Houston Response

[jeff]

R E L I AN T C E N T E R
J I C
Joint Information Center

Hurricane Katrina
Houston Response

September 5, 2005
3:00 P.M.

NEWS RELEASE

FORMER PRESIDENTS CREATE KATRINA FUND

(HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS) - Former Presidents George Bush (41) and Bill Clinton have announced creation of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will decide how to best use the funds collected in order to meet their state's individual needs.

Lee Scott, CEO of Walmart, announced that the Walmart Corporation and the Walton family foundation would donate a total of $23 million dollars to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Houston Astros owner Drayton McClane and Gallery Furniture's Jim "Mattress Mac" MacInvale will announce details of a local fundraising event in the near future.

The Former Presidents and Texas Governor Rick Perry toured the Reliant Center shelter and the Unified Command Post to visit with residents and officials heading up massive response effort.

On Day Four of the "Hurricane Katrina - Houston Relief Effort," the Unified Command announced a new "zoning plan" for what is now being called "Reliant City." With 30,400 total residents, the Reliant Park Complex is now the largest evacuation shelter in U.S. history consisting of four locations:

. Dome City now with 23,000 residents
. Center City now with 3,800 residents
. Arena City now with 2,300 residents
. George R. Brown City now with 1,300 residents

Plans are now underway to provide residents with typical neighborhood amenities such as a Welcome Center, Banking Center, Reliant Town Square Park, Reliant City Medical Center, a Transit Center with Metro Transit Authority and HISD school bus stops. The Reliant Town Square will include a playground, sports field and laundry facilities. The Salvation Army will construct several refreshment centers east of Dome City. Construction should be complete by this Friday, September 9, 2005.

All residents of Reliant City are being given special color-coded wristbands to identify their area of residence. Additionally, there will be new access rules including closing admission to the cities at 11:00 P.M.

According to the Harris County Department of Education, more than 4,000 school-aged children are expected to register on this Wednesday and Thursday for classes starting next Monday, September 12, 2005. This Friday, September 9, 2005, parents and children are invited to tour their new schools and meet their teachers and school staff. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) will provide transportation for the School Tours and daily travel for students to the 20 nearby schools in the District receiving Reliant City students.

One hundred-thousand square feet of empty warehouse space was converted into the Reliant City Medical Center with 70 patient treatment spaces open 24-hours a day. The Clinic is seeing an average of 1,400 patients per day, and have treated move than 5,100 patients in the four days of the Houston Relief Effort. Four days ago, doctors and nurses were treating patients at a rate of 150 per hour, now that rate has dropped to 40 - 50 patients per hour and only 5 per hour overnight. CVS has set up a full-service pharmacy that has dispensed between 10,000 - 12,000 prescriptions to date, or an average of about 3,000 prescriptions per day. More than 7,500 patients have received tetanus shots. Over the last four days, 76 children and 37 adults have been treated for gastro-intestinal illness (Diarrhea).

Representatives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are on site to assist residents and volunteers. More than 100 mental health clinicians and between 500 - 600 health care professionals have volunteered to assist residents.