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Thursday, September 08, 2005

Red Cross Doesn't Expect Many More Evacuees in Albuquerque

By Melanie Dabovich/
Associated Press
      Gov. Bill Richardson said New Mexico might only get 500 refugees from Hurricane Katrina. Red Cross officials, meanwhile, said they don't expect many more refugees and plan to shut down the city's emergency shelter by the weekend.
    On Wednesday, Richardson said federal Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told him New Mexico might get as many as 500 refugees from the hurricane. Initially, the state had been told to prepare for as many as 6,000.
    "I let him know that there was a true outpouring of support and that we were prepared to receive the full 6,000,'' Richardson said at a news conference. "The situation remains fluid, so I want all the communities who have offered additional shelter to stand by until we know more.''
    The 50 or so evacuees who spent the night Tuesday at the convention center should be placed in New Mexico homes by Friday, said American Red Cross spokeswoman Kathy Komall. That would mean the elaborate evacuation operation at the convention center could be broken down by the weekend.
    "We're assuming no large number of evacuees (before then),'' she said. "But we are prepared to accommodate up to 1,000 if need be.''
    The governor also said 31 state correctional officers have been dispatched to Louisiana.
    Richardson said Chertoff assured him New Mexico will receive federal aid to cover the cost of services to refugees. Later Wednesday, President Bush issued an emergency declaration, making federal funding available to New Mexico for hurricane relief.
    Tim Manning, director of the state Office of Homeland Security, said the federal funding will provide full reimbursement up to a cap of about $5 million to cover housing and overtime pay for law enforcement and state employees beginning on Aug. 29.
    Also on Wednesday at the convention center, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish presented more than $20,000 in donations from state employees and citizens to Melody Wattenbarger of Roadrunner Food Bank.
    "Some people gave $10, one person gave $1,000, but they all gave from the heart,'' Denish said.
    Wattenbarger said the funds will be used to transport millions of pounds of food to the devastated region. The food bank and its national partner, America's Second Harvest, have sent 232 trucks filled with over 7.7 million pounds of food and water.
    "Our response (to hurricane relief) is a long-term, ongoing response for many, many months,'' Wattenbarger said. "But we are also responding to the needs of New Mexicans every day. We feed 54,000 hungry New Mexicans every week.''
    On Sunday, 93 evacuees showed up and volunteers began gearing up to accept as many as 1,000 at the convention center. Large numbers of refugees have yet to turn up.
    Genevieve Reyes, 61, arrived at the center by car Wednesday with her daughter and her daughter's fiance from Canton, Texas, where they had evacuated during the hurricane that flooded their home in New Orleans.
    Reyes moved from Albuquerque to New Orleans six years ago. She has received money and clothes from family here, and is temporarily living in a vacant apartment her elderly father owns.
    "I'm on my last $83 from my past paycheck,'' said Reyes, who arrived with three suitcases and three cats. "You learn to surrender your material things. All of my daughter's art work as a little girl, photos, it's all gone. You feel like you've died and you just don't know it.''
    At the center, Reyes and her family were trying to find new jobs and gather knowledge on how to rebuild their lives.
    "Look how beautiful the angels come. We're back (in Albuquerque) and are being received with open arms and love,'' Reyes said.