it was not an issue with fema. the thing we try to re-of the size time and time again is that you have to collapse the dominoes. the locals, the states, and the feds have to work as one team. you cannot wait for us to show up. you have to respond as if it is going to be bad and you hope that it isn't. but hope in my world is not an effective strategy. steve: you really remind me of herman con thinking the of thinkable who was always thinking about nuclear holocaust. if you look at the arena of the national -- natural disasters, you said that katrina was fully predictable and everything was on the table. everything was hit and it was stupid to say that we couldn't have been better prepared for that. one of the top two or three horrible disasters out there waiting to happen that you worry about? craig: the cascadia conduct -- subduction zone off of the coast of oregon and washington state. we know there is going to be a large scale event. if it occurs. steve: an earthquake and a soon army? -- soon army -- tsunami? cr

if you can talk to fema, maybe fema, maybe fema can help you with temporary housing, but other than that there is not a lot we can do with the landlord. gentleman in the blue alongside the wall. if the fema representative could raise his hand. >> thank you. mayor nagin: yes, ma'am. >> you can put that microphone down. the other one. thank you. >> good afternoon. >> closer to the microphone for me. >> my name is verna williams joseph. they told him he wouldn't get paid for it. two 78elf, i invested in yard trailers. i still can go out because when the give me a zone in the zone doesn't have any trash on it. come big tall guys then over and tell me to get off. i don't believe, i say i am standing right here. we want to know today what can you do for us, when we have the trailer loaded up, but we cannot dump it. you have already been assigned a zone -- >> yes, i've been picking up trash. trailer is like 78 yards. if we go into another zone, they kicked me out. i came to find out what can we do. why do we have to be three people under? go there tove to the people that make all the money out

that is not fema dollars. i know of no community that did not have a housing issue before the disaster that got better just because you had a hurricane or earthquake. we do not deal with the job situation, the unemployment the tuition in education -- the unemployment situation, and education. ours is like the initial response to give somebody some help, give them a place to live, give them some initial assistance. carter has never built fema to make people whole. the poor get the most help from fema because they do not qualify for loans and do not have insurance. poverty is one of the single biggest factors of impact in disasters of not being able to recover. the other thing we had was a middle-class that were middle-class because of the homeownership. when they lost their homes they were no longer middle-class. if you got the wealth, you can weather disasters better than the poor. that is just a fact of life, because the way our programs are designed at fema, we do not exist to pre-existing conditions and we

fema, mr. army corps, yes, i am a federal employee that works up the street at the va hospital that come january may not have a job because of the incompetence and irresponsibility of the army corps of engineer's who raised my house. i've got a house down in new [indiscernible] because somebody broke my window, broke the sliding glass door, pulled it off the hinges, and went in my property and stole my tv out of my house. you understand what i'm saying? all this come back to new orleans. you know how much i pay for rent? $875. my house note ain't that much. i watched this every week. it comes on tv. radio beforeon the i go anywhere. got it on my car radio listening. ain't nobody doing nothing. raise the house. raise the house. i'm not raising my house 10 feet up in the air. i don't live on the beach. i don't live in florida. i don't live in mississippi. i live in new orleans. biloxi, ito live in would do that in the beginning. i'm not raising my house, mr. -- mr. fema. mr. army corps of enginee

i don't even know what fema is about i'm not from that era. >> let's fet -- get fema out of it any other trying to know. >> trying to share with you their crosshairs, lady saw me on cnn show. >> she drove all the way from wherever from state of washington, and she brought us to red cross's attention, the fema man told me about mobile unit that we are trying to get them to put the mobile unit on the lot. so that people won't have to go across the city without bus services, i'm trying to tell you that my space is used as a center for anybody who comes to new orleans, we feed, we house, we thoupses we gut we are cleaning out, i have two big is clear if you were there, because your hair gray as mine would you have a chair in front of your door when you come homefront porch totally clean your yard is clean, all we are doing is waiting for those and only two in my neighborhood have a have not come back home and cleaned their space, doing more we have to look out for when there is no hoin hurricane we live in a swamp all of the agents our problem with all of them my problem with fema i understa

