Canadian leaders, relief agencies stand by to help U.S. after Katrina
Lisa Arrowsmith
Canadian Press
September 1, 2005
EDMONTON (CP) - Canadian officials have started getting ready to send whatever type of aid the United States requires to help with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said Wednesday.
"We want to reassure the president and the people of the United States that we are their best friends and their neighbour, and we will be there to help them in a situation that truly is without parallel in our country or theirs," said McLellan.
"Yesterday, the Department of Human Health Services in the U.S. contacted our public health agency and asked for an inventory of emergency supplies that, if they need them, we could send at a moment's notice."
That inventory was completed Wednesday.
American officials are still assessing their needs, but in coming days Canada will be prepared to send everything from water purification systems to the Canadian military's Disaster Assistance Response Team.
Asked by reporters about the effect of Katrina on the Canadian economy - such as sharply higher oil prices as a result of supply disruptions - McLellan acknowledged there could be an impact but stressed she wants to focus on the human tragedy of the disaster at this moment.
Federal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale didn't put any limits on the financial or in-kind contributions Canada could make to the rescue and reconstruction efforts.
"If we've got it, and the Americans need it, obviously, we'll be there," he told the Regina Leader-Post.
Goodale cited the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration as a possible way in which Canada can help in the re-building effort.
"PFRA is one of the pre-eminent agencies in the world on waterflows," he said.
"Obviously, this is a human tragedy of enormous proportions, and the government of Canada and the people of Canada will want to be of every possible assistance we can be to our neighbors at a time of great distress."
Prime Minister Paul Martin was set to speak by phone Thursday with U.S. President George W. Bush about what Canada can do to help the reconstruction effort.
B.C.'s provincial Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team was leaving for Lafayette, La. on Wednesday.
The state's goveror's office had requested help from the team, Solicitor General John Les said.
"We're the first non-U.S.-based team to be requested," Les said. "They're going to be helping as many people as they can."
The 45-person Vancouver-based team is trained in urban disaster relief and had been dispatched to Southeast Asia after the Boxing Day tsunami.
Elsewhere in Canada, Ontario is looking into whether its medical and hydro workers can help, and Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke to the U.S. ambassador to Canada asking what the province can do.
"We stand at the ready to assist," said McGuinty, who added Ontario could help with its Emergency Medical Assistance Team.
Relief efforts by Canadians in disaster zones are largely organized in Ottawa, but McGuinty said he wants to know from Ambassador David Wilkins what specifically Ontario can do.
Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said officials with Manitoba Hydro have also offered to send staff to the affected areas to help restore power.
At least 125 people have died in the severely flooded states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, while New Orleans is a swamp with about 80 per cent of the city under water.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Red Cross said lists of volunteers experienced in large-scale disasters were being assembled.
Suzanne Charest said agency officials expect a handful of volunteers may be ready to travel to Louisiana and Mississippi sometime this weekend.
"If you look at the impact of hurricane Katrina, we'll be sending well over 100 Canadian Red Cross workers in the coming weeks," Charest said from Ottawa.
Most of the volunteers will help spell off exhausted American relief workers in the coming months, she said. The Canadians will put in three weeks of gruelling, emotionally draining work that could see them huddling in shelters in sleeping bags along with those left homeless.
"They'll be interviewing families to see what kind of resources they need. Maybe they've lost their house, they need clean-up kits, they need financial support, they can't work."
A spokeswoman for Mennonite Disaster Service in Winnipeg said its sister agency in the U.S. is sending three or four investigators to Mississippi where they hope to set up a base camp for volunteers to help rebuild homes.
More than 500 Canadian Mennonites may eventually be sent to the U.S., said Lois Nickel of the church-based relief organization.
The first priority is to cut up downed trees and get them off power lines and roads, she said.
"Some folks from surrounding states that volunteer with us are hoping to go into parts of Alabama already this weekend to do chainsawing," said Nickel.
"Up here, our job right now is to take calls for donations."
Some aid was already heading south Wednesday. A crew of 10 hydro-line workers from Chatham-Kent Hydro in Ontario was on its way to help restore power to homes and businesses.
