Ten days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Southeastern United States many areas remain inundated by the ever more putrid flood waters. Hurricane Katrina hit land on August 29 with 140-mph (230 km/h) winds causing yet unimaginable damage in the most destructive storm to hit the U.S. in decades. Across the Gulf coast, thousands of families have been displaced and thousands of people are unaccounted for. Recovery is expected to cost billions of dollars and take years.

Global Envision is a community of over 300,000 readers, with people from over 100 countries engaging in a global dialogue on a monthly basis. As a program of Mercy Corps, a humanitarian agency that is making an important contribution to this collective effort, Global Envision seeks your support and participation in our efforts to help the many communities with dire needs in the U.S. Gulf coast region.

In response to the tragedy, Mercy Corps has assembled a veteran disaster-response team to help coordinate relief efforts and begin the long and difficult task of restoring lives and livelihoods. They are on the ground in the affected areas and helping people in need on a daily basis.

Question: What can Global Envision readers do in the face of this crisis?
Answer: Money is what is most needed. It costs far more to get items into the hands of people in need than it does to purchase these supplies locally. Furthermore, the local economy can use every dollar put into it at this time. Funds will be allocated for both short term needs (food, shelter, health care) and long term needs (economic recovery).

Not everyone has the ability to contribute money, but everyone does have the capacity to organize events and fundraisers. These contributions are needed for hurricane relief, the long term reconstruction of the communities affected by the India Ocean tsunami, as well as other vital programs supporting communities in need all over the world.

Help hurricane survivors get back on their feet. There are many caring, creative ways that you can show support and offer much-needed help.

You can do more than simply make an individual donation to help with these programs. Visit our Hurricane Katrina update page to learn what people are doing to help survivors in this time of need. Within days after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf coast, people began dreaming up creative ways to raise money beyond their personal means to bolster Mercy Corps’ response. Join together with friends, family, student groups or colleagues to organize an event of your own!

Question: Can I do a food or clothing drive?
Answer: Right now the situation in the affected region is very chaotic and there is no distribution system in place for people to receive donations of clothing or food. If your city will be receiving refugees, then there will be local collection efforts to meet the needs of that particular shelter. Please look at your city or municipality’s web site to find out more details about the response efforts in your area.

Question: Can I volunteer to help?
Answer: In the hurricane affected region, the only volunteers that are being accepted are people with technical skills: humanitarian relief workers, medical professionals, and people with certified training in disaster response. If you offer a particular skill, seek out the agency that works in that area (i.e. call the Medical Professionals Volunteer Line at 225-763-5740).

Volunteers who can answer phones at local relief agencies are very useful. Mercy Corps has had a tremendous amount of help from volunteers in the past week; there are Red Cross offices in many communities, etc.

Another idea is to obtain disaster relief training so that you are prepared to respond to a crisis that may affect your community in the future. Please be aware that relief agencies are overwhelmed at this time, and that you may need to follow up on this issue in a month or so. Please send us information on any programs that you know of and we will post the collected responses on Global Envision.

And finally, one way to confront this tragedy is to discuss it.
Send us your thoughts, opinions, stories and ideas for ways to help.

Letters from our readers


Note sent Sept 6:


I hope this email finds you all happy and healthy in your respective corners of the world. I am grateful that many of your governments have offered various forms of aid and support to help those most affected by the hurricane. Thousands of people in the southern US have become internally displaced refugees as a result of the strongest hurricane to hit our shores in over a 100 years. And, as was the case with the tsunami, a large majority of those affected are among the (economically) poorest of the poor.

I'm reaching out because I just can't help shake the feeling that people are increasingly becoming indifferent to what goes on in the US. My plea is as follows: Please fight the urge to give up on us as a nation and be mindful of punishing the people of the US, most of all those who are disproportionately impoverished.

Note sent Sept 6:


As I write this thousands and thousands of dirty, disorientated, exhausted people are pouring into the refugee centers. People are looking for food, a chance to shower and more often than not are looking for their separated families. Tears come from their bloodshot eyes as I take their names and try to match people up in this chaotic, hopeless crowd. My cell phone is the lifeline that connects families with each other. Any cell phone with a New Orleans 505 prefix will not work as the cell tower is down. I was able to locate a woman's daughter, who is with an 18 year niece in Houston. I was with another family that had been in the same shelter for the past 12 hours and just found their 8 and 11 year old sons who had been wandering around the same convention center. A chair fell off a rack in the center and people cried and jumped thinking it was a gunshot. These people have seen no news so do not know the extent of the devastation. Many just stare into space. I have met no one who wants to return. The people are everyday Americans: workers, families, friends. They are just like us. I am here and able to help because I am certified by the Red Cross in disaster relief. More people should pursue this training because help is really needed.

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