and clearly there are terrorism duties that legitimately fall to fema. but, unfortunately, when they take on these duties, they also have-- they take on requirements of state secrecy that make the agency much less transparent than it probably should be, particularly given its civilian responsibilities and disaster circumstances. >> sreenivasan: what about the money? has the budget for fema increased or for preparedness around the country in case another hurricane katrina or a superstorm sandy happen? >> the money has increased significantly. there is a president's disaster fund that is the main receptacle for monies to be dispensed not only to fema but to a great many other federal agencies that are called into action during periods of disaster. but you still find when you have a catastrophic disaster, even the generous infuse of new funds into those account isn't enough to meet the spending demands. i think for katrina, $61 billion of federal money. superstorm sandy, $48 billion. and these numbers aren't fixed. they continue to go up over time for both

when i called k-fema. [laughter] i cataloger get assistance from them because i applied for rb sba loan. so now that i have the of sba loan fema will no longer assist me with anything. so now they want their money so my question to you is that is like if you are in more debt than already. >> that is the first-ever i have heard that one. >> so you got that sba loan and that triggered a. >> i told them my flood insurance was supposed to pay 70,000 then that reduce the loan at 28,000 so the more money i get the less alone is and that does not benefit me but the sba is supposed to be to rebuild so what do i survive on? >> we will see if we can get an answer from fema. >> yes we will have candy talk to you one on one but there must be a misunderstanding because just because your loan was approved doesn't mean that fema automatically cuts you off from automatic temporary housing. >> me and my husband both called they told us the same thing. >> we will look into your particular case per car want to make this stat

fema was awol through it all. now fema its starting to get some discipline. seems better. the levee system is better. remember, mayor of new orleans, ray nagan, the congressman during katrina, they're in jail. >> he was sent to jail. >> an effort by the justice dme department to say we have to take on corruption. unfortunately, murder rate in new orleans is sky high. >> the year before it had gone down a lot. violent assaults and robberies are down. a mixed picture. certainly crime is a huge issue. >> great new schools being built. about education. and you have too many people without jobs, too many people walking the streets, and you know, separate but equal doesn't get erased. still a long way to go with integration in new or lens to be the great city it can be. >> john ral mi want to speak to. he is blaming us and me in particular. >> thanks to all the volunteers. this city is back because of volunteers they came. >> thank you, america. people from all over the world came. >> people here are thankful for that. you hear that. next, dr. sanjay gupta goes back to charity h

fema is also a primary partner. all of these agencies work together to support communities and more portly, businesses, and grow businesses toer devices -- disasters get support they need together businesses up and running. some of the strategies the economic recovery support function undertakes -- economic assessment post-disaster, what the real needs are, is this a rural disaster or small business kind of disaster, or an urban disaster? is there a major employer in the if that business gets back up and running, will make all the difference in the world getting people moving back into the area? they also work together to make sure there are business recovery centers, usually sponsored by areas that have partners available to find resources available. they sponsor business roundtables and partnership in collaboration with the local chamber of commerce to make sure education, counseling, technical assistance and networking for resources, and support are available,. after a disaster it is a good opportunity to provide

one thing for fema. my mother is 86 years old and she is an addict because she would not evacuate and i would not leave my mother. she lost everything and she was renting and now i am ineligible for help from fema because i have flood insurance and i've gotten out letter and now my mother has received the first penny from fema. now i signed a lease for her on a wednesday $41,125 on thursday morning the landlord called the agent had told her she wanted to raise the rents by $400, so i signed a lease for next morning for $200 more. we split the difference because i needed to put my mother in a safe place. the rent-gouging is over-the-top my mother is on a fixed income, needs help from fema and i cannot even -- i have gone to jcc and i'm going back tomorrow morning again to talk to them. another thing that is happening i paid for 212 thousand dollars worth of flood insurance and fema is trying to give me $139,000 worth of flood insurance. i am quite a lot of issues here and i know i'm not the only one havin

