<P> New Orleans was already one of the poorest metropolitan areas in the United States in 2005, with the eighth - lowest median income ($30,771). At 24.5 percent, Orleans Parish had the sixth - highest poverty rate among U.S. counties or county equivalents . The 2000 U.S. census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households, amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without private mobility . Despite these factors preventing many people from being able to evacuate on their own, the mandatory evacuation called on August 28 made no provisions to evacuate homeless, low - income, or sick individuals, nor the city's elderly or infirm residents . Consequently, most of those stranded in the city were the poor, the elderly, and the sick . </P> <P> It has been stated in the evacuation order that, beginning at noon on August 28 and running for several hours, all city buses were redeployed to shuttle local residents to, "refuges of last resort," designated in advance, including the Louisiana Superdome . They also said that the state had prepositioned enough food and water to supply 15,000 citizens with supplies for three days, the anticipated waiting period before FEMA would arrive in force and provide supplies for those still in the city . Later, it was found that FEMA had provided these supplies, but that FEMA Director Michael D. Brown was greatly surprised by the much larger numbers of people who turned up seeking refuge and that the first wave of supplies were quickly depleted . The large number of deaths were a result of the insufficient response and evacuation before Katrina's arrival, primarily due to city and state resistance to issuing an evacuation order and risking "crying wolf" and losing face should the hurricane have left the path of model prediction . Had contra - flow on highways been initiated sooner and more buses begun evacuating families (including the idle school buses that were not used at all) the numbers of stranded New Orleans occupants would have been significantly less making the initial wave of FEMA supplies adequate and even excessive . </P> <P> President Bush signed a $10.5 billion relief package within four days of the hurricane, and ordered 7,200 active - duty troops to assist with relief efforts . However, some members of the United States Congress charged that the relief efforts were slow because most of the affected areas were poor . There was also concern that many National Guard units were short staffed in surrounding states because some units were deployed overseas and local recruiting efforts in schools and the community had been hampered . </P> <P> Due to the slow response to the hurricane, New Orleans's top emergency management official called the effort a "national disgrace" and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly desperate city . New Orleans's emergency operations chief Terry Ebbert blamed the inadequate response on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "This is not a FEMA operation . I haven't seen a single FEMA guy", he said . "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control . We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans ." </P>

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