Aid organization Direct Relief has created maps using ESRI that show the poor, immigrant, elderly and disabled communities in harm’s way.
Updated on August 27 at 3:30 p.m.
At least five deaths and dozens of injuries have been attributed to Hurricane Harvey, as it pummeled parts of the Houston region with 24 inches of rain and swirling winds. The storm has been downgraded to a tropical storm, from a Category 4 at its height, but catastrophic flooding is expected to intensify as rains continue, according to the National Weather Service.
Like in the case of previous disasters like Katrina and Sandy, the heaviest cost of Harvey’s destruction is likely going to be borne by the most vulnerable communities in its path. Here’s what disaster historian Jacob Remes tweeted out about Harvey:
Humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief has created interactive ESRI maps that show exactly where these communities are. The mapmakers have used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) social vulnerability index to show the geographic distribution of households with elderly or disabled members (in orange), immigrant and limited English-speaking populations (in purple), and pockets of poverty (in green). The darker the color, the higher the concentration of these factors in each region:
While many South Texans evacuated north per the recommendation of Governor Greg Abbott, poorer or disabled residents may not have had the resources or the capability to follow that advice. Many undocumented immigrants, as well, may have chosen to stay behind because Border Patrol refused to suspend its checkpoints during the storm. (The governor did affirm, however, that shelters will be exempt from immigration enforcement.) Some inmates were evacuated, while others are weathering the storm in place.
Within cities, poor communities of color often live in segregated neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to flooding, or near petrochemical plants and Superfund sites that can overflow during the storm. This is especially true for Houston—a sprawling metropolis, where new development has long been spreading thinly across prairie lands that help absorb excess rainwater. And it’s long been understood that the city is unprepared to handle the effects of a storm as unprecedented as this one.
Entergy New Orleans will kick off the
community-wide fundraising effort with a major gift announcement.
In conjunction with the announcement, the
"Neighbors Helping Neighbors" recovery initiative will open with a
volunteer build for the Dorsey family, whose home was destroyed in the Feb. 7
storm.
Following the media announcement, Entergy
volunteers, SBP staff and HandsOn
New Orleans will raise the walls on a new home for the Dorsey family. The
volunteer build will continue throughout the day for live-shot opportunities.
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About United Way of Southeast Louisiana
For
more than 90 years, United
Way of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA) has been a leader and trusted partner
in improving lives and making a lasting difference. We fight to eradicate
poverty by preparing people for quality jobs, growing incomes, and affording
better health and education opportunities throughout Jefferson, Orleans,
Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes.
We have a bold vision of equitable communities where all individuals are
healthy, educated, and financially stable - and we have a plan. United Way of
Southeast Louisiana's Blueprint
for Prosperity guides all strategic investments in programs, initiatives,
collaborations, volunteerism, and advocacy aimed at tackling poverty. For
more information, please visit UnitedWaySELA.org.
Find us on social: @UnitedWaySELA.
About SBP
SBP's mission is to shrink time between disaster and recovery. Since its
founding in 2006 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana following the devastation
wrought by Hurricane Katrina, SBP has rebuilt homes for more than 1,300
families with the help of 180,000 volunteers in New Orleans; Joplin, MO;
Staten Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ; San Marcos,
TX; Columbia, SC; White Sulphur Springs, WV and Baton Rouge, LA.
SBP's model is enhanced by AmeriCorps, which provides 180 members annually to
manage worksites and clients, and train the organization's volunteers
nationally. Through its Disaster Resilience and Recovery Lab (DRRL), SBP
works to share lessons learned, prevent common barriers to recovery and help
communities utilize SBP's standardized, repeatable and proven-effective
model.
SBP shrinks time between disaster and recovery via five interventions:
Rebuild homes quickly after disasters by
mobilizing private sector innovations and assigning a single point of
contact to make the home rebuilding process faster and more predictable.
Share rebuilding innovations with
other rebuilding organizations to allow for efficient, predictable
recovery on a national scale.
Prepare home and business owners prior
to and following disaster with specific steps to mitigate risk and
improve resilience.
Advise policy makers immediately after
a disaster so they can deploy federal dollars sooner, and in a way that
empowers an efficient recovery.
Advocate for the reform of disaster
recovery strategies in the U.S. to improve the predictability and speed
of recovery.
To learn more, visit www.SBPUSA.org
and like/follow on Facebook & Twitter @SBPUSA
Kirby Jane Nagle
Public Information Officer
United Way of Southeast Louisiana
ph:
501.697.0415
Small
Business Administration to Offer Disaster Assistance to Residents
Affected by August 5 Flooding
Outreach Center will
open tomorrow, August 23
NEW
ORLEANS - Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced that the U.S. Small
Business Administration (SBA) will offer low-interest federal disaster loans
to Louisiana businesses and residents affected by flooding that occurred
August 4-6, including August 5 flooding in New Orleans.
Loans are open to businesses of all sizes, most private nonprofit
organizations, homeowners, and renters whose property was damaged or
destroyed by the flooding. The disaster declaration makes SBA assistance
available in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany
parishes.
Beginning Wednesday, Aug. 23 through Thursday, Sept. 14, SBA representatives
will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center to answer questions
about SBA's disaster loan program, explain the application process and help
each individual complete their application. The center (Mid-City Library,
4140 Canal St. on the second floor in the Long Room) will be open from 10
a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on
Fridays. The Center will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday,
Sept. 4.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses
engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size,
SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs
caused by the disaster. Economic injury assistance is available regardless of
whether the business suffered any property damage.
Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or
replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible
for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal
property.
Applicants can apply online, receive additional disaster assistance
information and download applications at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Applicants
can also call SBA's Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA
disaster assistance. Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call
(800) 877-8339. The filing deadline to return applications for property
damage is Oct. 23, 2017. The deadline to return economic injury applications
is May 22, 2018.
