Mark's Notebook


	If you believe everything you read, better not read. - Japanese Proverb

Two Million Displaced By Storms

Washington Post

Friday 13 January 2006, 10:47 pm
Keywords: Katrina Hurricane Relief , News Articles

The Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday increased its count of people displaced from the Gulf Coast by hurricanes Katrina and Rita by nearly a third, to about 2 million people. A FEMA spokeswoman attributed the sharp rise to a reporting error.

Shortly before Christmas, FEMA discovered that it had not counted families receiving rental assistance under a traditional disaster aid program.

According to a news release, FEMA is paying rental assistance to 685,635 families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the Aug. 29 and Sept. 24 storms, an increase of 167,000, or 32 percent, over a month ago. FEMA officials generally estimate three people per household as a rule of thumb.

The estimate of 2 million displaced dwarfs the number of people forced from their homes by past U.S. natural disasters, such as hurricanes Andrew, Charley, Ivan or Hugo, as well as the Dust Bowl migration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201912.
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