Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 16/05) - What Tony Clarke saw in the southern U.S. disaster region created by hurricane Katrina shocked him.

"It was a little bit overwhelming," Clarke said.

The Yellowknife resident - his day job is as a safety training officer with the Workers Compensation Board - recently returned from a six-day mission as a representative from the NWT Community Emergency Response Team. Clark is the operations co-ordinating officer.

710 - official death toll across five states on Sept. 15 $125 billion - estimated economic damage $60 billion - estimated amount of insurance claims 1 million - estimated number of people displaced along Gulf Coast 80 per cent - amount of New Orleans flooded 40 per cent - amount of New Orleans still flooded 4 - ships sent in Operation UNISON from Canada 900 - number of Canadian military personnel on the ships 35 - Canadian Forces divers deployed 46 - members of Vancouver's Urban Search and Rescue team who went to Louisiana 136- patients medically evaluated by volunteers from the NWT and Alberta 5 - patients the team helped evacuate 400,000- jobs could be lost 3,800 - animals rescued in Louisiana and Mississippi 37 - Canadian Red Cross volunteers who went to affected areas

The response team received a call from Worldwide Disaster Relief in Texas shortly after the hurricane hit to do search and rescue work.

Clarke left on Sept. 5 with two members of Edmonton Regional Search and Rescue.

They were based at a relief centre in Gulfport, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico. From there, they spread out into nearby Harris and Stone counties.

As with Canadian groups elsewhere in the hurricane-ravaged zone, they were the first and only search and rescue team to reach this area.

The work was non-stop, Clarke said. Days were 16-17 hours long.

The three men would get up at 6 a.m. and eat military rations for breakfast. There would be a briefing on the day's activities. Next would be a team briefing from the U.S. Army National Guard unit from Georgia they were assigned to.

Then it was off to the designated area, which could be a damaged apartment complex or a region that hadn't received medical assistance. Then the searching would begin.

Harris County was mainly crunched from wind damage. For every one building destroyed there would be 100 more that were damaged.

If buildings were intact, the team would go door-to-door searching for survivors, and identifying and treating their medical needs.

After one area was cleared, they would drive to the next assignment.

This cycle could last until 6 p.m. when they returned to the relief centre, had supper and helped with any work that was required. Much needed sleep came at 10 or 11 p.m.

Clarke has worked on several disasters before, but this was different.

"Wow was the only word I can describe it as," he said.

It was the knowledge that he had a job to do that helped him carry on.

"The people are very resilient," Clarke said of the residents he met.

In Harris County, the communities were surviving by being self-sufficient because no aid had yet reached them.

"Their attitude was 'let's rebuild'," he said.

Clarke saw people who had lost their house rally to help neighbours who's house was only damaged.

Signs of life were scattered and could take strange forms - like an Arby's restaurant with no roof, but still open for business because of a generator someone installed.

On the team's last day, they went to Bay St. Louis where Katrina came ashore with 20-30 foot tidal waves. Clarke described the result as "utter destruction."

Having seen the damage first hand, Clarke is hoping to go back.

The NWT and Edmonton rescue groups, and other organizations, plan to return to the disaster area in a few weeks.

They are looking for a specific relief project to work on. One option is doing additional medical work in a field hospital, Clark said.