Jackson Free Press

Governor Haley Barbour: Let me start off by introducing a great ally to Mississippi, and somebody that is a genuine pleasure for me to have here and to let visit with you. Marty Evans is the President of the American Red Cross. Marty.

Marsha Marty Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross: Thank you so much, Governor. I think theres no substitute for ultimately being on the ground and seeing firsthand what the issues are and its very clear to us, from the American Red Cross perspective, that this is the single largest disaster in the history of the American Red Cross, in 125 years.

Our hearts go out to the people who have been through so much, the people who have had such devastating losses. We will be with the people of Mississippi for as long as it takes through the transition. We will support the sheltering, the food feeding, and the support needs of the people. Were working very closely with the Governors office, with the emergency management structures throughout the state. And I just want to assure the Governor and all of you that the American Red Cross have 861 chapters. All of those chapters that are in the affected areas are fully mobilized, are recruiting additional volunteers, are raising funds, and are doing whatevers necessary so that we can continue the support operation that we have begun. We are prepared to expand it as necessary; we know that the shelter needs will expand, and we are positioned to do that and also to provide the additional support. So, Governor, you have a partnera very close partner, a committed partner, a strong partnerin the American Red Cross, and our Red Cross volunteers on staff who are in the state already. And we are positioned to bring in whatever additional resources are necessary to provide the support. Thank you very much.

Governor Barbour: Marty, thank you. I have to raise a point. Everywhere Ive been, there are huge numbers of Red Cross volunteers. In emergency operation centers, in shelters like the Coliseum, in the food lines, at the water distribution, and we appreciate all of your volunteers and we appreciate all that your organization is doing. I want to give you an opportunity to hear Congressman Chip Pickering, then I want Treasurer Tate Reeves to make a report on a meeting today, and then Ill brief and then take questions.

Congressman Chip Pickering: I want to thank the Governor for all his hard work during this very difficult time. I especially want to thank Marty and the Red Cross for what theyre doing in all our communities, and commend MEMA and FEMA for everything theyre doing to try to get our
people the help that they need. Well do everything we can in the congressional delegation to get the federal funding for the recovery and for the assistance to work with everyone we can to get the fuel, the food, the funds, for our critical facilitiesour hospitals, our nursing homesand for the critical infrastructure of power and communication. Were working very closely with the President and the Administration and all the agenciesDOD, Homeland Securityto make sure that everything is coordinated and communicated, and that we have the stability and the security for our people and all of our communities. I represent the central portion of the state. And just the depth and the strength of the storm that went all the way from the coast to I-20, from Natchez to Meridian. And many of our small towns and communities are hurting, and the Red Cross and the Governor and MEMA and FEMA are doing all they can. And we want to make sure in the next critical days that we stabilize and can get the fuel and food and water to the people as they deliver the critical services. Governor, thank you. I know you havent had much sleep and for all your staff and the tireless work of the people that are coming and volunteeringFEMA, MEMA, and the Red Cross. Thank you.

Mississippi Treasurer Tate Reeves: Thank you. Governor, Ive spoken to
many of you individually, earlier in the day. At the request of the
Governors office, as well as the request of my office, weve put together
a task force this morning, which goes across all levels of state
government to look at the financial ramifications that we are going to
be dealing with in the days and months ahead. I think its very important
that we as a state are very pro-active in the way in which we address,
the way in which we work with the FEMA people, the way in which we work
with our congressional delegation, who are doing a wonderful job. Many
people across our state are working day and night. I think many of the
people on this stage have been on this stage several times over the last
several days, and it really means an awful lot to me and the people all
across our state, this hard work thats being put in on behalf of our
citizens. I want to reassure everyone that the hard work is going to
continue from our vantage point. We think weve got a team in place to
address the many issues that our state is going to face, both in the
short run and in the long run. I just want to thank Marty and her people
for being down here and helping us, as well as the Governor, our
congressional delegation, and particularly the people on the ground all
throughout our state. Thanks.

