If you are planning to contribute or if you are planning to organize a relief effort of any sort, please review the information on the assistance page and these articles from Red Cross and State of Tennessee. 
     It is vital that any relief efforts be coordinated with organizations that have official roles in the area, such as state Emergency Management Agencies, Red Cross, Salvation Army, or faith-based organizations.  The easiest, and perhaps most effective, contributions are cash.  It can be used in any community and does not require transportation, sorting, storage, etc.  Money can also be used to purchase from businesses in the affected communities, thereby helping in the local economic recovery.  Of course, contribute only directly to known and respected organizations.

Aerial photos after Katrina:
     In Extension, we get all kinds of requests. One was to see if there were satellite or aerial photos of the Gulfport, MS area that would help a man in Tennessee determine if someone's house had survived Katrina. Believe it or not, we were able to determine that the house had survived using aerial photography images from NOAA.
     Go to the links at the bottom of this message to find hundreds of aerial images of the Gulf coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
     This imagery was acquired by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division to support NOAA national security and emergency response requirements. In addition, it will be used for ongoing research efforts for testing and developing standards for airborne digital imagery.
     Please note that these images are uncorrected and not rotated. The approximate ground sample distance (GSD) for each pixel is 37 cm (1.2 feet). The images have 60% forward overlap, and sidelap unknown. Image file size is between 2 MB and 3 MB.
     Since North is NOT at the top of these images, use a reference map from Mapquest, Google Earth, or any other source to identify landmarks and help orient the images. The reference map will also help you narrow down your image search.
     Go to http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM and click on the map image at the left of the screen to open a wide-area index map. Click on the community of interest to get an image index map. When you click on a rectangle on the map, it will open the image for that area.

• The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has developed an Agri-Security website with information specific to Tennessee.  Browse the site to learn what TDA is doing to protect the integrity of our food and fiber production system.

• The UT Agricultural Extension Service has a Biosecurity and Disaster Management website that features information for producers and consumers, including current news and publications.

• Biosecurity: Who's Responsible?  UT Extension publication SP604 about basic biosecurity measures for farmers, consultants, and others visiting farms
• Impacts of agricultural emergencies in Tennessee - Fact sheets published by the University of Tennessee Department of Agricultural Economics, Agri-Industry Modeling & Analysis Group:
• Projected Economic Impacts of a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Outbreak in Tennessee
• Projected Economic Impacts of a Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Outbreak in Tennessee