After Storm, Relief Groups Consider More Work in U.S (Exemplified by Oxfam and Red Cross)
Three days after Hurricane Katrina obliterated a vast swath of the Gulf Coast, Oxfam America dispatched a team of emergency relief experts to Mississippi.
It was the first time Oxfam, a relief organization with headquarters in Oxford, England, had ever responded to a humanitarian crisis in the United States.
"Our whole U.S. program was built around addressing endemic poverty, not disaster relief," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of the American affiliate. "But for a variety of reasons, not the least of them what happened - or didn't happen - after Katrina, we're looking at that becoming more of what we do here."
The chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina by government agencies and the Red Cross, the sole private organization charged by law with providing relief in national emergencies, has led organizations like Oxfam to wonder whether they have a role in disaster response here.
Now, as Congress considers whether it should broaden the mandate for disaster response beyond the Red Cross, Oxfam and other international humanitarian agencies may find themselves called upon to take on new responsibilities in the United States. "After witnessing the American Red Cross's struggles during Katrina and Rita, I am not sure it is prudent for Congress to place such great responsibility in the hands of one organization," said Representative Jim McCrery, Republican of Louisiana.
Whereas the American Red Cross is typically expected to handle the bulk of the relief work required immediately after a domestic disasters, nonprofit groups responding to a crisis abroad try to work collaboratively and with grass-roots nonprofit organizations that they have nurtured as part of their efforts to build civil society and eradicate poverty. Each group has relative strengths: for example, Doctors Without Borders is known for providing emergency medical assistance, Oxfam for water purification and sanitation expertise.
Added the legend "Oxfam and Red Cross" as a bibliographic search aid.
Note by Appender-What is particularly interesting is that with the "blame game" being played after Katrina - a lot of the blame showered on the Red Cross has to do with
1. Not having its database up and running smoothly (justified)
2. Lack of control over how clients used their debit cards - :shrug:
3. Lack of control over vendored out "call centers" - being corrected.
4. Marti Evans' ties to the GOP. Correct but irrelevant.
5. Shortcomings of FEMA (good criticism - but wrong target)
6. The National Guard being in Iraq (again, good criticism - but wrong target)
Before too much criticism of the Red Cross - please read these links:
1.
2. - especially "Mission and doctrines" and "Controversy"
3.
4.
I'm
just a volunteer - not a paid staffer - and I have been to one fire about every third day since 12/19 -- and I have been standing by for opening a flood relief shelter.
I didn't hire Spherion, I don't go to GOP fund raisers, I don't embezzle, and I don't judge Arabian Horse Shows (but I was in the Coast Guard).
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