Mayor Nagin and FEMA at First Hearing on Ike and Gustav and the National Housing Strategy (9/22/08)

Washington, D.C. - As issues about unsanitary and crowded shelters, and the availability of food stamps emerge, the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, chaired by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) will hold a hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23, at 2 p.m. in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building, on the hurricanes that ripped through the Gulf Coast again this year, and on the condition of thousands of displaced residents along the Gulf Coast. Norton spoke with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director David Paulson as evacuations began, and was assured of accommodations and pre-positioned supplies throughout the Gulf Coast.

"The evacuation apparently occurred quickly and was handled well, as I was assured, but now we are receiving disturbing reports about warehousing hundreds of the evacuees in a crowded facility without privacy or showers for days. Some finger-pointing among authorities has begun," Norton said. "We need the facts, nothing but the facts." The hearing will feature the response of FEMA, which has been tested by the floods and hurricanes of 2008, and will examine what these hurricanes tell us about the nation's readiness to face devastating natural and man-made disasters.

The subcommittee and the public also will get a first look into FEMA's National Housing Strategy, mandated by the Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, while there is still time to comment. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will testify concerning progress and problems in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as well as the readiness of that city when hit by Hurricane Gustav. The Red Cross and the Government Accountability Office will address a recent report on the crucial role of charities in disasters that found that the Red Cross, in particular, was unprepared for major disasters.