Department of Homeland Security: more than 49,800 lives "saved and rescued"

Democrats have some nerve calling FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina "a failure".

Here is a link to the DHS site.

The amount of work that FEMA has accomplished in regards to Hurricane Katrina is staggering.

FEMA - FEMA has distributed over $1.4 billion in federal aid to more than 593,000 households. Families temporarily residing in all 50 states and the District of Columbia are receiving assistance in a streamlined process to urgently expedite these payments of $2,000 per household to help pay for the emergency needs of food, shelter, clothing, personal necessities and medical needs.

FEMA has thousands of phone operators taking registrations on its 24-hour phone bank. Callers may register faster by calling during the off hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Those registering should be ready, if able, to provide their Social Security number, insurance information, financial information, contact information and their direct deposit information. Registration will remain open for many months to ensure that all citizens eligible for assistance have had the opportunity to apply.

FEMA has deployed more than 87 National Disaster Medical System Teams and 28 urban search and rescue teams with nearly 7,000 personnel to save lives and render medical assistance. Teams have rescued more than 350 hurricane victims.

FEMA has moved millions of commodities of water, ice, and meals ready to eat (MRE). FEMA also supplied generators and thousands of cots and blankets.

FEMA established a Housing Area Command to oversee all temporary housing operations across the Hurricane Katrina impacted areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Housing Strike Teams are being readied for deployment into each state to begin the process of quantifying temporary housing needs.

Individuals in declared counties can register online for disaster assistance at www.fema.gov or call FEMA’s toll free registration line at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).

And this is only one small part of everything of what government is doing.

A failure? Please! If you want to talk about failures, let's rehash Election '04 and the Democratic party. No wonder! Saving 49,800 is a "failure" if you're living in some sort of fantasy land.