Please be patient, you who are awaiting trailers from FEMA. I live in Ohio. Every day hundreds of RV's manufactured in our neighboring state of Indiana pass through our farm on a major rail line here on their way to hurricane victims in the south. At the rate they are being manufactured and shipped, you should soon get yours. Really, it is an impressive sight, knowing that these units are speeding toward someone in dire need of a temporary home. Folks, FEMA bashing is not going to help the situation; it takes time to get the job done! Be nice!

When are we going to start talking about personal responsibility?????? These people had a home right, was it insured? If not why? Why are they camping out waiting on the feds and waiting on my tax dollars to pay for their living expenses. When we were flooded three years ago, we salvaged what we could, found temporary living quatters and rebuilt with no handouts from Uncle Sam. I'm tired of folks waiting for handouts.

These folks, and others like them in Lakeshore, had their home totally submerged in 20 to 30 feet of rapidly rising water. I've been in that house. 50 years ago, it would have been raised, levelled, and rebuilt. With todays new codes, policies and regulations, it will be demolished. It is an old frame "farm" house, just like ours, next to the Tustins, where Dale and his family "evacuated". They must stay on the property to receive their promised trailer. If they are not there when it arrives, it goes to someone else. There will be no coordination between the deliverer and the deliveree. Dale Jr. and Clint (the boys) are back in school, and Dale Sr. is working. They have resumed their lives, albeit in tents. And, it's getting colder.......40 degrees last night. And, once the rains start, tents will be even more miserable.

Oh my.....I don't like to camp; I cannot fathom living in a tent for five weeks and no end in sight. I would have lost what's left of my marbels by now! I wish we could get things moving for them!

To Patty, yes, my home was destoyed and insured and I am still waiting on the adjuster as are most of the other 350,000 people who have been affected by Katrina. Once that process is complete, I will have to wait for a building permit to begine rebuilding but I cannot do that until my little city of Waveland rebuilds (not repair because there is nothing left) our water, gas, and sewer lines; then, hopefully, I will be able to find a contractor who will be able to find supplies to rebuild my home. I am one of the fortunate few that was able to find temporary living quarters immediately after the storm 20 miles north of where I lived in Waveland; but no city, small or large in this country has that much housing available to such a large group of people all at one time. There are no places for these people to live except in a tent or trailer on their property. Most like myself lost their automobile as well and have no transportation. Obviously, you do not understand the devestation that happened here in Hanock County, MS and nobody does until they come here and personally witness the unknown and despair that you see in everyone's eyes. Oh and Patty, don't forget, we,the hurricane survivors were and still are taxpayers and are not waiting on handouts. We are waiting to get our life back.

let's be realistic, most people live paycheck to paycheck, many had no funds to evacuate, many could not afford insurance. They should not have to move to an unknown city, we all like to stay where we grew up, have friends, and family. These people have lost MOST of their belongings, they lost friends and relatives, lost their jobs. I can not imagine the strength it requires to make a comeback from something like this. It is heart breaking to see the expression on these people's faces. And the government? they respond faster to disasters half way across the world than on their own back yard. They were definately not prepared for this and it is a shame. Roads were blocked?? how about dropping food and water from a helicopter?? And this is the country that brags about capability, quick response, organization, etc. !?!? Oh, let's not forget. Why were the levis not upgraded???? This country should stop worrying so much about the rest of the world and pay a little more attention to the needs of their own.

To Rose: WELL SAID!

To Patty: Until you can see with your own eyes what has happened here on the Gulf Coast, please keep your insensitive comments to yourself. I guarantee that if you were to see it, you'd have a totally different outlook!

