ASDC Home

Katrina Home

Communities Respond in the Disaster Area

Communities Respond to the Needs of Evacuees and Survivors

Resources to Help Communities Respond

You Can Help

Stories and Articles

Contact Us

Resources To Help Communities Respond
& Other Links

Distribute information about resources and relief and recovery efforts in your community, workplace, classroom etc.

Examples and Resources:

Greater New Orleans Nonprofit Knowledge Works, a center that strives to enhance the management capacity of the local nonprofit sector to provide information-driven, systemic and effective solutions to community problems, hosts a website that offers neighborhood level census information for 73 New Orleans’ neighborhoods. The site has easy-to-use Census 2000 data-including households without cars, poverty, age of housing stock, and other demographic as well as historical snapshots for every New Orleans neighborhood. Additionally, as the local data intermediary for New Orleans, the Community Data Center will continue to be the source for neighborhood information as the city rebuilds.
(www.gnocdc.org)

The National Center for Children Exposed to Violence developed two new guides to help parents and children, as well as service provider cope with the disaster in the Gulf Coast region. The guide for children and parents offers guidelines to help parents address their children’s concerns and worries arising from their involvement in disaster. The guide for service providers offers guidelines for relief workers to help children address their concerns and worries.
(http://www.nccev.org/)

The Center for Disease Control Mental Health Work Group has developed several resources for helping those affected by disaster including:

• Web-based disaster mental health resources on Coping with a Disaster or Traumatic Event, Helping Children & Teens, Resources for Responders, Resources for Health Professionals, Resources for States & Planners, and Educational Materials (Flyers & Handout Cards); and
• Tips for surviving stress for first responders.

The Department of Health and Human Services has a toll-free hotline for people in crisis in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. By dialing 1–800–273–TALK (1–800–273–8255), callers will be connected to a network of local crisis centers across the country that are committed to crisis counseling. Callers to the hotline will receive counseling from trained staff at the closest certified crisis center in the network.

Family Voices, a national grassroots clearinghouse for information and education concerning the health care of children with special health needs, has developed a list of resources detailing efforts to help families of children and youth with special health care needs affected by Hurricane Katrina. (http://www.familyvoices.org/)

The Center for Disease Control has developed a number of resources in response to the hurricane including:

• A list of Hurricane-Related Information for Health Care Professionals; (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/hcp.asp)
• A guide to help individuals prevent injury after a disaster; (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/injury.asp)
• A guide about how to treat minor wounds after a natural disaster; (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/)
• A list of mental health resources (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/); and
• A Disaster Mental Health Primer for communities to detail key principles, issues and questions relevant to the mental health in times of disaster. (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/primer.asp)

The National Organization for Victim Assistance (http://www.trynova.org/crisis/katrina/) offers the following resources:

• A support hotline (800-TRY-NOVA) for survivors and evacuees;
• "Emergency crisis response refresher" training for caregivers from affected communities; and
• Resources for survivors and evacuees of all ages coping with emotional reactions to grief, loss, death, and the holidays.

The National League of Cities “Institute for Youth, Education, and Families is playing a leading role in convening a group of experts that will focus on steps to assist cities and states as they seek to respond to Katrina's impact on children and the delivery of crucial human services. The group will initially look at large-scale resource needs that might be supported by the federal government or other sources; information dissemination and technical assistance needs; access to specialized expertise; and more targeted responses, including those from philanthropic organizations.” For more information, contact John Pionke at 202-626-3051 or Sherry Conway Appel, 202-626-3003. (http://www.nlc.org/Newsroom/Press_Room/6397.cfm)

National News Sources with Complete Katrina Coverage:

• CNN: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/katrina/
• MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9107338/
• CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/katrina/main500487.shtml
• National Geographic News: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/
  news/2005/09/0902_050902_katrina_coverage.html
• ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/
• Time: http://www.time.com/time/covers/20050912/
• Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9160015/site/newsweek/

Other Resources to Help Communities Respond:

The Katrina Help Center has a number of resources listed including hotlines, information about housing, information about federal unemployment and insurance claims benefits, as well as ways to read about and share stories of survival and grassroots efforts in the Gulf Coast. One Economy Corporation, a national non-profit organization that helps low-income people use technology to build assets and join the economic mainstream (www.one-economy.com), developed the web site.
(www.katrinahelpcenter.org)

Materials from the Practice Directorate provide information and links to additional resources to psychologists and practitioners in the aftermath of recent hurricanes.
http://www.apapractice.org/apo/katrina.html#

• The National Network of Grantmakers has developed a list internet links to articles, organizations, and relief efforts in the gulf coast. (http://www.nng.org/katrina.html)
• The American Psychological Association developed a website with a number of resources for psychologists affected by Hurricane Katrina including information on business decisions, licensure challenges, and data recovery. (http://www.apapractice.org/apo/katrina.html#)
• Katrina Help Center includes hundreds of pages of useful resources for people seeking immediate assistance as well as longer-term resources. It connects Katrina victims to resources such as 'starting a new job',' healthcare', 'enrolling your child in school', and 'getting shelter and food.' It is localized for 10 different locations and also includes streaming news from around the region. The information is available in both English and Spanish. (www.katrinahelpcenter.org)
• The greater New Orleans Community Center offer links to locating evacuees through federal agencies as well as local news and updates on the flooding and infrastructure in the greater New Orleans area. (www.gnocdc.org)