Some Katrina evacuees say there's no going back



HOUSTON, United States (AFP) - Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have made the Houston Astrodome stadium their home are pondering an uncertain future, but many say they will never return to New Orleans.



"I will not go back to New Orleans. I love that city, it was where I was born, but there is no future there," said Gil George, a 52-year-old who had been working in New Orleans port until the killer storm bulldozed along the Gulf Coast last week.

Now he is among 17,000 people sleeping at the Astrodome, spending his days going between the Federal Emergency Management Agency office and the Texas social services, looking for a temporary home.

More than 250,000 hurricane evacuees are now believed to be in Texas. Officials say they have had 500,000 requests for aid from Louisiana residents.

George arrived in Houston last Thursday, shocked and exhausted. Now he has decided to stay.

"It is a new opportunity. The Lord brought us here; this is like a wakeup call," he said.

Even before the storm, New Orleans was struggling, according to George. "Apart from tourism, there is no industry in New Orleans. How long will the city need to rise up economically? You have to go where the opportunity is.

"It is like a growing cancer, they are going down into poverty," he said.

George said he could not understand the people who are determined to return to the ravaged jazz capital.

Leaflets at the Astrodome offer transport and jobs in Wisconsin. But George is determined to stay in Texas.

When he fled his ground-floor apartment with his 14-year-old son, George took just a few clothes, a Bible and some important papers. He said he would only go back to find anything else that can be saved and retrieve his car.

The Astrodome conditions are basic, but it is nothing like the Superdome in New Orleans, which became notorious for its rapes and violence until the authorities got a grip on the city.

At the Houston stadium, police and National Guard patrol the entrances and search people entering. The doors are closed from 11:00 pm to 5:30 am.

"There is a big difference," said Steve Kukuruza, manager of the registration centre at the Astrodome.

"There is enough food, water, and we have a backup generator. In the Superdome, they lost power. It was dark and hot."

Thousands of camp beds cover the stadium field and every corridor and available corner. Supermarket trolleys act as the wall between each family.

Telephones where free calls can be made are used 24 hours a day. Everyone has a lot of family members to reassure.

But not everyone is happy. Ryan Vega, who arrived Saturday with his parents, grandmother and an aunt, said he wanted to leave.

"We have lost everything and they treat us like criminals," he said. "At night, we can hear people cry. During the day, there isn't much to do, just wait. It is like a prison."

Images of the New Orleans disaster are shown 24 hours a day on the stadium's giant screens. This increases the atmosphere of desperation.

Karew Thomas, 31, could not get a place in the stadium and is begging for money outside. She is living in a motel room with her five children and needs 25 dollars to be able to keep the room for another night.

Her friend Glenda Milling is in the same situation with eight children. "Right away, we need money and a house," she pleaded.