Where is the Aid?

Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is giving a live press conference right now. He says that millions of meals have been sent, water has been sent, thousands of National Guards have been sent to us.

Meanwhile, in Mobile County, Alabama, the lines to receive water, ice, and MREs (meals ready to eat) are literally miles long. The supplies are running out within hours, and we are being told to return tomorrow. And tomorrow. Tempers are rising, trouble is brewing, people are getting desperate.

Mobile County has around 750,000 residents of its own, and has been significantly damaged by the hurricane. Much of the county is still without electricity.

But Mobile County is just across the border from Mississippi, so thousands of Mississippians are coming into Mobile County to find gas or aid. We have nothing to give them, the homeless refugees, because there is not enough aid.

When you hear the Department of Homeland Security say that so much relief has been dispatched to our area, it sounds like we are fine down here.

But when you see the miles of people waiting in the 95 degree heat for gas, water, and food that is non-existent, you have to wonder: Where is the aid? Why is it taking so long?

by Lori Seaborg