Interviewer(s): Ernesto Valdez

Project: University of Houston

Ms. Diana Rodriguez was interviewed in her office, City of Houston Emergency Medical Services, 15th Floor, 500 Jefferson, Houston, Texas 77002, on August 17, 2006. While most of the other interviewees in this collection were selected because they were in command echelons of the hurricane relief efforts, Ms. Rodriguez was selected because in her position as Administrative Coordinator to Dr. David Persse, Director, Houston Fire Department Emergency Medical Services, she was able to observe on an intimate level the aura of emotions that pervaded the various sites she visited. To history’s great advantage, she took her camera and recorded the drama of the incomprehensible and unprecedented event known as Hurricane Katrina. Through her eye we see vignettes of the relief efforts, and through her words we hear and read not only the emotions she experienced, but also those of the bewildered, lost, confused, scared, and saddened people of New Orleans that Ms. Rodriguez encountered on a daily basis.

The interview was conducted by Ernesto Valdés, Center for Public History, University of Houston where the tape is deposited in M.D. Anderson Library on the main campus of the university.