For those of you who want to know about personal responsibility....I live in Waveland, MS. I have a home. My home is insured with one of the largest insurance companies in the country. About one third of the roof of my home was blown off. My ceilings caved in. My home flooded with about 2 feet or so of water (salt and sewer water), and my home is one of the lesser damaged. My adjuster came out to my home 6 weeks ago, and I have YET to hear anything from my insurance company. This is after many, many calls to them. I have not received a dime for additional living expenses from them. I have the "Deluxe Homeowners Insurance" policy WITH an additional Hurricane Policy. Please tell me where I lacked in personal responsibility. I am not the exception. I find this is the case with most everyone I speak to here. The only reason my family and I are not living in a tent at the moment is because my husband works for one of the big, bad oil companies, and they have continued to pay him, and he still has a job. We bought our own travel trailer, and we are camping in the yard in that. We will do what we have to do to survive this. We will get through it. The people in this community are strong, resilient people who do not stand around and wait for handouts. There has been tremendous progress, but it is slow because the devastation is so widespread. My phone service was just restored two days ago. We had no phone for almost two months. Our schools are still not open. We have school in tents. Thankfully, Walmart has opened a store in a tent. We can at least get milk and a few essentials now. Thanks go out to all that have helped and offered prayers. We will make it, we will be fine, and it will be because we take responsibility for ourselves. We will get back on our feet. Some of us just need a hand to grab on to so we can pull ourselves up.

ATTENTION! For those of you who need new/nearly new clothing(all sizes)adult, kids,babies, canned food, water, personal hygiene items, toys for the kids, blankets,shoes, daily needs items...please contact Susan McShayne at susanmcshayne@yahoo.com with addresses. We have a semi ready to get to you. Every single thing has been hand sorted and lovingly packed with clear contents written on all boxes,4 sides. The clothes are great and I would not only wear them but would desire them. Many new baby/teen clothes. Our county is rather small and depressed but the hearts and give is huge! We want to help!

What is up with all the complaints and bashing against these people? (Not just this family - all the different articles.) That area was devestated. The jobs they HAD were blown away. If we can dump ~$5B/mo in IRAQ, then we should be able to help out our fellow citizens. Hey Emily - Read the article. They DID evacuate and were smart enough to take their camping gear. The only benefit to evacuating is "not getting killed" by the storm. Evacuation does not prevent your property from being destroyed. Hey Robert (WA) - where should they move to? The next state? Their "campsite" is their property, and is probably the only asset they have left. Hey Dale (TX) - commercials do not depict reality. Insurance companies do not solve problems overnight. Even if they had the insurance $, they can't get a building permit until the new building codes are approved. Then, where is the material coming from? And if they had all that, it still takes weeks to build house, not the 7 day shown on Extreme Makeover - Home Edition.

Having worked with FEMA during recent floods here in Southern Nevada let me say they are useless. Disolve the agency and est. a agency operated by the military, only they can mobilize quickly. I grew up on the coast and we have lost a home to a hurricane. Those who have not have no idea what this fine family is going thru. I am so proud to be from Miss.no matter what, you always have manners,what a embarracement New Orleans has been.May God bless you and keep you all safe and return what you lost tenfold.

to bill and every person who is insensitive!
i live in post st lucie florida and went through 2 hurricane last year I cannot even imagine what life is like for those people when it was hell for me with just the little i went through.I had 2 jobs which went away after the hurricane and paid taxes and had insurance but the insurance company went belly up; surprising it was run by the state. i prepared for the hurricanes and stayed because i have 4 dogs, i am not married. i probably paid more in taxes than you did and i expect that since i have been paying taxes for 40 some years that i am entitled to some benefits being an american. but to say that they wait for a check every month is disgraceful. walk a day in their moccasins and see what life is really like. i know how bad fema was last year and how gw bush came down for a photo shoot but accomplished nothing but to create a traffic jam on the way to trying to get ice and water for myself i am still waiting over a year for insurance. so tell me how i handle that!
lynne from psl

Please, don't misunderstand me. I do believe that more could be done to help ALL of the victims of the Hurricanes (Not just Katrina, but Rita, and Wilma also!) We were hit here in Southeast Texas by Rita, FEMA didn't help us much, Red Cross didn't help us much. But I cannot for the life of me figure out why some are saying that George Bush is the cause of all of this! The Mayor of New Orleans sat on his rear while his city flooded! There were hundreds of buses that were at his disposal and he never lifed a finger to get people to safty in them. The governor of LA is just as responsible. There is a chain of command, and they dropped the ball and expected the Federal Government to pick it up and bounce it down the court and make a basket! It just don't happen that way! I remember back when there was a time that we took PERSONAL responsiblity FIRST, government came last.

