Relief Efforts for Miami Area Called a Disaster

Furious at both state and federal officials, stricken Dade County’s disaster relief coordinator charged Thursday that those left hungry and homeless by Hurricane Andrew are being victimized by political posturing and demanded that President Bush “follow up on the commitments he made.”

“We are doing everything we can,” said an admittedly demoralized Kate Hale. “Where in the hell are the cavalry on this one?”

Hale labeled as “patent lies” reports that South Florida has not received more prompt and massive assistance because local officials have not asked. She accused unnamed officials of “playing around like a bunch of kids” and warned that the hurricane’s toll will rise unless the flow of food and water into south Dade County is accelerated.

“We are all about ready to drop, and there are no reinforcements,” she added in a voice trembling with emotion. She made it clear that her criticism includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Red Cross and the Florida National Guard.

Later in the day, President Bush, campaigning in Findlay, Ohio, announced that he was mobilizing federal troops for disaster relief duty in Florida, promising that “help is on the way, and it will be a major effort.”

The Pentagon said Thursday night that 2,000 to 5,000 troops would be moved overnight from Ft. Bragg, N.C., to Miami, with field kitchens, tents, cots and other supplies.

The action came after Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles met with Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr., who is coordinating the federal response to the disaster.

Hale’s outburst came after numerous reports that aid flowing into the state has been slow getting to the tens of thousands left without food, water or shelter.

Thursday morning, an exasperated trucker on the road for nearly two days with a load of ice could find no one to accept his cargo. Other trucks arriving in the devastated community of Homestead with food supplies have encountered similar problems.

When 2,000 people lined up to get food Thursday morning in Florida City, National Guardsmen declined to hand it out, on grounds that they were on security duty. And when there was a threat of disorder and reports of gunfire at a food station in the Cutler Ridge community, police had to take over food dispensing duties.

At least as serious as the problem of supply is the lack of a system to distribute food and water in communities where residents are without communication or transportation.

Truckers, unfamiliar with the area, search for places to unload and sometimes go to collection points to the north of the most devastated area, miles away from the neediest victims.

Thursday afternoon, for instance, a convoy of Red Cross trucks from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania arrived in Dade County, hoping to find their way into communities that have been cut off since the hurricane hit Monday morning.

The trucks drove aimlessly up and down U.S. 1 for more than three hours because no one seemed to know where they should go. The out-of-town relief workers apparently also were afraid to go into the wrecked neighborhoods because of rumors of riots. As dusk approached, they were still driving.

But in spite of Hale’s criticism of federal agencies, evidence of massive government and volunteer help was more evident Thursday than at any time since the storm hit.

With highway traffic into the area still snarled, private planes and Coast Guard helicopters began flying supplies into Homestead, the community of 26,000 which bore the brunt of the monster storm’s lashing.

Although incessant broadcasting has advised victims where food and water are available, many apparently remain unaware of the relief centers or unable to get there.

In Perrine, Edward Ferguson said he has been sleeping in his truck since his house was leveled by Andrew in the pre-dawn darkness four days ago. “No one has come by,” he said. “No one from the city or county or the Red Cross or anywhere. I don’t know who to call.

“You are the only people we’ve seen except some from Channel 6,” he told The Times.

Others in Ferguson’s Homestead Court neighborhood indicated that they were waiting for help to arrive.

Fifty-one-year-old Celester Brown said with resignation: “I’ve lived here all my life. We ain’t got anything ever before and we can’t expect to get anything now. It was bad before, and it will be bad again.”

Although electricity has been restored to a million customers left in the dark by the storm, south Dade County’s most urgent concern remains survival rather than recovery.

In an emotional news conference called to answer mounting charges that her agency was failing to manage the crisis, Hale choked back rage and tears.

She blamed the mismanaged relief effort on political game-playing by unnamed politicians and bureaucrats.

“We are being victimized by those agencies that are supposed to be coming in here to help us,” she declared. “For God’s sake, won’t you please cut it out and help us down here?”

