BBSNews - One Week After Katrina’s Gulf Coast Assault, the American Red Cross is Setting a Record Relief Pace

BBSNews - One Week After Katrina’s Gulf Coast Assault, the American Red Cross is Setting a Record Relief Pace: "After Katrina American Red Cross is Setting a Record Relief Pace

Red Cross via BBSNews - WASHINGTON, Monday, September 05, 2005 -- The American Red Cross is off to a record-setting pace in its drive to bring shelter, food and safe drinking water to the tens of thousands of Americans impacted by Hurricane Katrina’s savage assault on the Gulf Coast.


'It was obvious even before Katrina made landfall in Mississippi that this storm was going to inflict a monumental blow to the Gulf Coast,' said Joe Becker, senior vice president, preparedness and response for the American Red Cross.

'This is the largest response to a single natural disaster in the 125 years of the American Red Cross, and there’s no doubt it will set many records in terms of the length and expanse of the operation. This will test our skills and our resources to the extreme, but the American Red Cross will be just as strong as the will of the American people, and we all know that’s a will that won’t fail,' Becker said.

From late Aug. 25, when Hurricane Katrina first slammed into the southeast coast of Florida through 5 p.m. Sept. 4, the Red Cross had opened 470 shelters and evacuation centers in 12 states and had sheltered 135,535 men, women and children. The shelter census of 118,556 for the night of Sept. 3 sets a Red Cross record for one-night accommodation. Nearly half of that shelter population – 56,387 – was housed in 74 centers in Texas, with an additional 41,135 in 133 shelters in Louisiana and 12,870 in 102 shelters in Mississippi."