Hurricane Katrina

14 September 2005

The outpouring of support from our fellow native communities through our time of tragedy has been tremendous. All of the offers of assistance and prayers are greatly appreciated. We are sifting through numerous emails and phone calls trying to respond to each one as promptly as possible.

Imagine loosing your home and everything in it.  This is the challenge that many of our tribal members are facing. Approximately 3,400 tribal member's homes are still under several feet of water. They have been displaced from their communities. We are in the process of assessing the damage and identifying the current and future needs of our people. Our greatest concern at this point is the extended time (months) before some tribal members will be allowed into their communities to simply visit their homes and salvage any personal belonging that may remain. Many of our tribal members are renters and without insurance leaving them homeless and dependent on family and federal assistance. The rebuilding process will take quite some time.

Our other bayou communities survived with minor damages, including extensive roof damage. These communities mainly depend on the fishing and shrimping industries as a source of livelihood. They depend on the shrimping and oystering season in the fall and winter as their source of income, but due to the effects of the storm the seasons have a bleak projection leaving many tribal members uncertain of their ability to provide for their families.

The most immediate concern of the United Houma Nation is locating and accounting for all of its tribal members that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. It is important for us to locate our tribal members. We are greatly concerned that language and cultural barriers will hinder identifying and meeting their current needs.  If you know the location of any of our tribal members, please have them contact our tribal offices at (985)475-6640 or (985)223-3093.

We have been in contact and are working with National Congress of American Indian (NCAI), Assembly of First Nations, various Tribes and several Native organizations in our relief effort.

We have also secured a warehouse to store supplies to distribute to tribal members. We have compiled a list of our immediate needs.

Clean-up

large plastic containers with lids to store saved belongings, heavy duty plastic gloves, rubber boots, face masks for protection and smell, safety glasses, hair nets,  bleach, large garbage bags, shovels, wheel barrels, mops, brooms, various cleaning supplies, rakes

Home Repairs

Plywood, roofing materials, saws, ladders, tools, tarpolienes.

Baby Items

Diapers, formula, clothing, cribs and bedding, baby personal items

Children

Reading and Coloring Books, school supplies, educational materials

Other Items

Air mattress, bedding, personal hygiene items, water, food, ice chest

Gasoline, Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's gift cards would also be helpful

We have set up a hurricane relief fund to assist tribal members most in need. Checks can be made payable to United Houma Nation Hurricane Relief and can be mailed to our tribal office at 20986 Highway 1, Golden Meadow, LA 70357. All contributions are tax deductible.

The address to ship supplies is 4400 Highway 1, Raceland, LA 70394.  Please contact one of our offices if you intend to ship or personally deliver any items so that we can have our volunteers prepared to receive it.

We will try to keep you updated on our situation and the needs of our communities as they arise.  We hope to periodically update you on the relief efforts for our Houma people and send updates as changes take place.  Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers and actions to help our people.

These are photos from yesterday's flyover of the tribal community in lower Plaquemines Parish and a map identifying our tribal communities.

Brenda Dardar Robichaux

United Houma Nation Principal Chief