Governor Barbour: Thanks Tate. Jesse asked me yesterday, Was the
President coming? I believe the White House announced the Presidents
coming to Biloxi in the morning. I dont know the exact time of day, but
I think that announcement is on the wire. Were excited that the
President is coming. The President has called me on the phone three
times, and different people of the Cabinet because he is very concerned
and interested in helpinghes serious about it. Im not going to try to
speak for him because hes more than capable of speaking for himself, but
he was at a Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon focused entirely on
this. And afterwards, a number of Cabinet members called to say What
about this, what about that? And, so, we appreciate thatwe need it. Yall
have heard me say beforethis calamitous disaster is going to take a long
time to recover and rebuild. Its going to take a lot of money. The
federal governments help is indispensable as we try to recover and
rebuild. State government is going to have enormous responsibilities.
Thats why Im so pleased that Tate and the other financial officers of
the state, both elected and appointed, met this morning to start sorting
through the economic and fiscal issues. We know that the burdens on the
state are going to increase at a time when the revenue of the state is
going to decrease. I have met with a number of local governments and
have made claim to them that we all need to understandwe are all going
to have to do morefederal government, state governments, and local
government. Thank goodness for people like the American Red Cross and
the private sector. Well just take this one step at a time. Were gonna
work through it, and its going to work out very, very successfully. But
its going to be work.

I met today with local officials at Hattiesburg and Meridian, as well
as those in Laurel yesterday and on the coast. Clearly, as Congressman
Pickering noted, the issue that most comes up is fuel. And the reason,
of course, is with the electricity out in most of the affected regions,
which is an enormous region, then the substitute is either generators or
some other source of power. Secondly, it takes generators to try to
reinstitute the communications system because once the towers are
re-erected, they require power. And if the electricity is not on, the
only power available are the gas generators that run on either gasoline
or diesel fuel. Our military, our law enforcement, our other emergency
responders, our medical providers, are all dependent on fuel. Even our
waste-water treatment and our running clean water supply is driven at
one point by electricity. So we have focused for the last day and a half
very, very heavily on fuel. Im pleased to say that the tank farm in
Collins is now loading fuel into tankers and a plan has been worked for
about half that fuel to go south of Collins, and about half that fuel to
go north of Collins, because even areas that did not have much storm
damage have the same problem with fuel. In Jackson today, still 50% of
people dont have electricity. So even though theres little damage
compared to the coast, the need for fuel is still very heavy here, for
law enforcement and other sorts of things. Were focused heavily on that.

Butch Brown (Executive Director of Mississippi Department of
Transportation) informed me today that all roads are re-opened, that all
highways are re-opened, except Highways 609 and 90. Also, Ive been asked
about going south of Hattiesburg. We urge that the only people who go
south of Hattiesburg on Highway 49 be people who are giving relief,
people who are taking supplies, people who are helping down there;
however, it is my understanding that its open. I know the highways
open.

I want to talk a minute about shelters. Normally in a disaster,
sheltersRed Cross shelters like the Coliseumopen and the typical
duration is 2-3 days and then people can go back home. Obviously, that
is not going to be the case in this disaster. I want to particularly
urge people in north Mississippi to keep their shelters open. In fact,
were seeing increases in the number of people in shelters in north
Mississippi, which is common sense because when you think about it,
people who fled, evacuated the hurricane as they were asked to do, they
get ready to come back home and cant. They run out of money, so they
move out of a hotel and into a shelter. We urge you to keep the shelters
open. I also want to say to the people that are in the hotelswe are
trying to work with FEMA right now so that you can stay in the hotel and
have help to pay for it, rather than move into a shelter, because
obviously the conditions are better and obviously we have to pay a
costits a cost for you to be in a shelter anyway. We have some large
shelters in the state; the conditions there are difficult and, so, for
those who are in hotels, we urge you to stay there. Contact the
emergency management office in the county and let us work with you to
try to take care of your problem that way. But we do need the north
Mississippi shelters to stay open.

