WHAT A BUNCH OF INEFFECTUAL GUCKERS THESE BUSHPEOPLE ARE!
Katrina victims to lose debit cards
From correspondents in Baton Rouge
09sep05
THE US government has done a dramatic U-turn on a day-old scheme to speed emergency cash to Hurricane Katrina survivors, scrapping plans to issue them all debit cards, an official said.
The reversal of the plan to give each evacuee from the hurricane that wrought havoc in New Orleans and along the US Gulf Coast a card worth $US2000 ($2600) came 24 hours after beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown announced it.
The $US640 million scheme would have provided instant cash for key provisions via debit card to about 320,000 registered victims.
But FEMA spokesman David Passey said in the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge that instead of issuing the cards to all registered evacuees, only the up to 20,000 housed in Houston's Astrodome would receive them while others will receive their money by the much slower old-fashioned route.
Evacuees in other shelters across the United States will instead receive their grants by a sent cheque or direct bank deposit, which usually take 10 day to two weeks to be processed, Mr Passey said, acknowledging a "refinement" of the system.
"As we begun to roll out the debit card programme in Houston, we saw it would work for residents there but determined that our traditional methods of delivery would be more helpful to other evacuees," Mr Passey said.
"I don't know all the reasons, but our experts felt this was the fastest means to go forward," he said, adding that the U-turn was not an "issue of cashflow," as the US Congress has unblocked sufficient funds.
FEMA and US President George W. Bush have come under intense criticism over their handling of one of the worst US natural disasters, with victims and politicians accusing authorities of inadequate preparation and a slow response to help survivors.
Around one million people were forced from their homes by the storm, which breached the dykes protecting low-lying New Orleans from the waters of Lake Pontchartrian, flooding the city and turning it into a deadly swamp.
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