Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on Aug. 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. On the morning of Monday, Aug. 29, the storm made its second landfall in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. Eventually 80% of the city became flooded. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928.

NATO and its partner countries responded to the United States' request for assistance with offers of food, medical supplies and equipment.

27 countries - Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - informed NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre that they would provide the United States with requested items.

The aid included food supplies, bottled water, water purification units, medical supplies, tents and camp beds, generators, water pumps, ships, helicopters, financial contributions and forensic teams.

A number of other NATO and partner countries also responded, communicating their assistance via other channels or to the United States directly.

Solidarity in a time of crisis

On Sep. 4, the United States requested from NATO relief support in the form of food, medical and logistical supplies.

NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC) provided this list to NATO and partner countries and helped to co-ordinate the response.

A NATO liaison officer was also dispatched to Washington to work with the US authorities, in particular the Federal Emergency Management Agency.