Disaster Relief

Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, who lost one of his bodyguards in the Asian tsunami last month, will donate $10 million to the victims of the Dec. 26 tidal waves that devastated Indian Ocean shorelines. "The dawning of the New Year has not been as joyful for us this year because of the catastrophe in Asia," the seven-time F1 champion said on his website. "It's so unfathomable and horrible, what happened to so many people. One cannot simply blind it out. We're suffering with them."

Less than two months after a corrosive battle over the debt ceiling, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are squaring off again in a budget dispute that could force the government to shut down. That's the third such threat this year, with another looming in mid-November. The impasse this time is a disagreement over how much to spend on disaster relief, and whether to cut other programs to offset some of the spending. This is the kind of disagreement that should be easy to resolve. Yet not only are lawmakers proving themselves unable to settle these disputes without resorting to brinkmanship, House Republican leaders are managing the budget process in a way that sets up one artificial crisis after another.

As FEMA's budget is under new strain in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, a top House Republican maintained that any new funds allocated for federal disaster relief must be offset by budget cuts elsewhere. Speaking on Fox News Channel, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said a natural disaster like Hurricane Irene is an "appropriate instance" for a federal role, but that the government can't go deeper into debt to pay for unexpected outlays. "We will find the money if there is a need for additional monies," he said.

Chris Carpenter , 36, signed a $21-million, two-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. "We believe with him and Adam Wainwright we do have that 1-2 punch that we were so hopeful for this year and are glad it can be something we look forward to for 2012 and '13," General Manager John Mozeliak said. Josh Beckett to start for Red Sox Boston Red Sox right-hander Josh Beckett , who sat out one start because of a sprained right ankle, will start Thursday or Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, Manager Terry Francona said.

Americans who saw their homes flooded, streets ripped apart and businesses disrupted by last weekend's hurricane are about to face another storm: a new congressional battle as House Republican leaders seek to match any additional spending for disaster relief with equal cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Unless additional disaster aid is appropriated, federal officials said communities trying to rebuild from natural disasters this year in the Midwest and South will have to wait while funds are diverted to help victims of Hurricane Irene.

Re "The flood next time -- disaster relief for profit," Aug. 29 Whenever a disaster strikes, it seems that the job of relief and reconstruction goes to some agency run by someone well-connected politically and staffed by well-meaning people with little formal knowledge in the field of disaster relief. Universities should have a discipline known as disaster relief and reconstruction. Experts would teach courses in evacuation, emergency healthcare, debris removable, providing temporary shelter and other phases of disaster relief.

Local victims of the Northridge earthquake who still need housing and other disaster-relief information are invited to meet with federal and state officials tonight at a Valencia elementary school. "We want to make sure that everybody who needs assistance gets it," said Vytautas Adomaitis of the Santa Clarita Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services.

San Fernando Valley residents still recovering from the 1994 Northridge earthquake got a bit of good news this week when officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency extended the deadline for those receiving disaster relief rental funds. FEMA representatives pushed back the deadline of Jan. 17 to April 17 in hopes of giving victims of the quake more time either to find affordable housing or to move back into homes that are being rebuilt or refurbished because of structural damage.

With President Clinton's disaster declaration, Ventura County homeowners, farmers and businesses that sustained flood damage can qualify for assistance. Programs include: * Rental payments for temporary housing. * Grants for minor home repairs. * Grants for up to $12,600 for serious repairs or losses not covered by insurance or other programs. * Unemployment payments for workers who lost jobs due to flooding. * Low-interest loans as high as $200,000 for homes and $1.

Re "Lawmakers Criticize Red Cross Over Relief Fund Disbursement," Nov. 7: The agenda of the leaders of the American Red Cross is no mystery to me. I learned it directly after the last San Francisco earthquake, when they said they had collected too much after that disaster and they were going to save the money for another. Their agenda is not so much to help victims of disaster as it is collecting money for their own preservation and to pay their own salaries. Their scrambling for answers now does not take them on a very long path, as it will always be, "We were on the side of good."