I believe that is all that I have in terms of a brief. I will say that
in going around the state, people are tired, and a lot of people are
dirty because they havent been able to take a bath. Somebody asked me
yesterdayor this morning, time kinda runs togethersaid, Governor, you
look tired. And I said, I am tiredeverybodys tired. And everybody down
here is tired. At least I had the advantageI slept in a bed last night
and took a shower this morning, which puts me ahead of thousands and
thousands of people*who are tired, and hungry, and dirty, and scared.
And we just have to realize that this is the case. And I will say that
sometimes Im scared too. But, were going to hitch up our britches; well
get this done. People have to be patient; it is obviously easy to become
impatient under these circumstances, but we are making progress
everyday. As I said the first time I briefed you, we wont solve these
problems tomorrow, or next week, or next month, but were getting
progress on fuel, progress on water and ice and food, more and more
security coming into the state. We have issues were fighting everyday,
but people are trying hard. My hats off to these local officials,
elected officials, appointed officials, emergency officials*you cant
imagine how hard these people are working or the hours theyre working.
And so, just know, everybodys just doing their best and were going to
continue to do our best. And with that, if anybodys got any questions.

Q&A

Question: Governor, has search-and-rescue reached virtually every
area?

Answer: No. Search-and-rescue has reached large swaths of areas, but I
would not say virtually every area. You have to remember on the coast,
for 50 miles across, 5-10 blocks back, 90% of structures are destroyed.
Search-and-rescue doesnt mean go to the house and see if anyone here
needs help, then go to the next house. It means lets take this 20 square
meters of rubble waist-deep, head-deep, and lets dig through it and then
lets move to the next 20 square meters. And that is obviously very slow,
but the people working on it are just fabulous. And they are people that
have come from all over the country, from Florida, Ohio, from the
military, and the coast guard, and all the crews here, and crews from
fire departments all over Mississippi. And they have moved through wide
swaths, but it would not be accurate to say through virtually every
area.

Question: How would you characterize the federal response to this
disaster? Will the money we need ultimately reach into the billions?

Answer: The federal response has been magnificent. I would describe it
as energetic, determined, cooperative*but the federal government is just
like everyone else, in that this storm overwhelmed anything anybody had
ever planned for. Just like it overwhelmed all of our infrastructure
that we have been talking about, in terms of electricity,
telecommunications, and roads and water. But the federal government has
been a great partner. And that goes for department after department,
agency after agency. There have been estimates that the damage done
could be as high as $25 billion. I predict that number will be lowthat
the number will be in excess of that. There wont be tens of thousands
that are not inhabitablewhen you look at New Orleans, there is likely to
be hundreds of thousands of uninhabitable structures, and there is going
to be thousands and thousands and thousands in Mississippi. The federal
share of that, I cant quantify, I understand that Congress is going to
go in tomorrow for a special session to deal with ten million dollars of
emergency relief for this disastersorry, 10 billion dollarswe in state
government dont use the b word a lot. Theyre going in to approve 10
billion dollars, and everybody understands that this is the first phase.
But it also is going to be a big financial burden on the state, on the
counties and municipalities, on the private sector, and on the insurance
companies. Thank goodness for people like the Red Cross and Salvation
Army and all the others who help us. And the Presidents effort today
with former President Bush and President Clinton just adds to that.

Question: There are uninsured people who are now jobless and yet still
have house notes. Is there anywhere, specifically, that they can turn
for help?

Answer: I dont know the answer to that. I have noticed that companies
like United Health Group and other companies that charge premiums, have
given forgiveness of premiums for a period of time. I know that Harrahs,
which owns a couple of casinos on the coast, said they are going to pay
their employees for 90 days. People who have lost their houses and that
sort of stuff are going to be eligible for federal programs, but I am
not knowledgeable enough to tell you whether there is some loan
forgiveness, though there are programs where people can get financial
support.

Question: Do you have any updates on people rescued versus casualties?
And, for the second part of my question, how are you doing today,
Governor? How are you holding up?