first of all, at fema. mr. mayor, you gave them your plan for the trailer parks. >> yes. >> i've seen one, and that's at barney frank. my question is, what does fema need to have to put those trailers where the requests were made? where are they? what's wrong with you? is that -- does it mean that you're that incompetent to handle that business? all of our citizens want to come back home, and we can't -- speak for yourself. i -- [laughter] i cannot find a place. i even requested that a trailer be placed on my home, and that was in october. and i have not heard from them. and then for energy to come up with some foolishness that you have to put in something for what? to get some power? why you haven't called for help to put those, put the power back in the lines on the main thoroughfares like parish avenue and st. charles avenue. what's wrong with you? our citizens want to come back, but what are you doing? sitting down on your behind and taking the money. i am, i have been patient, but i'm tired. and i have bee

fema is also a primary partner. all of these agencies work together to support communities and states, and more portly, businesses, and grow businesses after devices -- disasters to get support they need together businesses up and running. some of the strategies the economic recovery support function undertakes -- economic assessment post-disaster, what the real needs are, is this a rural disaster or small business kind of disaster, or an urban disaster? > is there a major employer in the area who, if that business gets back up and running, will make all the difference in the world getting people moving back into the area? they also work together to make sure there are business recovery centers, usually sponsored by the sba, and areas that have partners available to find resources available. they sponsor business roundtables and partnership in collaboration with the local chamber of commerce to make sure education, counseling, technical assistance and networking for resources, and support are available,. after a dis

guy. >> and don't forget to talk to fema about the situation. find out if there's any other support they can give you in rebuilding your house. >> i am from the gentilly area. i have three houses in the same area between princess and field more. all of them are totaled out and i came here to find out what your specific land far because now -- i was participating in the section eight program. i have houses i can't live in. i want to rebuild for right now i don't know what to do because i don't know the plan for my specific area. i have 50% of the damage and the house was already raised. similar to her situation i had enough coverage to cover the house, but the amount it costs me to reveal they can't do it. does the city have any plans as far as helping homeowners rebuild because not only has the cost and outcome of the interest rates have gone up. so now i have to start all over from the beginning. i'd estimate it to finish up my house by the time i'm in my 50s and now is part of my retirement money so i can depend on retirement, so i have to sta

we have revamped fema. i have to say, by the way, there's a man named craig fugate who runs fema and has been doing extraordinary work. his team of across the country have done extraordinary work. i love me some craig. [laughter] president obama: although it is a little disturbing, he gets excited when there are disasters. he gets restless if everything is quiet. but under his leadership, we revamped fema into a stronger and more efficient agency. in fact, the whole federal government has gotten smarter at preventing and recovering from disasters. and serving as a better partner to local and state governments. and as i'll talk about next week when i visit alaska, making our communities more resilient is going to be increasingly important. because we are going to see more extreme weather events as a result of climate change. deadlier wildfires, stronger storms. that is why in addition to things like new and better levees, we have also been investing in restoring natural systems that are just as critical for

today a fema official visiting sandy victims finally acknowledged those frustrations are justified. >> we all, as a community, deserve more than the way we have been treated. >> reporter: marie ba seal pulled no punches as she opened her door to the new head of fema's flood insurance program and long island congresswoman kathleen rice. the family just returned to their sandy-damaged home last week. nearly three years after the storm. it took so long, she says, because fema underpaid her storm damage claim. >> we should have got this right the first time. and in too many instances, we did not. >> reporter: fema's roy wright issued an apology on his fourth visit to where 500 families have yet to return home. he's now urging sandy victims to reopen their flood claims. so fema can determine if they were indeed underpaid. 144,000 homeowners in new york and new jersey are eligible, but so far, only about 12,000 have applied. >> i really want to move on with my life. >> reporter: linda al per won't reopen her claim in part she says because of a lack of trust in fema that isn't unique in long

. -- directly by fema. reporter: where did all these trailers come from? jim: they were purchased by fema. there were some contracts prior to the hurricane season. they could have come from anywhere. a majority came from indian appeared -- indiana. some of them were bought directly off of travel trailer lots. reporter: do know how much these go for? jim: there are about $10,000 apiece and that doesn't include the site preparation, the utilities, the hauling and the setup. that adds to the cost per unit. reporter: how did you pick this area? jim: we sent out strike teams to identify potential areas to put group sites. these strike teams came back with recommendations. they approached the owners of the land. then we went through a process with the city and city council to get those sites approved. and then we went through contracting and got the sites least. our contractors came in and built them. it is not a turnkey operation. there are a lot of steps to that. we are still finding those steps sometimes cumbe