The federal government's approach to emergency relief has long been to open its checkbook and pay whatever it took to get communities back on their feet. Agencies had budgets for disaster response, but nature defied prediction; overruns were the rule, not the exception. After Hurricane Irene flooded large swathes of the Northeast, however, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) declared that the era of the open checkbook was over. Instead of borrowing from the future to pay for repairs, Cantor said, Congress must offset any new relief spending with cuts in other programs.

As FEMA's budget is under new strain in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, a top House Republican maintained that any new funds allocated for federal disaster relief must be offset by budget cuts elsewhere. Speaking on Fox News Channel, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said a natural disaster like Hurricane Irene is an "appropriate instance" for a federal role, but that the government can't go deeper into debt to pay for unexpected outlays. "We will find the money if there is a need for additional monies," he said.

Americans who saw their homes flooded, streets ripped apart and businesses disrupted by last weekend's hurricane are about to face another storm: a new congressional battle as House Republican leaders seek to match any additional spending for disaster relief with equal cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Unless additional disaster aid is appropriated, federal officials said communities trying to rebuild from natural disasters this year in the Midwest and South will have to wait while funds are diverted to help victims of Hurricane Irene.

U.S. Navy ships and aircraft were converging on disaster-stricken Japan Saturday, while the main U.S. aid agency dispatched two urban search-and-rescue teams to help look for trapped survivors. The military assistance operation is known as Operation Tomodachi, or "friendship," the III Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement. The operation name was chosen by the Japanese. Photos: Scenes from the earthquake "We have units from all of our services, with a multitude of capabilities, from medical to communications to civil engineering, poised and ready to support where needed," John Roos, U.S. ambassador to Japan, told reporters Saturday.

Federal investigators are examining whether work on a sewer near a natural gas pipeline in San Bruno two years ago played a role in the explosion and fire that leveled part of the Bay Area suburb last week in one of the nation's deadliest pipeline failures in nearly a generation. When the city replaced the sewer line, it also enlarged its diameter and used a trenchless "pipe bursting" method known to carry risk. A 2001 study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the method could potentially disturb, displace and compact soils.

Somehow it's easier to grasp a tragedy such as the earthquake that leveled the capital of Haiti last year or the tsunami that hit South Asia in 2004 than it is to comprehend the slow-motion catastrophe that is unfolding with the floods in Pakistan. But Pakistan's needs are no less urgent. In a nation beset by frequent natural and political disasters, this one has been called the worst since the creation of the country in 1947. A fifth of Pakistan is under water, and nearly 20 million people are displaced, homeless, in need of food.

Edwards Theatres Inc., in cooperation with Coca-Cola, is producing 500,000 plastic cups featuring the U.S. flag and the Statue of Liberty. The cups will be sold at their theaters nationwide to benefit American Red Cross disaster relief in New York, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. For every 44-ounce, $3.75 drink sold, the theater will donate 25 cents, said Patti Edwards of Newport Beach, wife of Edwards Theatres Chief Executive James Edwards. "We will raise more than $100,000," she said.

More than a year after one of the worst salmon fishing seasons in decades, the state this week has begun disbursing $33 million in long-awaited federal disaster relief to the commercial fishing industry. The money, authorized in a bill by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), is meant to offset the dismal catch of 2006, which was barely one-tenth of normal.

ACTED: Support flood-affected populations American Red Cross: Response to Pakistan floods CARE: Pakistan flood relief International Rescue Committee (IRC): Help Rescue Lives in Pakistan Merlin USA: Pakistan Emergency Appeal Oxfam: Flood Relief and Recovery Efforts in Pakistan Relief International: Pakistan Flood Emergency Response Save the Children: Pakistan Children in Emergency Fund UNICEF: Disaster relief for the children of Pakistan World Vision: Pakistan flood relief Text "SWAT" to 50555; $10 goes to fund for flood victims A list or more organizations in need of support, and details on their efforts in flood relief work can be found at the InterAction website Source: U.S. Department of State