News Releases for September 2005
September 23, 2005
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Hoeven: State Will Continue To Assist Gulf Hurricane Victims
BISMARCK , N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today said North Dakota continues to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina and has offered additional assistance to Gulf Coast states as Hurricane Rita approaches landfall. About 75 members of the North Dakota Air National Guard's 119th Fighter Wing and Army National Guard and 10 Reservist personnel are currently in the region to render aid from Hurricane Katrina.
The Governor was updated this afternoon on the storm situation in a conference call with national governors to coordinate aid efforts through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). EMAC is a national agreement among states that provides emergency services to victims of disaster in a member state.
"We will continue to do all we can to assist our sister states recovering from Hurricane Katrina and now bracing for Hurricane Rita," Hoeven said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all of our neighbors in the affected states."
Hoeven had already activated the State Operation Center and directed the National Guard and the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services to monitor EMAC requests. Through EMAC, North Dakota has offered National Guard personnel, housing and the resources of 15 state agencies to aid victims of the storms, including healthcare, social and employment services.
The state is also partnering resources with private charitable organizations like the Community Action Agency, the Red Cross and NVOAD, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, which consists of more than 30 public and private member organizations.
Under North Dakota's plan for evacuees, the state would use the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Fargo and Camp Gilbert C. Grafton in Devils Lake as staging areas for up to 300 hurricane victims at a time. From those sites, evacuees would be transported to approximately 1,500 housing units throughout the state for longer term accommodations. The housing can lodge a minimum of 3,000 people.
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