All at AWID extend deepest sympathies to those affected by Hurricane Katrina in the southern United States. While we are behind those involved in the relief effort, we are deeply concerned that women's particular needs are neither being taken into account, nor are they receiving useful representation in the media or on the web. We hear that police in New Orleans are ordering women off the street in case they are raped, murdered or both. In the Superdome, intended as a refuge from the storm for those who were unable to leave the city, there were many reports of women falling prey to rapists. Women were not even safe to visit the toilets unless escorted by men. In some parishes, people are being allowed to return to their ruined homes for a few days to collect any salvageable possessions. Women have been told not to attempt this unless accompanied by men.

A quick trawl of the net this morning revealed that the relief community is seemingly nonplussed by this disaster of Third World proportions slap bang in the middle of the global superpower.

Oxfam America expresses concern that despite all the resources available for relief after Katrina, from both governments and civil society organisations, those resources may bypass many people caught in generational cycles of poverty and discrimination. Those living in poverty may also lack the resources for long-term recovery of their assets and livelihoods.

Save the Children, not exactly known for its cutting-edge campaigning, is weighing in with some useful advocacy information: they are asking Americans to support legislation in Congress right now that could help vulnerable women and children. The Women and Children in Crisis and Conflict Protection Act (H.R.1413) and its companion legislation in the Senate, The Protection of Vulnerable Populations in Humanitarian Emergencies Act (S. 559) will ensure the United States government -- in addition to providing emergency food, water, and shelter -- works to protect women and children from the violence, exploitation, family separation, and emotional distress that can occur during and after emergencies.

Meanwhile, environmental campaigners are urging governments to see the tragedy in New Orleans in terms of a warning to act now on climate change. Stop Climate Chaos, a UK-based campaign, is calling on the government to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent ahead of 2010 and to press other rich countries to do the same.

For us, as gender activists, it's the same old story, whether in north America or Haiti. The poorest of the poor are suffering the worst, and the poorest are most often women.

The relief effort in Louisiana is being coordinated by an organisation called FEMA. It goes against the expectations raised in those unfamiliar with its name by being the extremely un-gender-aware Federal Emergency Management Agency (now part of the Department of Homeland Security). At time of writing, their most recent press release listed FEMA priorities, within which gender, or any of its synonyms, was conspicuously absent. And really, as the US's official emergency management agency, they should know better.

Reports from the mainstream media predominantly feature women as victims and men as their saviours. The only females mentioned in the media are victims, families of victims, and of course Katrina 'her'self. As was the case with at the time of the Tsunami, it is necessary to scour the web for blogs or bulletin boards to which affected (in the broadest sense) women have contributed in order to find women portrayed as the subject and not the object of reportage. For over ten years within the emergency aid community, there has been growing attention to gender issues in emergency situations. This goes beyond the traditional concern with 'women and children' as passive victims to an understanding of men's and women's different needs, interests, vulnerabilities, capacities and coping strategies.

Recognising the important role that gender plays in disaster management and relief, it is alarming that gender concerns often get pushed to the background in the event of a natural disaster.

But just as women are more vulnerable to the consequences of natural disasters, they are often the most innovative in implementing immediate relief to their families and communities.

The above is a paraphrased version of a text written by AWID's Thailand-based Rochelle Jones, after the Tsunami. Yet it is now as relevant to the urban women of New Orleans as it was to the tsunami-affected women of south east Asia.

International aid agencies have introduced policies, guidelines and staff training to support the integration of gender concerns in emergency responses. It is admittedly not an easy thing to do. The crisis of thousands of people on the move, in immediate need of water, food and shelter does not, at first sight, permit the careful preparation or participatory approach required.

A number of analytical frameworks now exist to help translate policy into practice. UNHCR's (1992) People Oriented Planning (POP) in Refugee Situations looks at the specific context, the activities of women and men and their use and control of resources before and after the crisis. Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis (CVA) has been used in grassroots disaster-preparedness training and has resulted in such innovations as separate spaces for women and children in evacuation centres, the provision of supplies, and the timetabling of activities to fit the routines of both men and women. OK, these initiatives were designed with rural African or Asian women in mind: - those who have been forced out of their homes and across international borders, but the domestic relief agencies seemingly have much to learn from them.

Social relations analysis is another potentially powerful tool for work on disaster preparedness and mitigation. It highlights the relations between men and women which underpin the coping strategies adopted in response to specific emergencies. However, the amount of information needed for this type of analysis limits its use in the early stages of an emergency, unless baseline data already exists.

As the Katrina disaster moves from its acute emergency phase to that of rehabilitation, those involved will find a considerable body of experience to draw on, from different types of emergencies. Employing community liaison staff to work in tandem with sectoral specialists offsets the tendency for relief workers to focus on technical requirements rather than talking to affected groups. Consulting women in emergencies requires flexibility and a proactive approach: for example, organising women's committees, separate meetings with women and men, drama workshops to address psycho-social needs of children and women. Women must be included at every level and stage. Gender analysis can provide a common frame of reference - and a common challenge - for new ways of seeing and doing which may turn crisis into opportunity.

Here is a list of concerns relating particularly to women and girls that we urge relief and rehabilitation practitioners working in Katrina's wake to take into account: