Disaster Aid

The water is receding from New Orleans (slowly), incompetent bureaucrats are being ejected from the scene (slowly) and the president has even taken responsibility for his administration's lackadaisical response to Hurricane Katrina (begrudgingly). It won't be long before discussions start about compensating the victims. This is an important exercise, and hardly unprecedented.

Commercial salmon fishermen in California and Oregon are seeking federal disaster assistance for expected losses that they blame on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. According to the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Assns., the bureau's reduction of water flows in the Klamath Basin this year caused thousands of young salmon to die. Salmon trollers from Santa Cruz to Florence, Ore., contend they will lose $100 million in income this summer as a result.

President Bush on Friday declared a state of emergency in the Southern California counties affected by February's rainstorms. Federal disaster assistance will be available to state and local governments for damage caused by the severe storms, flooding and landslides from Feb. 16 to Feb. 23. Bush had already issued a federal disaster declaration in February for the storms that pounded the Southland in January.

The Bush campaign has enlisted the help of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain to make stump speeches on behalf on the president's reelection effort, but in the end it may be Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne delivering the president a second term in office.

Local officials had estimated that there was almost $250 million in damage from the Dec. 22 San Simeon earthquake, but applications for less than one-third of that amount are being processed at Central Coast federal disaster relief centers. Federal officials report that $16.3 million in federal grants and loans has been awarded to San Luis Obispo County residents and businesses affected by the earthquake, which killed two women in Paso Robles.

Tropical Storm Isidore appeared to be nothing more than a messy rainstorm when it swept into Biloxi--certainly nothing like the hurricane that hit Mexico days earlier. Casinos on Gulf of Mexico beaches had been ordered closed, but evacuations were only recommended. When Col. Danny Pepper briefed about 20 National Guard troops late Wednesday, it looked as though the briefing wasn't needed. But 90 minutes later, the evacuation was made mandatory.

When tornadoes suck houses off foundations or floods wash barns away or earthquakes splinter bedrooms, family pets and farm animals are often forced to fend for themselves. People in the path of disaster have all they can do to save themselves; animals end up stranded on rooftops, penned inside threatened buildings or running and swimming for their lives.

President Clinton's long-delayed plan to combat drug trafficking in Colombia cleared its first major hurdle Thursday as the House approved providing $1.7 billion to help the beleaguered South American country dry up a major source of cocaine and heroin. The aid was approved despite objections from many of Clinton's fellow Democrats, who fear that it marks the start of a long-term, Vietnam-like commitment to a nation whose armed forces have consistently been implicated in human rights violations.

The Senate on Wednesday approved $7.4 billion in assistance for farmers hurt by depressed crop prices, setting the stage for negotiations with the House. Democrats and some farm-state Republicans wanted more money, including special assistance for Eastern growers who are suffering through one of the region's worst droughts this century. GOP leaders beat back several attempts to fatten the package, but they signaled their willingness to consider adding money later, during talks with the House.