FEMA National Situation Update

Here’s a few food and shelter reports from the FEMA National Situation Update for Friday, September 2, 2005:

• Planning to move 4 million MREs daily for the next three days. An MRE, or Meal, Ready to Eat, is the U.S. military version of the brown bag lunch.


• 76,000 people being sheltered (Steve: total across the region).


• Logistics: Searching alternate sources for meals; 2 million MREs are going into the affected area.


• Mississippi Emergency Operation Center (EOC): Shortages of MREs and getting food to shelters; NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) and faith-based organizations are arriving, but still having problems providing meals; 8 refrigerator trucks have arrived (Steve: these truck may be for bodies); expect to have 100,000 people in shelters across the state.


• Alabama EOC: 15 shelters are open and housing 1670 people; 20 distribution sites in 6 counties (1.9 million pounds of ice distributed; 460,000 MREs distributed); 8 mobile kitchens are in place and 7 more to arrive.


• Louisiana EOC: No food or shelter reports.


• Texas EOC: 81 shelters available for 44,258 people; 44 are open and housing 9,346 people.