Los Angeles Officials Say Community Groups Can Help in Pandemics, Other Disasters(2/3)

A community responder from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, spoke about his church's work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which displaced hundreds of thousands of residents in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. Thomas Ray, a building contractor and ordained minister, is on the staff of a church called The Chapel on the campus of Louisiana State University. His church and others sprang into action to help victims of the hurricane by cooking food, collecting supplies, finding shelter and helping the injured get medical treatment.

The churches had no plan in place beforehand, but five days after the disaster, got together to coordinate their efforts. "We had one church that was really equipped because of their day care and their school to handle moms who were pregnant and who had small children. So from that point on, everybody who showed up that was pregnant with a small child went to that particular church as a shelter, and we sent resources that they would require to that church. So they were the storehouse for diapers and formula."

来自路易斯安那州巴顿鲁日的一位社区急救员描述了卡特里娜飓风过后他在教堂所做的工作。2005年，这场飓风导致新奥尔良和墨西哥湾沿岸区成百上千的人流离失所。建筑承包商兼牧师托马斯?雷是路易斯安那州立大学一个名为“Chapel”的教堂的工作人员。他的教堂和其他教堂采取行动，通过做饭，筹集供给，寻找避难所以及为受伤者提供医疗援助方式来帮助那些台风中的受害者。

这些教堂在灾难发生前并没有合适的计划，但是在其发生五天后，他们已经在一起协调各方所做的努力。“我们实际上有一个专门为孕妇和年轻母亲设置的教堂，因为其中有日托所和学校。因此，从这点而言，孕妇和幼儿可以去这个特殊的教堂避难，然后，我们向那个教堂运输他们所需要的物资。这样，那里就成为了贮存尿布和配方奶粉的仓库。”