FYI...Forwarded message from Hal Newman at NEMRC on Special Needs
population.
Sent from Kyle Cleveland's Palm IIIc
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This is my understanding of what has occurred:
FEMA/Harris County/City of Houston evacuated all special needs residents in
those zip codes that were part of the mandatory evacuation zones. They
thought that's where Ike would hit hardest. So they didn't plan on any other
special needs evacuees.
Unfortunately, Ike hit the rest of Houston and surrounding area and took out
the electrical grid, the phone grid, the water system, the cell towers, etc
etc.
An instant and cascading special needs 'vulnerable population' layer has
evolved – which I believe may number in the thousands. Do the math – there
are 4.1M people who live in Houston. From my experience, I'd estimate more
than 250,000 with special needs, vulnerable, medically fragile [and that's a
very conservative number].
That 'layer' will continue to grow because of the cascading effects of
rationed access to healthcare resources, i.e., I have received reports
through the network of people running low on essential supplies. I've copied
Tyson Macaulay on this enote because he is a true expert on the cascading
effects of critical infrastructure failure. Tyson can explain further about
what ripple effects this hurricane will have on all 'layers' of the
landscape – political, economic, and further out.
There are now nine shelters in Harris County – and three of those are
faith-based which have been stood-up in recent hours. Total capacity for all
those shelters is 3450. Unfortunately, the faith-based churches are 'off the
grid' when it comes to getting a population count. [We had a similar
experience with Katrina]. The good news is that three hours ago, there were
only two 'official' shelters in Houston.
Of the nine shelters in Harris County, five of them are in Houston – and
three of those are in churches. The two official shelters are running at
near capacity. Total capacity of the additional three church shelters is
400.
Additionally there are church shelters in Baytown [Harris County], and one
each in La Porte and Pasadena.
We have been able to reach out to Clear Channel Radio Network to get the
word out about the additional shelters. Thanks to Ben S. for that piece of
networking. Of course, this has been an early ad-hoc effort. We'll need to
get some high-end buy-in to make this that more effective.
So, if any of you have the ability to secure that 'high-end buy-in' this
would be a good opportunity to bring a group of very creative 'sideways
thinkers' into the room who have an enormous amount of experience in working
with vulnerable populations. The NEMRC network continues to grow as we reach
out to the faith-based community, organized labor, social advocacy groups,
and the private sector.
Thanks for your consideration. Be well. Practice big medicine.
Hal Newman
Executive Director, National Emergency Management Resource Center [NEMRC
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