Orleans were particularly
hard hit—despite repeated warnings of a potential disaster.
Although
the Army Corps needed $20 million to complete one project in New
Orleans, President Bush’s 2005 budget only allotted for $3.9
million. In its 2006 budget, the Bush Administration proposed
spending an estimated $10.4 million for the Lake Pontchartrain
project, a mere sixth of the amount local officials said was needed.
“It
has become clear,” Paterson said during the news conference,
“that this disaster is less about rain and wind than it is
about race and class.”
The
petition was delivered to the White House, Congressional leadership,
the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the acting
director of FEMA. The petition was also presented to several United
Nations agencies including the Commission on Human Rights and
the office of three Special Rapporteurs on Racism, Internal Displaced
Persons and the Right to Adequate Housing.
The
lawsuit was filed Nov. 10 in federal court in Louisiana on behalf
of 13 individuals who have yet to receive federal assistance.
Federal law requires FEMA to provide assistance to disaster victims
with, among other things, financial assistance to rent housing,
or by supplying them with a trailer or mobile home.
The
assistance is guaranteed by the Stafford Act, which defines the
scope of federal assistance in the event of a declared disaster.
According
to the suit, more than two months after the hurricanes, “thousands
of disaster victims” still have not received assistance.
“There is no excuse for these failures by FEMA,” the
suit charges. “It was able, virtually overnight, to send
massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims halfway around the world.
No less should be extended to its own people, on their home soil,
in the wake of a national disaster.”
(Associated
Press contributed to this story)
Link
to article on baystatebanner.com:
http://www.baystatebanner.com/frontpage3.htm
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