Yes, I think FEMA is doing a terrible job and Red Cross are crooks and liers (I have seen this first hand!) But I know that even though me and my husband and son are living in a small travel trailer (private, not from FEMA!) we are going to make it. Someday we will have a home and things will be back to normal, but WE are the ones that are going to make it happen..............nothing good comes from blaming others! And George Bush is only one man and can only do so much, please stop bashing him for everything from Global warming to sending the hurricanes to the South! Good grief, life happens to everyone! It is just up to US to make that life happy or sad! I choose to have a happy life and make the best of what I have!

These are working, tax paying citizens who were affected by the hurricane! How dare anyone accuse them of sitting on their butts waiting for a handout. If they have paid taxes all their lives, they deserve to get a little governmental help in an emergency. That is what government is for. To build roads, infrastructure and help people in dire need. For the past 5 years under Republican rule, the safety net has been pulled out from under us and now that we need it, it isn't there. The levies weren't reinforced and FEMA is run by a horse racer. The money is going to Iraq to fight a war sold to us under false pretenses (there were no weapons of mass destruction) and the National Guard was there instead of here when we needed them. We are reaping the results of 5 years under the Bush administration. I hope we will consider this next voting season.

For those of you who are making the comments concerning do it yourself, don't rely on the government, move and get a job, they could have gone to a shelter.......I have one suggestion get out of your lazy boy recliner and go to the gulf coast and see it for yourself! Besides that, they can't rebuild or start anything because FEMA has every building permit and contractor permit tight up in red tape. FEMA decides when and who rebuilds, if you start without their blessings, you will have to sign a waiver to never accept FEMA payments again. AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS.....THE SHELTERS ARE NOW CLOSED....THE PRESIDENT MANDATED A DATE THAT THE SHELTERS WOULD BE CLOSED AND BY GOD, THE RED CROSS MET HIS DATE....
And how do I know all of this.....my family has their insurance money and have their contractors sign-up, but FEMA will not release the permits.

There are hungery homeless people in downtown Houston that were kicked out of the shelters.

So, don't start writing about smaller government and people should help themselves.....in my mind you have nothing to say unless you have been down there and seen it for yourself. You can not understand until you have been there!

It's true, you cannot even begin to believe the devastation until you see it with your own eyes. My husband and I went down to help friends who were hit by Hurricane Rita and they were lucky -- they only had two trees that came down on their house -- many of their neighbors had 4, 5 or more that landed on their roofs. But their property was in shambles. When we drove in at dusk, we couldn't even find their home because of all the downed trees. It was like a highway tunnel with no lighting. It's obvious that FEMA is so bogged down in regulations that it's employees on the ground in the affected areas really can't do much. On Saturday afternoon we tried to get tarps to temporarily patch roofs in their neighborhood to avoid more damage. The FEMA response was that tarps would be distributed on Tuesday, even though we could clearly see a stockpile of tarps right behind the table where the FEMA representative was sitting. What a crock!

Because our friends are property owning, employed taxpayers who carry homeowners insurance, they were only entitled to ice, water and MREs from both FEMA and Red Cross. Nothing else. Not even an "I'm sorry, I wish I could help."

If not for the faith based operations and individual church groups that sent people, food, supplies and equipment like chain saws and generators, they could still be sitting in the dark with water coming through the roof of their home.

FEMA just doesn't cut it. And neither does the Red Cross. People caught in a crisis like these hurricanes don't need to be told to wait, call back later, etc. They need immediate assistance.

I have never been so disillusioned. BUT I did learn enough that we now have an emergency kit prepared, including extra copies of all personal ID and other important papers, in case we are ever caught in a situation like this.