Answer: Thousands of people have been rescued. Thousands of people have
been found, and have been returned to some place where they can pick up
their lives. We dont know how many fatalities there are. The official
count is really meaningless because it doesnt include any death not
certified by the coroner. But the mortuaries on the coast are past full;
the federal government has given us assistance in bringing in some
support for that. Unofficially, but crediblyfrom credible sourcesthere
have been reports of 150 or so fatalities in Mississippi. I dont know
that those are accurate but they do come from credible sources. It seems
to me likely that the count for fatalities will rise in the next period
of time. Oh, how am I? Im too fat, Im tired. Im fractious. Im
determined, just like all these people. I know were going to make
mistakes. And I know there are things well look back on and say, gee, we
could have done better. But were trying to do something nobodys ever
done before. Its the biggest natural disaster in the history of our
country, and it just came on us. And so, were going to deal with it;
were going to work together. I am very grateful that the Speaker of the
House has talked to me over and over about this calamity, and for the
support he and others of the Legislature offer. Were going to work
together and see this through. And for the two and a half years
remaining in my term as Governor, this is going to be my first priority.
And we all need to pray together, as well as work together.

Question: Everyday another rumor surfaces about you ordering businesses
to close at 6 P.M. and to be shut down for 24 hours, gasoline shortage
rumors*How can we stop these rumors from circulating?

Answer: What we try to do is come before you everyday, so that the
public can learn what the truth is. And the public needs to disregard
crazy rumors. I dont know*thats human nature, particularly at a time
when the communications system is so insufficient and so damaged. But I
remember one time one of my business partners, who was single at the
time, said that when he was in college, there was a rumor on campus
where he went to school, that his girlfriend was pregnant. He said that
all you could do is wait nine months and her not have a baby. And I dont
know what I can do about rumorsexcept tell the truth, and wait nine
months and me not have a baby.

Question: Will you talk about whats happening to the bodies the rescue
teams are finding on the coast?

Answer: Well, they are being kept to the extent, to the capacity at
mortuaries and then those that are not are being kept in refrigerated
trailers that are used as portable mortuaries.

Question: Governor, there have been reports of state workers not
getting paid, not getting their checks. What is your response to this?

Answer: Well, todays payday, I think*or yesterday was payday. Colonel
Taylor here, who runs DHS (Department of Human Services), advised me
yesterday that everybody who was on direct deposit from his agencychild
support, food stamps, welfare, et ceterathat they were getting their
stuff, but the people who were getting paper checks? To be honest, Im a
direct deposit guy, and I dont know if I got my check yesterday or not.
But I will find out and tell you tomorrow.

Question: Whats your communication with the State of Louisiana, with
the people concerned about getting back hometheir home being Louisiana?

Answer: Well generally its through FEMA. Ive got my hands full here,
and I know Kathleen Blanco has her hands full over there. But there is
information shared between the states, generally through this conduit of
FEMA and what we call MEMALouisiana calls theirs LEMAbut I cant give you
an honest, or even recognizable, estimation of whats going on over
there.

Question: People are extremely afraid of not being able to get
gas*should people really be concerned about a gas shortage?

Answer: People should recognize that this concern is one of the
principle reasons for the gas lines. But because people have a fear that
there wont be any gas, they run to be 200th in line to buy gas. Some of
the local governments have limited the amount of gas you can buy to a
certain amount, so as to get them through the lines faster. Today, we
brought on a very significant supply of fuel at Collins. And they
devised, as it was related to me, a good system for moving that fuel all
across the state. Were working on two more significant supplies of fuel,
one of which is in existenceweve just got to figure out how to tap itand
the other one would have to be created in conjunction with the federal
government. But we made progress on fuel today. Its just like gas lines
during the Carter administration. People thought, I may not be able to
get any so Im gonna go fill up my last four gallons. And theyd sit in
line for hours and burn six gallons while theyre trying to top off their
tank. That does have a very negative affect on the fuel situation.

Question: A lot of families are having difficulty locating members of
their families. How can you locate information on family members in low
communication areas? Is there a specific place for that information?

Answer: Im going to let Mike Womack (Deputy Director of MEMA) answer
that question, but there is no acceptably thorough place. But there is a
place where you can get some information, if the information is
available. But for many, many people, no information is available,
because the people cant communicate. I mean, I have days I cant get the
Adjutant General on the phone. You know, if you dont have a satellite
phone, youve got almost no chance, and if you do have a satellite phone,
youve got some chance. Yogi Berras batting average was higher than mine
on the satellite phone, just because it doesnt work very well either.
Theres nothing we can say to peopletry as we may, we simply cannot
account for people. We dont have any way to communicate with them, and
vice versa. Mike, is that a fair assessment?

