Hurricane-Displaced Families Face Uncertainty Upon Return

September 3, 2008

Country: United States

Topic: Emergencies

Photo: AP Photo/Eric Gay

Although New Orleans was spared the worst of Hurricane Gustav, families will still face a difficult time when they go back home.

Yesterday, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin told evacuees they couldn't come home yet. Some neighborhoods and city streets are swamped with floodwater, and dusk-to-dawn curfews are still in effect. Meanwhile, thousands of families are scattered throughout the region, sleeping in motels and shelters. Some families who can neither find nor afford accommodations are sleeping in their cars.

Those who chose to remain in New Orleans are in a fragile position. One of Mercy Corps' local partners, Pastor Bruce Davenport, stayed behind at his church in the Seventh Ward to help families who couldn't evacuate because of age, health and other factors. Davenport is currently taking refuge on the second floor of the church along with 20 other community members between the ages of two and 88.

The first floor of the church has been flooded by Hurricane Gustav's torrential rains, which continue to soak the region. The building is also without power and down to use of a single toilet.

Davenport is worried about how the church can support returning evacuees if they return home to find their homes unlivable. There will certainly be needs in the days and even weeks after families come back — it's uncertain how big those needs will be.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav's landfall in Louisiana, Mercy Corps is determining how best to help storm-affected families through neighborhood partners and local organizations. We have worked in the region since just days after Hurricane Katrina, and helped put together a network of more than 180 local organizations that stand ready to take action.

"We're known here as a group that bolsters neighborhoods in distress," said Rick Denhart, Mercy Corps' Program Director in New Orleans. "Strong neighborhood coalitions are pivotal in gearing up for [the storm's] aftermath, and we're here to help them."

Mercy Corps has helped build local organizations' capacity to respond to their neighborhoods' needs in this kind of situation.

Mercy Corps has extensive disaster experience along the U.S. Gulf Coast. We mounted an emergency response to Hurricane Katrina, assisting communities in Louisiana and Mississippi. Initial deliveries of critical supplies were quickly followed by counseling programs for children and support to hurricane-damaged schools and neighborhoods.

For the last three years, Mercy Corps has helped neighborhood groups organize and provide services to families returning to their homes after the storm. We've also spearheaded a movement to use deconstruction, an approach that dismantles homes and reuses building materials, as an alternative to demolition.

In fact, the materials from houses deconstructed by Mercy Corps have already been used to help families protect their houses from the hurricane, and will certainly be used by those who need to rebuild.