NAVASA, CAPAC, NCAPA Draw Attention to Needs of Asian American Katrina Evacuees

by NAVASA
October 3, 2005

Excerpted from NAVASA Press Release

On Thursday, September 29, 2005, NAVASA (National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies), in collaboration with CAPAC (Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus) and NCAPA (National Council of Asian Pacific Americans), held a congressional briefing at the Capitol to present the challenges faced by victims of the hurricane and organizations aiding in relief efforts. Leaders of the Vietnamese faith-based (FBOs) and community-based (CBOs) organizations and evacuees from the hurricane-impacted areas testified and called upon government and mainstream relief agencies to provide more effective responses towards the Asian American evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. Congressman Honda (CA), Al Green (TX), Bobby Scott (VA), and David Wu (OR) were present at the briefing.

"More than 50,000 Asian Americans are impacted by the hurricane, and with the AAPI community's resources severely limited throughout the Katrina storm area, the federal government and national assistance organizations must be prepared to accommodate issues involving language access and cultural competence," stated Representative Mike Honda (D-CA), Chair of CAPAC. "FEMA and American Red Cross must pay equal attention to the victims regardless of their race, ethnicity, and level of income."

Huy Bui, NAVASA Executive Director, emphasized the impact of the hurricane towards the Vietnamese community, the largest Asian American group affected by the disaster, added "According to the 2000 Census, there are approximately 36,000 Vietnamese Americans who resided in the impacted areas. They have now lost their homes, their businesses, their jobs, and their communities." Mr. Tich Tran, a Katrina victim currently in Houston, further stated that, "we are suffering and we need the government to help."

Vietnamese FBOs and CBOs have played the most critical role in providing relief assistances to the evacuees in the last few weeks. However, they are running out of resources and patience. Reverend Joseph Vu, Pastor of the Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church in Houston that shelters hundreds of evacuees, expressed his disappointment towards the unresponsiveness from the Red Cross and FEMA since the church shelter was considered as an "informal shelter." Reverend Vu continued, "Our parishioners are getting frustrated with the situation. We have challenged ourselves beyond what we could handle to support these unfortunate people. We need your immediate attention desperately in assisting these evacuees to return our facilities back to normal life for our children and parish activities."

Juliet Choi, Staff Attorney of NAPALC, displayed three barriers that existed: the issue of the language and cultural connections, the economic consideration of the fishing industry, and dispelling the model minority myth. Michael Luu, an attorney who is working with the Vietnamese community in the affected areas, notes that there are a number of gate keepers preventing evacuees from appealing FEMA rejections of applications for hurricane relief. Many evacuees are giving up and settling with no assistance from FEMA. Further estimonies from Jon Melegrito, National Communications Director of the National Federation of Filipino American Association, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Executive Director of Boat People S.O.S., and Venerable Hang Dat emphasized the barriers faced by the Asian American community.

NAVASA, CAPAC, & NCAPA Draw Attention to Needs of Asian American Katrina Evacuees