U.S. DECLINES offer of 1,500 cuban doctors

Even if they were busses, who was going to drive them?

You do realize that it requires a license to do so.

If the mayor loads a bunch of people onto busses, and the drivers he puts in charge don't have licenses, who is responsible when one flips over on the highway and burns everyone to death?

"We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives. "

# Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

# The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

# The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

# The Red Cross shares the nation's anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

# The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

# The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

# As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.

As far as food from other countries, I don't know why the planes weren't allowed to land in the USA, but I think we had plenty of food here that wasn't getting distributed, so as far as priority of problems go, I think that one belongs further down the list.

Thanks, although - as said - this answer is different to the request from Bew Orleans and the US-ambassador: both asked last week for more.

I didn't mean to imply at all that the donations of food were not welcome. I think the generosity of other nations to our crisis is wonderful. All I meant to say was that in looking at the immediate reaction after the hurricane, the problem was in getting needed food, water, and law enforcement to the people that needed it. The food we had, plenty of it, wasn't able to be given to those in dire straights, apparently due to the actions of local government.

Ticomaya wrote:

I didn't mean to imply at all that the donations of food were not welcome. I think the generosity of other nations to our crisis is wonderful. All I meant to say was that in looking at the immediate reaction after the hurricane, the problem was in getting needed food, water, and law enforcement to the people that needed it. The food we had, plenty of it, wasn't able to be given to those in dire straights, apparently due to the actions of local government.

According to Red Cross spokesman Frederik Barkenhammar, the main reason for the reluctance to give is America's relative wealth. "The US isn't a developing country," he said.