SBA
declared a disaster in response to a request received from Gov. John Bel
Edwards on Aug. 17, 2017.
•Texas Governor has
requested a major declaration for 6 counties along the gulf coast
•FEMA Region 6 RRCC
remains at a Level I
•Texas SEOC remains at
a Level I
SITUATION:
·Texas
Governor has requested for a major declaration request for counties along the
coast. The following counties are included in the request for Individual
Assistance and Public Assistance (Categories A and B); Bee, Goliad, Kleberg,
Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio. Direct Federal Assistance and Hazard
Mitigation statewide is also being requested.
·Hurricane
Harvey has increased to a CAT 3 hurricane with wind speeds of 125 mph and a
deadly storm surge of 6 - 12 feet above ground levels
·Continues
to move slowly northwest toward the middle Texas Coast. Harvey is
forecast to make landfall late Friday/early Saturday as a major hurricane (CAT
3)
·Heavy
rain and areas of flooding are likely through the weekend over south east and
east Texas into west Louisiana
ACTIONS/FOLLOW UP:
•R6 RRCC SAS will
continue to monitor and report as necessary
Information before and after ANY significant event (man-made, or natural
disaster) is vital to the community.
Association members with family and friends in the path of Hurricane
Harvey for the entire Gulf of Mexico region from Texas to Florida please
contact them by phone, Western Union, a neighbor, local Fire & Police to
ensure that they follow the instructions of local emergency management offices
if instructed to evacuate, and seek shelter at designated location.
A home can be rebuilt, a car can be purchased again, but any life is more
precious than material things.
Charles D. Sharp. CEO Black Emergency Managers Association
International
Life safety is paramount. Our primary concern now is to
ensure that those in the path of the storm can make informed decisionsfor their preparednessand take actions
as the storm advances based on guidance from local and state
authorities. This is a unique storm and requires all of us to be
actively assessing how we can support critical messaging from local
authorities regarding protective actions including evacuations which are
underway.
We want to ensure FEMA is connected to you providing data,
information, and messaging as needed.
·NBEOC dashboard has been updated since Wednesday. Use the
chat function to answer questions and quickly get answers.
·Daily NBEOC call today at 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern.
·Integrating your requirements into the overall priorities for this incident as we
coordinate activities in the area of concern. Please follow this format so we
can track challenges and get ahead of issues as they emerge and email nbeoc@fema.dhs.gov
Organization
Overall Status
Current
Challenges
Concerns over
Next 24
This will be a record-breaking storm. We are leaning forward
and will keep you updated in coordination with FEMA Region VI. As the situation
develops, details will be shared through the NBOEC. Please let us know if you
are not receiving mass notices and advisories and would like to receive them
by emailing nbeoc@ fema.dhs.gov. If you are not an NBEOC member, please complete the form so we can ensure you are included in future communications.
Please reach to me directly if you would like more information or discuss
how we can more effectively work together for this and other disasters.
Thanks,
Rob
Robert C. Glenn Director, Private
Sector Division Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) U.S. Department of
Homeland Security direct: (202) 212-4453 mobile: (202) 403-4665 e-mail:
robert.glenn@fema.dhs.gov
The Sierra Leone Disaster Management Department (DMD) in the Office of the National Security (ONS) in collaboration with all 14 District Councils and with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has completed training of 355 members of District Disaster Management Committees (DDMCs).
DDMCs were established with the aim to play a key role in identifying, preventing and mitigating disasters at the local level, as well as in communicating risks and issues to the national level. In 2013, UNDP supported DMD in providing training for DDMCs in 11 districts, in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police, National Fire Force, Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone Red Cross and others.
Recently, additional training was provided in Kambia, Port Loko, and the Western Area. The training also takes into account lessons learned from the Ebola crisis, during which the importance of local emergency response structures was emphasized.
Mammadi Kamara, a market lady who is a DDMC member in the Kambia Chiefdom and a Chairperson of the Bramaia Village Committee in the Kukuna Chiefdom, said that her district is prone to frequent bushfires and other disasters. “With this training, we no longer have to wait for the Government when there is a disaster,” she said adding, “Whenever there is potential threat of disaster, with this training and the composition of the DDMC, we should be able to prevent it or respond quickly” she said.
The training also covered orientation on basic disaster risk reduction concepts, community contingency planning, early warning systems, emergency first aid training, team work in tackling disasters and extension disaster prevention mechanisms with emphasis on a community-based approach.
Samuel Sheika Adikali Sankoh, Chairman of the Kambia District Council said that Disaster Committees can empower people with basic skills in order to mitigate impact of disasters happening at community levels. “The Kambia district has been suffering several disasters like
John Vandy Rogers, Director of DMD, said that “UNDP has boosted ONS-DMD in strategic areas like capacity building, technical and financial support, which has had an immense improvement in our overall performance.”
He continued that UNDP has had a long standing relationship with the Government especially in the area of disaster risk reduction and hoped for more collaboration in strategic areas aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The composition of the committee comprises Paramount Chiefs, representatives of District Councils, ONS coordinators, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Police, District Immigration Officers, Armed Forces, National Fire Force, Sierra Leone Red Cross and local media, youths, and women groups.
UNDP works with vulnerable communities to reduce the impacts and risks of natural and other disasters in Sierra Leone by reinforcing and supporting the stabilization of livelihoods, and protection and empowerment of vulnerable people especially youth and women. UNDP also supports the DMD of the ONS to ensure that early warning modalities are put in place to avert or manage disasters.
Contact information
UNDP Communications Unit. Email: communication.sl@undp.org. Follow us on Twitter @UNDPSierraLeone and Facebook on UNDPSierraLeone, or log on to www.sl.undp.org
