Bush pushed for improvement in Katrina-hit region

LONG BEACH, Miss., Mar 1 (Reuters) President George W Bush faced new pressure to jump-start the recovery from Hurricane Katrina today as he toured the Gulf Coast region hit by the worst natural disaster in US history.

Eighteen months after the 2005 hurricane, analysts say tens of thousands of people remain displaced and more than half of the schools in the New Orleans area are still closed, a grim reminder of the toll on the region.

''There's obviously a lot more work to be done ... But the times are changing for the better and people's lives are improving and there is hope.'' Bush said in one community of rebuilt homes.

Bush later was to go to New Orleans, his first trip to the area in six months and 14th to check up on the recovery from a storm that caught his administration off guard from the very start.

A report by the Institute of Southern Studies said the Gulf Coast is still in crisis, with more than half the schools in New Orleans still closed, and that the region's recovery has been stalled due to a lack of housing, jobs and other basic needs.

''President Bush and the new congressional leadership have all said Katrina and the Gulf Coast are still a top priority. It's time for them to live up to their promises and responsibility, and help rebuild the Gulf South,'' said Chris Kromm, a spokesman for the group.

Democratic leaders of the US Congress said they were trying to speed the recovery by pressing for action.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and her No 2, Rep Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said they were pushing a Katrina Housing Recovery Act to cut red tape on 1.2 billion dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for use in Louisiana's emergency housing program to encourage displaced residents to return to the state.

''Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, compounded by a man-made disaster. It is now 18 months past time to get our response right,'' they said in a statement.

Of 110 billion dollars reserved for post-Katrina funding, 33 billion dollars remains unspent, available for state and local leaders to use but caught up in bureaucratic red tape.

Bush suggested it was up to state and local officials to disperse the federal money. ''The federal government's role has been to write checks,'' he said.

Don Powell, the federal coordinator for the recovery effort, said a lot of progress had been made.

''Is there more work to be done? Absolutely. We all have a sense of urgency about the recovery,'' he said.

Reuters SY DB2347