NEW ORLEANS – President George W. Bush has ordered more troops to secure New Orleans as rescuers evacuated thousands of desperate refugees and closed two huge shelters plagued by murder, rape and chaos.
Under fire for his government’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina, which wrecked the city of jazz and Mardi Gras and may have killed thousands of people, Bush said he will send 7 200 additional active-duty troops over three days. Another 10 000 National Guard troops will be sent to Louisiana and Mississippi, raising the total to 40 000; 54 000 military personnel are now committed to relief efforts.”Many of our citizens are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans, and that is unacceptable,” said Bush, who will return to the stricken region today, a week after Katrina hammered an area the size of Britain.After days of broken promises, US troops started moving emergency supplies into New Orleans and were trying to halt widespread looting and horrific violence even as they fed evacuees and moved them to better equipped shelters in Texas.Thousands of survivors were evacuated from the two major shelters in New Orleans – the Superdome arena and a convention centre – where they had endured brutal conditions.In a massive effort that got under way in earnest during the morning, almost the entire city was cleared of those left behind on hundreds of buses and helicopters brought in to shuttle people to the airport.The evacuation when it finally came took just eight hours.By 6pm the Superdome and the Convention Center, host to the largest numbers of refugees, were cleared.At the airport, helicopters landed incessantly all day and passengers were transferred to large military cargo planes to be taken to camps elsewhere.Inside the terminal a makeshift hospital treated the sick, elderly and injured.In Houston, where at least 100 000 and perhaps as many as 200 000 refugees had gathered in public shelters, hotels and private homes, many refugees said conditions at the Astrodome stadium and the Houston convention centre were far better.A vast army of volunteers, forgoing part of the traditional three-day Labour Day Holiday weekend, unloaded mountains of toys, nappies, clothing and shoes and other items in a vast wing of the convention centre.Many of the poorest refugees said they had nothing to go back to in New Orleans and would make a fresh start in Houston or elsewhere.Many in New Orleans described nights at the mercy of rapists and murderers.They complained security forces sent to guard them at the city’s convention centre were trigger happy and killed innocent people.”They killed a man here last night,” Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters.”A young lady was being raped and stabbed.And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck’s windscreen and they shot him dead.”Those who fled the city and found shelter elsewhere described horrific scenes in New Orleans’ neighbourhoods before they escaped.”There were bodies floating everywhere.Lots of them.Some had bullets in them,” said Michael Davis, 18, as he described his escape from a neighbourhood that was immersed in more than 10 feet of water earlier this week.He ultimately found refuge at a domed arena in Lafayette, Louisiana Many were angry at the government.”They have us living here like animals,” said Wyvonnette Grace-Jordan, who was at the New Orleans convention centre with five children.”We have only had two meals, we have no medicine and now there are thousands of people defecating in the streets.This is wrong.This is the United States of America.”Other people were still trapped in their homes surrounded by filthy floodwater.Several buildings in the city have burned in recent days for want of pumped water, with firefighters unable to do more than keep onlookers safely away.There was blistering criticism at home and abroad of the slow, badly organised response to one of the worst natural catastrophes to hit the world’s richest, most powerful nation.- Nampa-ReutersAnother 10 000 National Guard troops will be sent to Louisiana and Mississippi, raising the total to 40 000; 54 000 military personnel are now committed to relief efforts.”Many of our citizens are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans, and that is unacceptable,” said Bush, who will return to the stricken region today, a week after Katrina hammered an area the size of Britain.After days of broken promises, US troops started moving emergency supplies into New Orleans and were trying to halt widespread looting and horrific violence even as they fed evacuees and moved them to better equipped shelters in Texas.Thousands of survivors were evacuated from the two major shelters in New Orleans – the Superdome arena and a convention centre – where they had endured brutal conditions.In a massive effort that got under way in earnest during the morning, almost the entire city was cleared of those left behind on hundreds of buses and helicopters brought in to shuttle people to the airport.The evacuation when it finally came took just eight hours.By 6pm the Superdome and the Convention Center, host to the largest numbers of refugees, were cleared.At the airport, helicopters landed incessantly all day and passengers were transferred to large military cargo planes to be taken to camps elsewhere.Inside the terminal a makeshift hospital treated the sick, elderly and injured.In Houston, where at least 100 000 and perhaps as many as 200 000 refugees had gathered in public shelters, hotels and private homes, many refugees said conditions at the Astrodome stadium and the Houston convention centre were far better.A vast army of volunteers, forgoing part of the traditional three-day Labour Day Holiday weekend, unloaded mountains of toys, nappies, clothing and shoes and other items in a vast wing of the convention centre.Many of the poorest refugees said they had nothing to go back to in New Orleans and would make a fresh start in Houston or elsewhere.Many in New Orleans described nights at the mercy of rapists and murderers.They complained security forces sent to guard them at the city’s convention centre were trigger happy and killed innocent people.”They killed a man here last night,” Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters.”A young lady was being raped and stabbed.And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck’s windscreen and they shot him dead.”Those who fled the city and found shelter elsewhere described horrific scenes in New Orleans’ neighbourhoods before they escaped.”There were bodies floating everywhere.Lots of them.Some had bullets in them,” said Michael Davis, 18, as he described his escape from a neighbourhood that was immersed in more than 10 feet of water earlier this week.He ultimately found refuge at a domed arena in Lafayette, Louisiana Many were angry at the government.”They have us living here like animals,” said Wyvonnette Grace-Jordan, who was at the New Orleans convention centre with five children.”We have only had two meals, we have no medicine and now there are thousands of people defecating in the streets.This is wrong.This is the United States of America.”Other people were still trapped in their homes surrounded by filthy floodwater.Several buildings in the city have burned in recent days for want of pumped water, with firefighters unable to do more than keep onlookers safely away.There was blistering criticism at home and abroad of the slow, badly organised response to one of the worst natural catastrophes to hit the world’s richest, most powerful nation.- Nampa-Reuters