Mike Womack: Yes sir, it is, and the Red Cross is working on a national
database, as I understand, so theyll be able to post those folks that
are in the shelters.

Marsha Marty Evans, President and CEO of American Red Cross: Thats one
of the key issues for us, that after adequate shelter, feeding, taking
care of those immediate emergency needs, we are focused and have a team
working in national headquarters on getting an internet-based system up,
that will then be linked to our call-in number so that people will have
that capability if they can get a telephone. I think were a couple of
days away from having that system online, but it is one of our top
priorities because were aware of how frantic people are that they cant
reach their relatives. I would say that if you know that people have
gone to Red Cross shelters or gone to shelters in general, because there
are some additional shelters, that the chances are good that they are
safe. We are encouraging people in shelters as we get phones brought
inthats a slow but ongoing processwe are strongly encouraging people to
call someone in their family who might then be able to regularly relay
the information. We have a number of different strategies, trying to
make sure that we bring all of the resources available together and then
add the additional capabilities, as quickly as we can. But it will take
some more time to get that system up.

Governor Barbour: Thank you, Marty. Jesse Munoz, who is the FEMA
Federal Coordinator, reminds me that theres a FEMA 1-800 number:
1-800-621-3362. 1-800-621-3362. I mention that, because what Marty and
the others are working on is to try to help with the heart-wrenching
situation where people dont know about their loved ones. Also, people
are asking how do I get help? This is for other kinds of help, such as
making an application for a loan, or grant, or disaster aid, or food
stamps, or whatever. But also, its to put you into the system for
passing along information to you.

Question: I know this isnt necessarily a priority for you right now,
but I was wondering how the state plans to deal with the mental health
needs of the people who have suffered greatly through this storm, lost
loved ones, lost their homes*when these people began to feel the
aftershock of this? And also, what about the cleanliness conditions in
areas affected by Katrina?

Answer: Well, the answer is*Im not the right person to ask that. I am
aware, for about 36 hours a pretty hard-pressed effort has been ongoing
in terms of epidemic outbreaks of diseases that we normally dont deal
with very much, because of a variety of sanitary conditions. I know that
theres a full-court press of federal, state, private, and the medical
centerthat is seriously going on and will be important, particularly on
the coast, but not exclusively on the coast. On the mental health side,
Ill just have to get back to you. Obviously, that is something thatll
have to be dealt with. I just dont know the status of that, but well
know tomorrow or Amy or somebody can help you.

Mike Womack: Governor, and Jesse could say this too, as part of the
FEMA recovery process, there is a crisis counseling program that is
going to be instituted and I can let Jesse speak on that.

Jesse Munoz, Federal Coordinator Officer of FEMA: One of the things
were in the process of doing is setting up all the disaster recovery
centers in all the declared counties. And rest assured that all the
disaster recovery centers will have counselors there to deal with that,
because this is going to be a significant problem.

Marsha Marty Evans: I would also say that among our Red Cross
volunteers that are on the scene* in many of the shelters, we have
licensed professionals as part of that. Another thing I would say is
that in the long-term, Red Cross chapters across the state and elsewhere
have programs particularly for children, young people, Masters of
Disasters, to help children cope with some of these experiencestraumatic
experiences that theyve had.

Governor Barbour: Colonel Taylor wants to make one point.

Colonel Don Taylor, Executive Director of DHS: Tomorrow we will be
distributing several 1-800 numbers for those people who have been
displaced. If they have inquiries about their child support payment
checks, adoption payment checks, and foster care payment checks, we will
be distributing that through all the media.

Question: What kind of environmental damage is there, and are you
looking into this damage?

Answer: In the short-term, yeah, but in the long-term, its just
beginning. The question is are we looking at what the environmental
damage might be? And the fact is, of course we willthat will be a part
of rebuilding. In the short-term, the environmental problems were
worried about is people being cold and in the dark*because thats the
worst environment people can be in right now. Were putting everything we
can do into trying to help them. Thank yall very much.

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