York Forum Teaches Lessons From Katrina

Students, business and civic leaders were invited to join Congressman Gregory Meeks and Lawrence Mandell, president of United Way of New York City, at a breakfast forum held at CUNY York College this week. The panel discussed the lessons learned through the debacle of Hurricane Katrina.
Emergency disaster professionals like York College’s own Harry Pomeranz, professor in the Physician Assistant (PA) Program and voluntary respondent to the Gulf Coast tragedy, and Professor Beth Rosenthal, who conducted research and published an article on the psychological effects of 9/11, were on hand to ask questions and provide some insight.
Dr. Marcia Keizs moderated the discussion, praising Meeks for “economically developing the 6th district in Queens and bringing more than $6 million in educational support to the college,” in her introduction.
“Unfortunately in situations like Katrina, the poorest of the poor, the people we forget about are hit hardest,” said Meeks. “We don’t like to show the under belly in this country but we need to try to bring resources to individuals who are poor so they can have better lives now.”
Meeks spoke about the governmental aspect of the disaster, what went wrong in the response, citing communication failure, and how New York City can avoid a Katrina-esque deja vu. Mandell addressed the role of non-profit organizations in a disaster situation and what can be done to prepare.
Meeks added that the government has already passed legislation that will convert all analog televisions to digital. The conversion is expected to improve communication between law enforcement and emergency services in the event of a disaster.
The United Way of New York City was one of the first not-for-profit fundraising organizations to respond to 9/11, raising over $534 million in private and corporate contributions. United Way was the driving force behind the 9/11 Fund and really created a new prototype for disaster response to a catastrophe of this size.
Mandell emphasized the need to attend to the poor population in a city like New York where 1.7 million people are living in poverty.
“Hurricane Katrina showed the deep fault line in this country between the haves and the have nots,” said Mandell. “The average poor person in NYC has less than $100 in assets and if a situation like Katrina arose, would be at the mercy of forces.”
mhendricks@queenscourier.com