In response to a question, Hale said that the national Red Cross is on the top of the list of agencies doing more to hurt than to help. “I don’t see anything from the Red Cross,” Hale said, adding that only the local chapters of the relief organization have been helpful.

Asked if she wants more National Guard troops, the disaster manager quickly responded: “We need better National Guard down here. . . . We’ve had lots of problems with the National Guard.”

But the main targets of her outrage were the charges that she and other local officials have not made the necessary requests for state and federal aid.

“We have applied through the state to the federal government. . . . Why the (federal and state) agencies are not in place and functioning is a question I’d like to ask you.” There was, even before Andrew made landfall, Hale continued, “a federal catastrophic response plan that should have been mobilized, in place. They knew we were going to be devastated. . . . Where are they now?”

Both state and federal officials declined to respond directly to Hale’s charges, saying that this is not the time to point fingers.

In his announcement, Chiles said that units of the Army quartermaster corps and Army engineers will be moving in to help in the Homestead area and that military airlifts will be available.

In Ohio, Bush said that the federal troops will assist in feeding, housing and providing sanitary facilities for the thousands of Floridians displaced by the storm. Later, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush had canceled a scheduled weekend trip to his home in Kennebunkport, Me., so that he could monitor the relief effort. He also canceled a campaign trip next week to Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado.

Pentagon officials said that the troops are taking 20 mobile kitchens, tents, cots and medical gear. Each field kitchen is capable of serving 300 hot meals every two hours. The first are expected to be in operation by this morning, officials said.

The military also will provide large mobile generators, water purification units and an engineer battalion to remove debris and erect temporary shelters.

Pentagon officials also announced that 30,000 prepackaged military meals and 2,500 cots are being sent to aid storm-ravaged areas of Louisiana.

“I see the problem,” Card said, “and we are going to address it. The food is going to get to the people who need the food and I am going to see that it happens. That is a guarantee.”

FEMA officials in Washington said as many as 500 to 1,000 employees of the agency will be in Miami soon to process applications for assistance. Seven field centers will be established, and the neediest cases are expected to begin receiving funds in about two weeks, an agency spokesman said.

Although the federal emergency agency still estimates the number of homeless in Florida at 50,000, local officials now say that the number may be anywhere from 175,000 to 250,000.

Electricity has been restored to a million customers and dramatic strides have been made in clearing major thoroughfares, but Hale said that the job of combing through the wreckage for additional victims is only 15% complete.

One family was rescued from an isolated neighborhood when they were spotted by a helicopter crew on Wednesday. On Thursday, rescue workers reached a devastated migrant worker camp not far from the Everglades and moved its inhabitants to a county shelter.

Two people died and a third was injured Thursday when a private plane bound for Homestead crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in a suburb north of Miami. The deaths increased the number of Andrew’s Florida victims to at least 17. Air Force officials advised families who evacuated from base housing at Homestead Air Force Base ahead of the storm that they may return on Friday to search for their possessions.

The base is now little more than rubble, its housing, administration buildings and hangars wiped out. Its casualties included two F-16 fighters, which were undergoing maintenance and could not be flown out when the base’s other planes were moved to safety.

Times staff writers Douglas Jehl in Findlay, Ohio, and John Broder in Washington contributed to this story.

How to Help

The following organizations have set up relief funds for victims of Hurricane Andrew: The American Red Cross P.O. Box 37243 Washington, D.C. 20013 (make checks payable to the American Red Cross and earmark them for hurricane relief)

Credit-card donations may be telephoned to 1-800-842-2200, or, for Spanish-speaking operators, to 1-800-257-7575.

Disaster Response Catholic Charities USA 1731 King St. 200 Alexandria, Va. 22314 (make checks payable to Catholic Charities USA--Disaster Response)

The Salvation Army 900 W. 9th St. Los Angeles, Calif. 90015 (make checks payable to Salvation Army and earmark them for hurricane relief)

World Vision Project Andrew P.O. Box 1131 Pasadena, Calif. 91131 1-800-423-4200 (make checks payable to World Vision. Corporate donations encouraged)