9/18/08 AHN: Disaster Watchdog Criticizes FEMA For Not Delivering Ice For Ike Victims In Texas

09/18/2008 Ben Smilowitz Comments Closed

Disaster Watchdog Criticizes FEMA For Not Delivering Ice For Ike Victims In Texas

American Headline News

9/18/08

AHN Staff

Houston, TX (AHN) – A disaster watchdog has criticized the “no ice” policy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) saying the health of Hurricane Ike victims in Texas are threatened without the food and medicine preservative.

“It’s frustrating that the government can deliver $85 billion to bail out AIG, and they can’t deliver ice in Texas,” Ben Smilowitz, executive director of the Disaster Accountability Project (DAP), told ABC News. DAP, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the nation’s disaster response system, has been receiving calls from Ike victims on where to get ice to preserve medicines like insulin for diabetics.

“This isn’t for their gin and tonics,” said Elise Hough, CEO of the Houston chapter of United Cerebral Palsy. “This is for people who are extremely sensitive to heat, and ice has a huge impact on their health and safety.”

FEMA stopped providing ice to disaster victims last year, except in the case of medical emergencies or life-threatening situations. According to a spokesman from the agency, the new policy was adopted after millions of dollars worth of ice were not used during the 2005 and 2006 hurricane seasons and just melt.

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