fema,stion to you is, to why can fema no longer help you if you have received a loan. you end up getting into more date -- debt. that is the first time that i have heard that one. so you got a loan and that has triggered -- tothey up moved us up $98,000. and i said that my flood insurance was supposed to cover $70,000. the more money i get, the less the loan is and it does not benefit me. i have no money to survive. >> let me see if we can get an answer from fema. >> we will have someone talk to you one on one. there must be some misunderstanding because just loanse you have had your approved, does not mean that fema automatically cuts you off from our temporary housing in. program.ary housing to make the statement that we realize that your loan has been approved, but you still need to do the work to repair the house and you still need a place to stay. if you have been receiving the --tal assistance from fema and we will clear that up. as long as you have taken that money and used it to rent a -- yes, you still can receive housing assistance from fema until you get tha

reporter: why is the fema trailer outside? >> fema came before the house was finished. the trailer was there when we got home. the trailer got here a couple of days before the house was finished and we could move in. sue: she can't live in it. or open it up. there are seven contractors at a minimum to place a trailer. i had a trailer as well. some of these things make sense. there is somebody who comes in and inspects the site. then some he comes in and make sure that the electrical stuff is there. then they deliver the trailer. then someone else comes by. another sub sub contractor to inspect the trailer now that it is there. then someone else comes by to do something else, hook up the plumbing. >> yeah. sue: then it is all set up and ready to go. then another contractor comes and yet you keys and makes you sign things. >> right. it's been there a couple of weeks. sue: and it costs about $55,000 from what i read in "the times" for the process of a temporary trailer. that includes having to pick it up. whereas for $40,000, you can get people home and comfortable and fam

with some obligations from fema. and those are being removed and as ged and scrapped they're picked up. >> you know about when this was completed? >> i think their target date was 1 june, hurricane season. i think they met it. i think they actually were finished in the middle of may. it's the corps -- if the corps of engineers was here, they'd tell you it was built to a different design than the wall that was here before. >> the way we see this ninth ward, you know, it's not really for us to say should it be rebuilt or not rebuilt. i think it's reasonable to ask that we have a flood protection system that's, you know, going to work. when you see this, just a few blocks up the road, there's holy cross, with all that vacant housing, you would think, well, first things first. maybe get people to higher ground because that house cannot be rebuilt. it's not possible. and you can still smell that death smell. you'll notice it later when somebody tells you smell bad because you wind up smelling bad after being down here. th

reporter: why is the fema trailer outside? >> fema came before the house was finished. the trailer was there when we got home. the trailer got here a couple of days before the house was finished and we could move in. sue: she can't live in it. or open it up. at a are seven contractors minimum to place a trailer. i had a trailer as well. some of these things make sense. there is somebody who comes in and inspects the site. then some he comes in and make sure that the electrical stuff is there. then they deliver the trailer. then someone else comes by. another sub sub contractor to inspect the trailer now that it is there. then someone else comes by to do something else, hook up the plumbing. >> yeah. sue: then it is all set up and ready to go. then another contractor comes and yet you keys and makes you sign things. >> right. it's been there a couple of weeks. costs about $55,000 from what i read in "the times" for the process of a temporary trailer. that includes having to pick it up. whereas for $40,000, you can get people home and comfortable and familiar surroundings

that is not fema dollars. i know of no community that did not have a housing issue before the disaster that got better just because you had a hurricane or earthquake. we do not deal with the job situation, the unemployment the tuition in education -- the unemployment situation, and education. ours is like the initial response to give somebody some help, give them a place to live, give them some initial assistance. carter has never built fema to make people whole. the poor get the most help from fema because they do not qualify for loans and do not have insurance. poverty is one of the single biggest factors of impact in disasters of not being able to recover. the other thing we had was a middle-class that were middle-class because of the homeownership. when they lost their homes they were no longer middle-class. if you got the wealth, you can weather disasters better than the poor. that is just a fact of life, because the way our programs are designed at fema, we do not exist to pre-existing conditions and we

