Carol,

That's right-- the Red Cross doesn't let people go into unsafe areas and gummint doesn't usually ask them to do that. (Read any chapter's disaster plan and the overriding disaster response rulebook.) Shelters are planned to go only in safe areas-- why else would it be a "shelter"? It's at the shelters that the first vouchers are handed out for ongoing assistance-- you interview each family and determine what is needed as they are planning to leave the shelter to go to interim housing, and you voucher the people as far as the case limits permit. (Donors doesn't appreciate it if assistance is not uniformly provided.)

As far as going into the affected areas-- the first Red Cross teams associated with that part of the response are charged with a general damage asessment. And if it's not safe, no, they don't go. It's not particular to New Orleans-- it's for the safety of the volunteers. Going into the unsafe areas is the job of police and fire and other rescue personnel. The people who go into those areas once it is safe are not the same people who do most of the casework to help individuals, anyway-- there are separate units with different specialized training who do that.

I am getting the sense that people want the Red Cross to be God.

Have we all forgotten that Mother Nature is bigger than any human response can fix? Do we think that because this particular tragedy has moved us all so much, that someone should wave a wand and make it all be OK?

Where's the outcry for the Third World disasters that occur each year-- is it American pride that makes us think we don't have to be subject to the effects of disasters?

Do y'all think anyone could have done a better job at holding back that much water, and do you actually think it might have been possible for no one to die? Would you have violated the dignity of those who chose to stay, by picking them up bodily to move them? Should volunteers have risked their lives to act as medical personnel, for people who chose not to go where help WAS being offered?

Grow up! Life on this planet ain't that guaranteed!

~Susan