US Amb Kenney: 'Ondoy' feels very much like 'Katrina'

The "heartbreaking" sight of Filipinos devastated by tropical storm "Ondoy" was not all that different from the situation left by Hurricane Katrina which wreaked havoc upon the United States four years ago, US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney said Tuesday.While Kenney said it was difficult to say which of the two weather disturbances was worse on a technical scale, the American official said seeing Filipinos in need of food and rescuing brought the same sentiments brought about by Katrina in August 2005. "It's so hard to say 'cause how do you decide [if] one natural disaster is worse or not than another?" Kenney said when asked in an interview over GMA News' "Unang Hirit" how "Ondoy" compared to Katrina. "Our focus honestly right now has been on getting relief to people and we'll let the government authorities over the next several days and weeks assess the total extent and how it compared to Katrina.""But I'll tell you, the same scenes...it's really heartbreaking. People stranded, people needing help, people hungry, people needing medical care, people needing to be saved," Kenney said. "So in that sense, it feels very much like Katrina"