and fema did help. but there's been great disappointments as well. it's now two and a half years later and there were evidence of fraud that came out where engineering companies were mismarking reports so fema could get out of paying the claims. fema knew about that in august of 2013 and it came to light just in the last few months during a "60 minutes" interview of one of their senior staff. that to me is atrocious. and there's been from my perspective there's been not enough accountability. and for that reason i called for the director's resignation over a period of months because i felt like they had really dropped the ball. i feel like they did a terrible job of helping my constituents understand the programs they were eligible for. and in some cases i'll give an example the small business administration was making loans to individuals, normally they support business. they were helping individuals. and they were aggressively offering them, but they never told the people that if they took those they would be ineligible for r.e.m. grants, which is

fema and homeland security failed us. we did not get quality information in a timely manner, we were just a city destroyed and we were left to twist in the twilight zone. no one cared except those around us in the same situation. we had to depend on each other. my decision was difficult, but i had to leave my home of 53 years and my grandchildren had to go too. i have six children and that is six households that had to leave new orleans. we returned to new orleans and i thought we would maybe get the idea to stay. but that didn't happen. nothing happened to change our mind. like i said when i arrived at 4:30, i was locked out and by 7:30 that night my daughter was locked up. we explained, what we were doing but like always, the police didn't listen. you know, i had to leave my daughter in jail in new orleans. i had to leave her in jail. because i had to return the u.s.-haul truck and i just secured a job in texas and i don't want to lose that. i love my city, you know, i feel my presence and the presence of my family and

mark: why do you say fema is a joke? because iis a joke thought they were supposed to help people, and they are not. instance, it's almost a year and i'm still waiting for a place to live. i have a five year old. i'm still waiting on a place to live with her. if you can't have faith in your arernment, the people who supposed to be there for you, who can you trust? it took them forever to get here and help people. when they come here, they had guns in children paul spaces. it's disgusting. i have no faith in the federal government. -- they had guns in children's faces. it's disgusting. i have no faith in the federal government. the churches have been wonderful. thank you, texas -- people and welcoming. we are evacuated to florida. we knew that it wasn't going to be good. i was in a restaurant and they had a tv and they have the street that is two streets over. street sign high a is. all you could see was the street sign, and that's the moment i knew i did not have a home anymore. i had my daughter there. at?do get mad you

. >> well, because fema admitted they screwed people. plain and simple. >> it's not just fema. on the day we were there, building inspectors tagged systems not up to code. >> that happened within the last hour. imagine that, over 1,000 days. >> that's tough. >> yeah. >> so they knocked that house down. >> mangino surrounded by homes being rebuilt said fema needs to streamline processes so those due insurance money and other help can get it simply and quickly. >> lisa stark, al jazeera, stafford township, in general. >> minor sinclair is oxfam's regional directo and of the gulf coast emergency program and jonathan betz is live for us. he was working there as a reporter 10 years ago when katrina struck. so jonathan, i will start with you 10 years later. better or worse or work in progress? >> reporter: i would say better and also work in progress, del. new orleans has come a very long way, especially when you look at where the city stood 10 years ago tonight 80% of the city was under water, hundreds dead, thousands of homes lost. to see how it stands now is really stunning. it's

yesterday the man in charge of fema's program met with homeowners. and we have the story from long beach. >> we all as a community deserve more than the way we've been treated. >> reporter: marie pulled no punches as he opened her door to fema and the family just returned to their sandy-damaged home last week. nearly three years after the storm. it took so long, basil says because fema underpaid her storm damage claim. >> we should have got this right the first time and too many instances we did not. >> reporter: he issued an apology to a city where up to 500 sandy families have yet to return home. he's now urging sandy victims to reopen their flood claims so fema can determine if they were indeed underpaid. 144,000 homeowners in new york and new jersey are eligible. but so far, only about 12,000 have applied. >> i really want to move on with my life. >> reporter: linda won't reopen her claim, in part she says, because of a lack in trust in fema that isn't unique in long beach. >> the feeling is if i resubmit, they'll deny me and if they do give me s

fema put maps together. we are putting that together so we can work with floodplain managers and city manager is to make decisions that affect people in communities and try to plan the community around what can happen. the biggest thing is to anticipate what could happen and make smart decisions on what people can do to absorb that. balance that. to the story is still being told. there is no lack or white answer on what to do with changing climate. but we are doing a lot of engineering analyses and working with colleagues and other scientists to project what future conditions could be. people need to be able to decide where they want to live and accept the risk that goes with it. mike is calling from baltimore but originally from new orleans. when did you leave? guest: -- caller: my name is john connor. the president said, is a melting pot. i agree with that. but america has to understand it is a melting pot of richness. all different flavors. that should not be watered down or replaced with a starbucks. bec

