FEMA official touts ships as temp housing
Perception may be drawback to cruise shelter
By JIM WAYMER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Published by news-press.com on March 27, 2005
NEW ORLEANS — Instead of a trailer or a gym floor, your next temporary hurricane housing might be aboard a cruise ship.
"We didn't use them last time, but they are a viable option," said Brad Gair, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's deputy federal coordinating officer for recovery. "They can be fast. They can be affordable. I would urge everyone to consider it."
Gair made his suggestion to about 1,000 people attending the last day of the 27th annual National Hurricane Conference.
The major drawback, he said, is public perception. In other words: who gets to stay on the ship or in a trailer.
"We'd be thinking probably the elderly," Gair said afterward. "I think we're all concerned with the media perception. How's it all going to play out? (But) otherwise people are sleeping on gym floors."
The luxury areas of the ship likely would be closed off, he said.
The cost of about $100 per family per day, including meals, he said, could be cheaper than the $1-2 million cost for FEMA to set up large emergency temporary trailer parks after hurricanes.
Bob Lay, Brevard County's emergency management director who also was at the conference, said cruise ships could be used at Port Canaveral.
But, he said, the state and federal government should pay, not the county.
"The viability of cruise ships has always been kicked around," Lay said.
Entry into the port also was blocked by sand by the 2004 hurricanes, he said, so the ships might not be able to get back. They are not allowed to stay in port during the storms.
Super Bowl fans stayed on cruise ships when the local motels couldn't accommodate them in Jacksonville.
The federal government may spend as much as $20,000 per emergency housing trailer.
"Some of these can be very expensive," Gair said.