We live 1 block off US Hwy 287, a major thoroughfare to the hurricane devastated area, and see convoys of electric company trucks, military personnel and other assistance going both ways every day. It is going to take a long, long time before these people are able to reclaim any semblance of a normal life.

For those citizens of the "United States of America" who think our neighbours are just looking for a hand-out, how would you feel if your residence was destroyed and everyone else who had their homes intact kept on telling you to "shut-up" and move-on? Do you really think it is so easy to start over in a strange city with no community nor family to back you up?
And since "we the people" care about President Bush enough to pay his rent and provide his family with food stamps, don't you think he should care enough to make sure that "we the people" who are in need are provided and cared for?
And where are the celebrities who were so outspoken about the whole situation? Have they forgotten their neighbors already?
There's enough blame to go around, but don't blame the people who lost everything because it could have happened to any one of us.

Sit back in your comfortable home tonight, throw all the stones you want to. One day it will be your time to sit and wonder, "why me". My house burned to the ground 2 years ago, we were rebuilding in an area that was not considered a high risk flood zone but yet there was 6 feet of water inside the structure. We were not required to have flood insurance included in the Builders Risk policy, our insurance agent said we did not need it! Don't throw any stones at those that have lost everything until you walk in our shoes.

i have several things to say. the first is to who said just move to another town. i am from waveland ms and all that is left is my tv. the only thing to survive and someone climbed over the two story high pile of peoples lives and smashed it to bits. i know it wouldnt ever work again but that was the only thing i had from my home. that was the only thing that said my home did exist. i have been forced to move to jackson. i hate it!!!!!! it is not home. the only reason i am in jackson is because i have about 20 homes on top of mine. i have no place to put a tent most people stay because they want to protect whats theirs. to the others who say get off your tail and help your self. i had a job at casino magic bsl. i am being laid off at the end of nov. along with that goes my health insurance. i am due to have back surgery soon and now i cant. this hinders what i can do. things cost money. money i wont have and by the way that small amount of government money goes real quick when you have to replace everything. by everything i mean pants shirts underware your bed appliances sheets everything that you need to enjoy your confortable life. as for insurance, i rented i didnt have insurance. even if i had renters insurance it wouldnt help me enough so im at the mercy of my great government. the last thing is that my boneheaded grandfather said to me that god is tring to send us a message down here. he wanted to wipe out the gambling. this was not in anyway an act of god. it was an act of nature. no specific target, no specific race or religions. katrina target us because of legalized gambling. hear is the beautiful thing. i went to our only bar thats open tonight i saw blacks whites openly gay couples people of every race rich and poor guess what everyone was getting along. we are all in the same situation. something good has come from this and good things will keep comming. lets not let the people who have nothing better to do but complain about the folks doing the best to make a life get to us. so what if we need a some help. we all need help every now and then. happy rebuilding and be safe

I would like to first start off saying that I can't imagine the devestation that your family is going thourgh. However, I can say that your family does seem very lucky to be getting HOW MANY TENTS? and the LARGEST TENT plus the other what 3 or 4 tents? you should be grateful for that! The most important thing you should be thankful for is to have your husband and two kids still alive and all of you are able to work thorough this together. There are people that lost family, they are living out on the streets! They would be thankful to get 1 tent. There are kids in other countries with not even a pair of shoes to wear, they cant see a doctor look down at your pretty pained toe nails! you have shoes on your feet, you have a roof over your head you even have an airbead, you have food, you have a family that can support each other and love each other! you have alot alot to be grateful for. There are more important things in the world to be worried and concerned about other than the bugs, or getting sunburned. however you say your family goes camping well theres bugs when you camp, and if you were on vacation you wouldnt mind getting sunburned either? Correct me if im wrong...... Then it really disturbs me. "miserable is one thing she refuses to be." Seems to me like thats all this story was written about, her definition of miserable.