>> yeah. >> reporter: unlike katrina fema was ready for sandy. the agency put people and places in service early. >> we're moving. hurricanes you can see coming. we have people deployed into the states, moving resources based on the likelihood of impact. >> frank fugate has run fema for six years, a different resume than the man in charge during katrina. michael brown, an attorney who had been with an arabian horse association. president bush praised him. but within ten days, brown resigned. seattle's eric haldeman says the man at the top of fema makes a huge difference. >> you can't overestimate having someone come in who's not a political hack, not just an appointee that doesn't know anything about disasters but someone who comes with a vision and a mission, for how the federal government can best support state and local jurisdictions, before, during and after disasters. >> reporter: there's widespread agreement that fema is on the ball these days when it comes to preparing for and responding to a disaster. but the agency's role doesn't end whe

we've revamped fema, and i just have to say, by the way, there's a man named craig fugate who runs fema and has been doing extraordinary work, and his team all across the country, every time there's a disaster. i love me some craig fugate. although it's a little disturbing, you know, he gets excited when there are disasters, because he gets restless if everything is just quiet. but we under -- under his leadership, we've revamped fema into a stronger, more efficient agency. in fact the whole federal government has gotten smarter at preventing and recovering from disasters. we have data that shows before the storm, the high school graduation rate was 54%. today it's up to 73%. [ applause ] before the storm, college enrollment was 37%. today it's almost 60%. we still have a long way to go, but that is real progress. new orleans is coming back better and stronger. >> new orleans is coming back better and stronger, the president says. but he also went out of his way to say basically it's coming back up evenly too. joining us now is mark morial. he's president and ceo of the national urban l

we need y'all to take fema, fema mom and daddy, red cross, and

fema's not a first responder, i don't have cops and firefighters. i would estimate we had 60% of the city under water. even some areas where the water was as high as the rooftops you're now starting to see part of the building. >> search and res chi operations continue today in the city's ninth ward, one of the areas with the hardest flooding. many of the hold-outs are the elderly. >> it is almost a crime that you can have a storm of this size barrelling toward a major american city and not evacuate a senior citizen center. >> one of the things people want us to do here is to play a blame game. what i'm interested is helping save lives. that's what i want to do. >> we drove up and down that coast for days. we went to one town one day, another town the next day and they'd say have you been to waveland yet? >> the town of waveland no longer exists. hundreds and hundreds of homes are gone. >> the affected area covers 90,000 square miles. >> home after home after home, nothing but mounds, piles of debris. but that debris is actually someone's life, some

my question is to fema, why once you are approved for a loan, fema can no longer help. they went -- you are in more debt than you are already in. and we don't have anything else to do for you. c. ray nagin: that is the first time i've heard that. so you got alone and that triggered that? >> exactly. they approved as for $98,000. i told them the flood insurance was supposed to cover $70,000. the more money i get, the less the loan is, and it is not benefiting me. the loan is supposed to be for rebuilding. how do i survive? c. ray nagin: let's see we can get an answer from fema. greg: we will have candy talk to you one-on-one. there must be a misunderstanding. just because you have your loan approved, does not mean that fema cut you off from temporary housing. i called, my husband called, they told us both the same thing. we will have candy talk to you -- greg: we will have candy talk to you. we want to make a statement, we realize your loan has been approved, you still have to do the work to repair the house and you need a place to stay. if you have been receiving rental

fema's not a first responder, i don't have cops and firefighters. i would estimate we had 60% of the city under water. even some areas where the water was as high as the rooftops you're now starting to see part of the building. >> search and res chi operations continue today in the city's ninth ward, one of the areas with the hardest flooding. many of the hold-outs are the elderly. >> it is almost a crime that you can have a storm of this size barrelling toward a major american city and not evacuate a senior citizen center. >> one of the things people want us to do here is to play a blame game. what i'm interested is helping save lives. that's what i want to do. >> we drove up and down that coast for days. we went to one town one day, another town the next day and they'd say have you been to waveland yet? >> the town of waveland no longer exists. hundreds and hundreds of homes are gone. >> the affected area covers 90,000 square miles. >> home after home after home, nothing but mounds, piles of debris. but that debris is actually someone's life, some

