A spokesperson for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal defended the state's actions and said that Louisiana has worked "diligently" to rebuild houses and other critical infrastructure like schools and health care facilities. She said that former public housing is being replaced with new mixed-income communities and that $1.2 billion has been set aside for rental housing. I hope "mixed-income communities" isn't a euphemism for gentrification, where lower-income families will be pushed out of their old neighborhood because they cannot afford it. Also, I know the expression 'Rome wasn't built in a day'...but this is 2010; Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005. The fact that people are still unable to return home five years after the incident is unbelievable.
The report also criticized Mississippi. The report found that public housing and affordable housing was lacking. Furthermore, the state's rebuilding program did not pay for wind damage (a hurricane rebuilding program not paying for wind damage?!), which left many homes in poor shape. AI also criticized Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour for using $600 million in federal recovery money for a port in Gulfport. He said the money could be used for that, but Democrats in Congress have said the money was meant to rebuild housing.
A spokesman for the governor said, "I think Amnesty International has missed some details here. Or shaded them to their advantage." (Because AI has an incentive to do that or something?! I don't know what "advantage" they're looking to further...). The spokesman also defended Mississippi's actions and said there was more public housing on the Gulf Coast than before Katrina (hopefully he's not including those sad little FEMA trailers that survivors could stay in. And they were found to be laced with Formaldehyde). The spokesman also said that Mississippi decided to help those on the coast who had their homes destroyed by the storm surge rather than homes damaged by wind far inland. Is that supposed to be an explanation? Homes that are not on the coast also felt the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. That is not an excuse to not help their recovery.
Civil Rights advocates praised the report and said it was accurate. A co-director of the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights said, "A good part of the beginning of the human rights violations took place on TV screens. It's no longer on TV, but those human rights violations have moved into other areas around housing and racial equality, and our government have been called out." Amnesty International has urged Congress to amend the Stafford Act, which is the nation's main disaster response legislation, to guarantee the humane and fair treatment of all disaster victims as stipulated by the UN's Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (which the U.S. has endorsed). These UN principles calls for the humanitarian treatment of people uprooted because of war or a natural disaster, and that the government needs to allow victims to "return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes" or "resettle voluntarily in another part of the country." The principles also state that the government has the duty to help victims recover their property and possessions that were left behind or taken from them. If their property or possessions cannot be recovered, the government needs to make sure the victims are compensated for their loss. In addition, the agreement says that uprooted people should be allowed full participation in the planning of their return or resettlement. A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Recovery Authority said that Louisiana officials have lobbied Congress to the make the Stafford Act "less bureaucratic and problematic" and make it easier for disaster victims to return home. (Full Story)
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