More than four years have passed since terrible Hurricane Katrina ripped all the way through New Orleans, and the images of demolished buildings also homeless families have washed out from our memories. But the nightmares are still a certainty for the more than Fourteen thousand (14,000) families in New Orleans still living off Disaster Housing Assistance Program vouchers along with the countless internally displaced persons.

Unfortunately for those 14,000 families, the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) vouchers perish this month. According to Amnesty International, the government estimates regarding half of those families might be eligible for Housing Choice Vouchers and allowing them to live in Section 8 housing. But what is the option for other families who do not qualify for section 8 housing?

“Each person has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health as well as well-being of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care also necessary social services,” according to  the Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If more than 7,000 families lose their homes, the United States (US) would be worsening to uphold this clause.

Now this is not the time to place disaster relief in New Orleans on the back burner, but it seems lots of Americans have pushed it to the back of their minds and consider it old news.

“I think it is totally not on everyone’s minds anymore just because the shock value is gone now,” said Hannah Nusz who is the co-director of the Alternative Breaks program.

The program directors have resolute to send a cluster of students to help clean up and build housing in New Orleans this winter break.

Alternative Breaks has gone to New Orleans in the earlier period but had no programs there last year. This year, Nusz said the program felt as if something was gone astray.

“Although there is a rebuilding of communities, rebuilding a homes and peoples’ life, that takes time,” Nusz said. “It is definitely not something that just happens in a few months.”

Nusz is completely right. The existing quagmire that will leave many Katrina victims with no housing is proof that reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in New Orleans are not yet over.

If only there were other forms of helping victims might turn to when federal aid runs out. Groups like American Red Cross, Oxfam America, and Louisiana Disaster Recovery also the NAACP Disaster Fund has helped since the hurricane hit. At slightest one of these organizations, Louisiana Disaster Recovery is still contributing their support, but there are around 1,000 of families who risk losing their homes at the closing stages of this month need a better relief effort.

Alternative Breaks does more than assist Katrina victims; moreover it provides a new perspective for the students involved. If more organizations still show up their interest Alternative Breaks are investing in the problem, New Orleans might make huge strides forward.

A New Orleans woman has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for illegally obtaining Hurricane Katrina grant money along with a loan for a home she lost prior to the storm.

In June, a federal board of judges convicted Barbara Simmons Dowl of charges that included wire fraud as well as theft of government funds.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance sentenced Dowl to 69 months in prison also ordered her to compensate $156,000 in restitution towards the state as well as federal governments.

Prosecutors say the city of New Orleans sold property that Dowl and her ex-husband owned but gone astray in the year 2004 due to unpaid taxes.

After the August 2005 hurricane, Dowl obtained a Small Business Administration disaster loan as well as a federally subsidized proprietor grant for the property even though she no longer lived there.

Hurricane Katrina, the deadliest hurricanes in the history of United States. Severe loss of life and heaps of property damage occurred in New Orleans. It is vague that Hurricane Katrina caused more than $US81 billion in damage.

The Tropical Strom Katrina first upgraded its status on 24 August, 2005. On August 25 a hurricane crossed the coastline of Florida early morning.

Katrina weakens over land and was below Hurricane strength for a few hours. However, there is a quick development in the hurricane when it entered the Gulf of Mexico.

On 27th August, Hurricane Katrina hit category three and it actually reached category five intensity the next day itself. Fortunately, Katrina destabilized a little before it hit the coast.

In the early hours of August 28, Katrina strikes the coastline as a category three hurricane near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana.

Katrina then go back over the sea for a few hours before it made its final cross over land as a hurricane nears the Louisiana/Mississippi border.

Hurricane Katrina maintained hurricane intensity well into Mississippi.

Real Fact About Hurricane Katrina:

• About 1836 people were killed by Hurricane Katrina. Still 705 People are classified as missing.
• In New Orleans, the Flood security is failed in more than 50 places. This caused the mass flooding
  coupled with Hurricane Katrina.
• The name Katrina is been retired officially by the World Meteorological Organization due to its
  severity and replaced as Katia instead of Katrina.
• About $4 billion dollars has been contributed by the people for the victim of Hurricane Katrina.