fema's not a first responder, i don't have cops and firefighters. i would estimate we had 60% of the city under water. even some areas where the water was as high as the rooftops you're now starting to see part of the building. >> search and res chi operations continue today in the city's ninth ward, one of the areas with the hardest flooding. many of the hold-outs are the elderly. >> it is almost a crime that you can have a storm of this size barrelling toward a major american city and not evacuate a senior citizen center. >> one of the things people want us to do here is to play a blame game. what i'm interested is helping save lives. that's what i want to do. >> we drove up and down that coast for days. we went to one town one day, another town the next day and they'd say have you been to waveland yet? >> the town of waveland no longer exists. hundreds and hundreds of homes are gone. >> the affected area covers 90,000 square miles. >> home after home after home, nothing but mounds, piles of debris. but that debris is actually someone's life, some

. >> fema has never contacted me. mayor nagin: let me get, if you come aside, let's get your information and we will advocate on your behalf. >> good evening. i was in one of the ignored part of the city -- new orleans east. it costs us a lot to live. i want to know how long do you think we can all hold on paying these enormous housing notes and live elsewhere also? mayor nagin: it is my understanding that most of the ortgage companies have given everyone kind of a reprieve from paying their mortgages. that is going to end at some point. i'm not sure the exact eight it will end, i the 90 or 120 days from that particular point in time. after that, it is my understanding you have to start paying your house bills, and hopefully by then you will have some type of support either from the federal government, or a decent job that can cover those costs. hat is the best information we have to date. >> also, i understand you signed a proclamation, why are they not being put in? mayor nagin: we can help you with that. hey are su

that is where fema ruined it for us too. even in mississippi, we did not see any relief up until three days. governor barbour had actually told them, if you do not send medical supplies, water, and ice to these people, you might as well send body bags. that really was the truth, even here. i remember, we had a forest county sheriff's department, and we have a base here. camp shelby. he actually went and stole 218 wheelers of ice and water to deliver to the people of hattiesburg. -- stole 2 18 wheelers of ice and water to deliver to the people of hattiesburg. it was filled with ice and water and they were just sitting there. they were not giving it. he went to that base and he stole those 18 wheelers. i remember getting ice from those 18 wheelers. i just wanted to give you some stories were places that you probably have not even heard that we were majorly affected, too. i really think the governor barbour stepped up and he told them. it is ice or body bags. please help my people. we were. thank goodness. in st. louis, and it

. >> they're not fema trailers? >> well, we're hoping to get reimbursed from fema but we brought them in. >> okay. >> when you begin to compare costs in terms of what it took us to bring it in, for about $20,000 a unit we've been able to pretty much them and set them up. you do your comparisonses what happened through the other sector. put it that way. but anyway, so we purchased a total of 100 -- 107 trailers. i have them at four different sites but when you walk across the street here, you will see 42 of them set up for our teachers and staff members. that was only way, especially back in november, i could get a staff at the school to teach the children because there was no place to live. anyway, you see that little trailer community adjacent or in the parking lot of one of our elementary schools. if you go further behind it into that subdivision, you're going to see complete and utter devastation. you will see very few people actually living there. gutted homes. some not gutted as of yet. some totally destroyed.

fema's not a first responder, i don't have cops and firefighters. i would estimate we had 60% of the city under water. even some areas where the water was as high as the rooftops you're now starting to see part of the building. >> search and res chi operations continue today in the city's ninth ward, one of the areas with the hardest flooding. many of the hold-outs are the elderly. >> it is almost a crime that you can have a storm of this size barrelling toward a major american city and not evacuate a senior citizen center. >> one of the things people want us to do here is to play a blame game. what i'm interested is helping save lives. that's what i want to do. >> we drove up and down that coast for days. we went to one town one day, another town the next day and they'd say have you been to waveland yet? >> the town of waveland no longer exists. hundreds and hundreds of homes are gone. >> the affected area covers 90,000 square miles. >> home after home after home, nothing but mounds, piles of debris. but that debris is actually someone's life, some

