Hurricane Relief From Abroad Was Mishandled
New York Times
April 7, 2006
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, April 6 — Confusion over how to handle the emergency supplies, offers of military assistance and $126 million in cash that poured in from foreign governments after Hurricane Katrina meant delays, and in some cases wasted opportunities, in aiding storm victims, federal officials acknowledged Thursday.
The assessment came at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, which pulled together representatives from the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State and Education, all part of a makeshift program to handle the foreign offers of storm aid.
Thousands of ready-to-eat meals donated by governments, as well as loads of medicine, were never used, because officials learned only after they arrived in the United States that they did not meet federal health standards. Instead of distributing the supplies, the federal government spent $60,000 to store them.
Of the $126 million in cash donations received, only about $10.5 million has been spent. Nearly half sat in a noninterest-bearing account until last month, when it was transferred to the Department of Education for a grant program to help damaged schools and colleges, although no grants have yet been awarded.
An additional $66 million was earmarked last October for United Methodist Committee on Relief, a charity based in New York City which promised, in an alliance with other nonprofit groups, to take on 2,060 paid and volunteer workers to provide counseling to 101,000 displaced families over the next two years.
Just over $10 million has been spent, an official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, and the charity's records show that only about half of the staff has been hired and that 3,100 families have signed up for help.
Linda Beher, a spokeswoman for the charity, said Thursday that the program was working "exactly as designed," and was rapidly adding new clients and staff members.
There was agreement that federal agencies need to be better prepared, should such offers arrive again.
"It looks here like we have bureaucratic jumble," said Representative Thomas M. Davis III, Republican of Virginia, the committee chairman. "A lot of things happened that in retrospect today we would all do differently."
The cash donations and emergency supplies — including food, clothing, blankets, tents and medicine — came in from nations, companies, individuals and organizations from around the globe. The single biggest source, representing three-quarters of the total cash received, was the United Arab Emirates, which contributed $100 million, according to the State Department.
The United States, at least in modern times, had never received such a large outpouring of foreign aid and no formal process existed to evaluate the offers, officials from the State Department and FEMA testified Thursday.
The Defense Department designated an Air Force base in Arkansas to receive deliveries from overseas and then the Agency for International Development, a State Department agency that usually handles foreign aid, was asked to work with FEMA on distribution.
Casey Long, acting director of the Office of International Affairs at FEMA, testified that 143 truckloads of international donations had ultimately been sent to distribution centers in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas.
But Davi M. D'Agostino, an investigator from the Government Accountability Office, said FEMA could not provide documentation that the goods ever reached hurricane victims or emergency workers.
The lack of clear guidance from the agency to the State Department also resulted in the acceptance of the prepared meals that could not be distributed, Ms. D'Agostino said.
April 7, 2006
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, April 6 — Confusion over how to handle the emergency supplies, offers of military assistance and $126 million in cash that poured in from foreign governments after Hurricane Katrina meant delays, and in some cases wasted opportunities, in aiding storm victims, federal officials acknowledged Thursday.
The assessment came at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, which pulled together representatives from the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State and Education, all part of a makeshift program to handle the foreign offers of storm aid.
Thousands of ready-to-eat meals donated by governments, as well as loads of medicine, were never used, because officials learned only after they arrived in the United States that they did not meet federal health standards. Instead of distributing the supplies, the federal government spent $60,000 to store them.
Of the $126 million in cash donations received, only about $10.5 million has been spent. Nearly half sat in a noninterest-bearing account until last month, when it was transferred to the Department of Education for a grant program to help damaged schools and colleges, although no grants have yet been awarded.
An additional $66 million was earmarked last October for United Methodist Committee on Relief, a charity based in New York City which promised, in an alliance with other nonprofit groups, to take on 2,060 paid and volunteer workers to provide counseling to 101,000 displaced families over the next two years.
Just over $10 million has been spent, an official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, and the charity's records show that only about half of the staff has been hired and that 3,100 families have signed up for help.
Linda Beher, a spokeswoman for the charity, said Thursday that the program was working "exactly as designed," and was rapidly adding new clients and staff members.
There was agreement that federal agencies need to be better prepared, should such offers arrive again.
"It looks here like we have bureaucratic jumble," said Representative Thomas M. Davis III, Republican of Virginia, the committee chairman. "A lot of things happened that in retrospect today we would all do differently."
The cash donations and emergency supplies — including food, clothing, blankets, tents and medicine — came in from nations, companies, individuals and organizations from around the globe. The single biggest source, representing three-quarters of the total cash received, was the United Arab Emirates, which contributed $100 million, according to the State Department.
The United States, at least in modern times, had never received such a large outpouring of foreign aid and no formal process existed to evaluate the offers, officials from the State Department and FEMA testified Thursday.
The Defense Department designated an Air Force base in Arkansas to receive deliveries from overseas and then the Agency for International Development, a State Department agency that usually handles foreign aid, was asked to work with FEMA on distribution.
Casey Long, acting director of the Office of International Affairs at FEMA, testified that 143 truckloads of international donations had ultimately been sent to distribution centers in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas.
But Davi M. D'Agostino, an investigator from the Government Accountability Office, said FEMA could not provide documentation that the goods ever reached hurricane victims or emergency workers.
The lack of clear guidance from the agency to the State Department also resulted in the acceptance of the prepared meals that could not be distributed, Ms. D'Agostino said.
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