Saturday, October 01, 2005

Texas mayors say FEMA didn't deliver on promise to do better

Ortiz, whose home was destroyed by Rita, said Thursday that the most FEMA had done for the community was to deliver two truckloads of fuel, which he said was gone after six hours. He thanked Valero Energy Corp., a regional oil refiner, for helping with the city's fuel needs.
"I've had to call FEMA's director to help get my people food and housing vouchers," Ortiz said. " I mean, come on, I'm in the state of Texas and I can't feed my people."
"It's baffling," said Port Neches' Johnson, who also asked FEMA for generators that never showed up. "They want you to fax requests to them for the things that you need, and it's like faxing it to a black hole.
"I know they are out there doing things, and I don't want to play the blame game, pointing fingers. But obviously there's a breakdown in the system, and it needs to be fixed. I've given up on them."

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