the fema trailer came a week before the house was finished. [inaudible] the trailer got here a couple days before the house was finished to move into. >> you can't live in it or open it up. the seven contract errors at a minimum to place a trailer. i had a trailer as well. some of these things make sense. somebody comes and come inspect the site. that makes sense. somebody comes in and make sure all the electrical stuff is there. then they deliver the trailer. then someone else comes by, and other contractor to inspect the trailer now that it is they are. and then someone else comes by to do something else and hook up the plumbing and it is all set up and ready to go and another separate contract or calms and gives you the keys and makes you sign things. >> it's been there a couple weeks. >> it cost about $55,000 from one i've read in the times for the process of a temporary trailer. that includes having to pick it up for a 40,000 you can get people home and familiar, comfortable surroundings. >> is this a fema trailer park? [inaudible] >> in

fema asked h.u.d. to use its infrastructure and agencies to take over the rental assistance responsibilities for these families. the disaster housing assistance program was funded by fema and h.u.d. coordinated the work with the public housing authority. from august 2000 72 november of 2009, h.u.d. provided assistance to over 32,000 households. 306 public housing authorities in 49 states participated. in addition to providing housing, h.u.d.'s partners also provided case management assistance. the average income of participants was $18,500. the transition for some was fairly easy. for others, it was quite difficult. this difficulty lead to more than half of the participants eventually to transition from the fema-funded dental assistance to h.u.d. rental assistance, primarily vouchers. in 2010, 50 5% of the participating families were receiving h.u.d. rental assistance. we looked at this for 2015. only 35% of those folks are still receiving rental assistance from h.u.d., so they have been gradually tran

fema did help. but there has been great disappointment as well. it is 2.5 years later and there was evidence of fraud that came out where engineering companies were mismarking reports so fema could get out of paying the claims. fema knew about that in 2013 and -- in august 2013 and came to light a couple of months ago. that is atrocious. there has been, from my perspective, not enough accountability. for that reason, i called for the director's resignation because i felt they had really dropped the ball. i feel like they did a terrible job of helping my constituents understand the programs they were eligible for. in some cases, small business administration was making loans to individuals and normally they support businesses. they were supporting individuals and they were aggressively offering them but never told the people if they would be ineligible for grants, the main kind of grants that allow people to rehabilitate and lifted their homes. i got thousands of people now who are ineligible for the grants they need. in fact, i have proposed legis

ray nagin: reverend, if you could, let's get fema to help you. if you could come on the side. you are a little fired up right now. i trust, he is a reverend. it will be all right. >> next question please. >> good evening >> --, i am not a reverend, but i am fired up because you said all of the debris hauling is going out to people from new york, chicago, california. anytime a man bring a truck from that far, you know there is money involved. we as local people did not get any of that. it is a doggone shame that a man lives in the city of new orleans, house is paid for, we don't get nothing. that is a shame. c. ray nagin: i agree. i will get you with don hutchinson and see if we can help. >> another thing i want to say, all of the contracts in november, they went out to the politicians friends, cousins, state representatives, city council people. that is not right. [applause] at a labor rally in baton rouge, she asked me to have a truck that loads from the rear, if i had the contract, i could've had that truck, it did not matter. we need the contracts. it is not right. you are

fema asked h.u.d. to use its infrastructure and agencies to take over the rental assistance responsibilities for these families. the disaster housing assistance program was funded by fema and h.u.d. coordinated the work with the public housing authority. from august 2000 72 november of 2009, h.u.d. provided assistance to over 32,000 households. 306 public housing authorities in 49 states participated. in addition to providing housing, h.u.d.'s partners also provided case management assistance. the average income of participants was $18,500. the transition for some was fairly easy. for others, it was quite difficult. this difficulty lead to more than half of the participants eventually to transition from the fema-funded dental assistance to h.u.d. rental assistance, primarily vouchers. in 2010, 55% of the participating families were receiving h.u.d. rental assistance. we looked at this for 2015. only 35% of those folks are still receiving rental assistance from h.u.d., so they have been gradually transi