For all the IGNORANT people out there saying we are waiting on handouts ... EXCUSE ME! We pay our taxes - this has been set up just for emergencies such as these! We give billions of dollars away a year to help other countries - and the same people dont sit there crying that it is wasting their tax dollars - WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM???? WE ALL PAY OUR TAXES DOWN HERE AND DESERVE THIS MORE THAN THE NON CITIZENS WE GIVE HAND OUTS TO EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

I am so tired of hearing this BS - you people need to get off your a**es and come live in our shoes for 1 month ... we CANT get building supplies here!! What once cost us $8000 to replace a roof is now costing us $15000 - you try rebuilding an ENTIRE house - 4 bdrm 3 ba - relacing every window, door, roof, trimming, countertops, cabinets, flooring - not to mention every piece of clothing for a family of 5 for the $12,000 the insurance company decides to pay! The insurance companies have stolen from us and no one is doing anything to stop it!

So get off your high horse and quit crying about the govt helping THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACTUALLY PAID TAXES IN THIS COUNTRY!

You whiners make me sick.

Jennifer from TN - easy for you to pass judgement on this family and all of us down here - are you sleeping in a tent? Are you sleeping on an airbed? I highly doubt it - come on down and do it for a month ... until you do - shut up and quit judging us down here!

This is the United States of America, for heaven's sake. Aren't we supposed to help each other? Or to at least feel for these people. I'm not in a tent, but in my house 90 miles away from the coast, but even where I live it was like nothing I'd ever been through. Worse than Camille. Bigger than Camille. Camille is, or was, the storm everyone here used to measure hurricanes. Now, it's Katrina. Please have compassion on these people on the gulf. They're doing the best they can. It helps them to write about it, to try to make sense of it. There's still tents, almost seven months later.

I live in Lake Charles, LA and was hit by Rita.My home was not destroyed, but it was damaged ans 9 months later is still under repairs...I have no kitchen. First, like so many others, I called my insurance co. a day or two after th hurricane...The finally showed up in November. I got paid, but not near what it cost me to make the repairs. Yep, single mom, blah, blah,blah. The insurance company gives me a little bit of money at a time, then I have an inspector come out and see what has been done, then I get a little more money. The cost of contractors is outrageous now. Of course you can get a non licensed person to work on your house, but you have no guarantees or recourse should the repairs be faulty. The contractors don't really have the time to deal with us small potatoe homeowners, and lte's not mention how the Entergy company is raping us with 4-500$ electric bills that used to be 100-150$. Gotta love them too!!! I have been to New Orleans several times, and into Mississippi. UNTIL YOU GO THERE, SIT IN YOUR EASY CHAIR AND SHUT YOUR MOUTHS. In Louisiana, (RITA) we lost Cameron Parish, Holly Beach, Grand Chenier, Johnson Bayou. EVERYTHING IS GONE EXCEPT THE COURTHOUSE. Can you even grasp that? Not one house standing. Not one school, church, cemetary in tact. COMPLETELY DESTROYED. Everything. The people cannot rebuild because of the stupid permits necessary, and there is no infrastructure...no water, electricity, sewer, and the people who lost everything should walk away??? Come on---bring your insensitive selves to Louisiana, eat some good Cajun food and help rebuild. This is an awful awful tragedy. UNTIL YOU LIVE IT DO NOT JUDGE. I did evacuate, I do pay taxes, I do have insurance, I did all the right things and I still can't get any assistance with the energy bills that are more than my house note. Oh, and from what I understand, the people in New Orleans whose homes were destroyed are receiving -levelized- Entergy bills, and are expected to pay them, even though there is no power running to the house.

You simply cannot imagine what an emotional roller coaster ride in hell this is...from evacuating, to coming back to find big trees on your house, to dealing with agencies that are lame and dont want to provide the services you have paid for to simply being raped by the bureaucracy. Anyway, Come on down to Louisiana and help rebuild. Drive through the ruined neighborhoods and hand out water and blankets--adopt one of the many animals left homeless, help haul trash. Did I mention, we are in hurricane season AGAIN???

If I have to move to another city will you take me, my kid, four cats and three dogs in and help us relocate??? FOR ALL THE SURVIVORS---GOD BLESS YOU- BE STRONG