SRT Field Report: Hurricane Katrina, August 2005

After Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast of the United States in 2005, John Green and Dave Pascoe were deployed to the south of Mississippi.

 

John Green: Our brief was to ensure a need for ShelterBox in the deployment area, establish and operate a distribution system for around 400 ShelterBoxes containing 800 tents, and evaluate any continuing need in the affected area.

We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, in the afternoon and decided to travel as far as we could towards Mississippi before darkness fell. The next morning, we met another SRT team (Joe Cannon and Ed Cox) and discussed the issues they'd faced operating in the Biloxi and Gulfport area of Harrison County, Mississippi.

We then travelled to our area of operations in Hancock County and eventually located the County Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in the town of Waveland.

Initial scepticism about why we were there and what ShelterBox could offer soon gave way to an approach which was not only inclusive but at times enabled us to inform their recovery strategy. ShelterBox became the Shelter Co-ordination point for the County. We were granted full access to the EOC and involved in many decisions regarding the delivery of aid and shelter.

So that a fair distribution system could be sustained after our departure, we worked with the County Emergency Management Agency to devise a process where people would complete a form identifying who they were, where they lived, where the tent would be pitched and how many people would be living in the tent.

This assisted the county services to begin to address longer term repatriation and was further developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to allow them to develop their own, State-wide system - very pleasing from our point of view.

Key to the method employed by us was the continual, effective and appropriate communication between us, as ShelterBox reps, and all the appropriate agencies within the EOC. This required constant attention and we debriefed each evening to address any developing themes before they became issues.

Such an approach meant that the various agencies within the EOC felt able to approach and engage us to resolve shelter issues. One of the best examples was a very short notice distribution of 72 tents to a township called Pearlington.

This town had been effectively destroyed by Katrina. It was a poverty-struck area of the poorest state in the USA. An emergency field worker from Florida had established contact with Pearlington and noticed that whilst food, water, clothing etc had reached the town, the people had absolutely no form of shelter.

We were approached late in the evening and were able to deliver 36 boxes in person to Pearlington, where we were met with incredible gratitude – as well as a request for an interview on National Public Radio. ShelterBox was the first form of shelter delivered in that part of Mississippi since the hurricane 11 days previously.

Whilst initial contact had proved difficult to establish with the relevant EOC, it was clear that similar centres were operating across Mississippi. A neighbouring county, Pearl River, contacted Hancock to request ShelterBox assistance and they subsequently employed the same system of distribution. On departure it was emerging that the effectiveness of ShelterBox was becoming well known.

Once on the ground, accommodation, food, and transportation were relatively easily secured. The huge numbers of the displaced meant local accommodation was nil. Instead we secured space within the EOC and utilised a ShelterBox tent until that filled with diesel fumes from nearby generators!

Both Dave and I believe the deployment was very successful in terms of meeting a real need in the affected areas - the boxes were one of the most welcome sights many people had seen since the hurricane had struck.

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