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From September to December 2005, Mercy-USA for Aid and Development's (M-USA) disaster response teams and the organization's hurricane response office that was based in Lake Charles, Louisiana assisted over 300 hurricane-affected families from New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana. Assistance was provided to evacuees and local hurricane-affected families in the Lake Charles and Houston areas.
From October to December 2005, M-USA staff made assessment trips to New Orleans and provided relief in Houston and Lake Charles. They met with community leaders, FEMA and other government officials and with returnees in New Orleans and evacuees housed in apartments, hotels and private homes around Houston and Lake Charles. M-USA staff also distributed furniture store vouchers, food packages, discount store gift cards, twin mattresses, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, pillows, kitchen kits (containing pots, pans, cooking and eating utensils, dishes and cups), toys, first aid materials and other items to many of these families.
During the last half of September 2005, Mercy-USA staff in Louisiana met with local government officials (including Lake Charles' Mayor Randy Roach), businesspersons and other charities to explore ways of repairing and rehabilitating existing properties to house evacuees from New Orleans and other areas. M-USA staff also distributed twin mattresses, first aid materials (including antibiotic, burn and insect-bite ointments, antiseptics, bandages, gauze and tape, eye wash, hand sanitizer, medical gloves, etc.), bottled water, ice, Gatorade, juice, batteries, inflatable camp mattresses, etc. to evacuees at Sam Houston Jones State Park, Moss Bluff and other areas around Lake Charles, LA.
On September 22, 2005, Mercy-USA's team (including the organization's CEO, CFO and a Disaster Response Coordinator) became temporary evacuees themselves as they attempted to leave the area ahead of Hurricane Rita. They had to change their flights, which were originally scheduled out of Houston, to Little Rock, Arkansas about 450 miles away. They spent over 25 hours on the road as they made their way in bumper to bumper traffic out of the greater Houston area on US Highway 59. M-USA CEO Umar al-Qadi described the experience:
We saw entire families traveling with small children in the stifling heat (close to 100 degrees) and humidity, just trying to escape from Rita's destructive potential. One mother, in a car next to ours kept asking us and the occupants of every nearby car for directions to the town of Corrigan, which was geographically just up the road about 15 miles away, but practically seemed to be 300 miles away given that traffic was not moving. All the gas stations along Hwy 59 were closed and so were most grocery stores; people were running out of gas and water in the heat and humidity. With about one quarter of a tank of gas left and having seen cars stalled out all along the highway, we made the decision to try an alternate route through the dark, unlit areas of rural eastern Texas. We finally made it to the town of Crockett, TX on US Highway 287 and found a few open gas stations that still had gasoline.
Within a few days of Katrina's destructive landfall, a three-person M-USA assessment team visited Houston, Baton Rouge, and southwestern Louisiana. The Mercy-USA team met with evacuees from the New Orleans area and some of the local communities and organizations housing them.
The team found displaced New Orleanians everywhere, in official Red Cross shelters, churches, mosques and even in outdoor campgrounds. One such campground in Sam Houston Jones State Park near Lake Charles, Louisiana had become a temporary shelter for about 300 persons. On Labor Day, our team distributed bottled water, tents, inflatable camp mattresses, tarpaulins, fans, sheets, towels, diapers, hygiene packages, brooms, clothing, slippers and other items to the residents of this camp. That same day, we also provided the Red Cross shelter in Lake Charles' Civic Center, which housed about 3,000 evacuees, with some items that they were out of including adult and children's underwear, feminine hygiene products, hair brushes and brooms. Later in the evening, we provided bedding to families under the care of the local Muslim community.
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