Newsday: Katrina effort mired in bureaucratic hash

[Eugene]

Katrina effort mired in bureaucratic hash
From the start, tangle local, state and fed agencies have been
hampered in attempts to provide relief to the victims of red tape
has kept desperately needed supplies from getting to victims

BY TINA SUSMAN
STAFF WRITER

September 10, 2005, 10:32 PM EDT

<snip>

According to state and local officials, FEMA-enforced red tape
paralyzed attempts to get generators, trailers, food, water and
communications equipment in place.

Last Thursday, six days after Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco had sent
a letter to President George W. Bush seeking 175 generators and
communications equipment, state officials said the items still had not
arrived. FEMA said Friday it was investigating the status of the
request.

Perhaps nothing illustrated the sputtering style of the federal relief
effort as the debit card debacle. On Friday, after word of the plan
spread, there was a near-stampede by evacuees at the Houston
Astrodome, where some cards were handed out.

Full article: www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/us-fema0911,0,353161.story?coll=ny-top-headlines