US Government Reverses Day-Old Policy On Evacuee Debit Cards

SHAKE AND BLOW

a sign points Hurricane Katrina evacuees to a line in order to receive a debit card from the Red Cross, 08 September, 2005, outside the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. Evacuees were given the card with approximately 1,500 USD. AFP photo by Stan Honda.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (AFP) Sep 09, 2005
The US government Thursday did a dramatic U-turn on a day-old scheme to speed emergency cash to Hurricane Katrina survivors, scrapping plans to issue them all debit cards, an official said.

The reversal of the plan to give each evacuee from the hurricane that wrought havoc in New Orleans and along the US Gulf Coast a card worth 2,000 dollars came 24 hours after beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown announced it.

The 640 million-dollar scheme would have provided instant cash for key provisions via debit card to about 320,000 registered victims.

But FEMA spokesman David Passey said in the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge that instead of issuing the cards to all registered evacuees, only the up to 20,000 housed in Houston's Astrodome would receive them while others will receive their money by the much slower old-fashioned route.

Evacuees in other shelters across the United States will instead receive their grants by a sent cheque or direct bank deposit, which usually take 10 day to two weeks to be processed, Passey said, acknowledging a "refinement" of the system.

"As we begun to roll out the debit card programme in Houston, we saw it would work for residents there but determined that our traditional methods of delivery would be more helpful to other evacuees," Passey told AFP.

"I don't know all the reasons, but our experts felt this was the fastest means to go forward," he said, adding that the U-turn was not an "issue of cashflow," as the US Congress has unblocked sufficient funds.

FEMA and US President George W. Bush have come under intense criticism over their handling of one of the worst US natural disasters, with victims and politicians accusing authorities of inadequate preparation and a slow response to help survivors.

Around one million people were forced from their homes by the storm, which breached the dykes protecting low-lying New Orleans from the waters of Lake Pontchartrian, flooding the city and turning it into a deadly swamp.

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Refugee-Level Aid Needed For Katrina Evacuees: US Senator

Washington (AFP) Sep 06, 2005
A top Republican senator urged US President George W. Bush on Tuesday to provide Americans displaced by Hurricane Katrina the same package of financial aid and services given to foreign refugees who resettle in this country.

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