US: For Laquetta Zeno, a narrow, folding cot on the floor of the Astrodome, a giant sports arena in Houston, is all she can call home. She will have to leave it on Saturday. Denis Staunton reports from Houston
Bussed the 350 miles from New Orleans after two days in the stinking darkness of the Superdome, Ms Zeno has spent two weeks at the Astrodome with her two daughters, one aged 15 and the other, five.
They are among more than 1,000 people who sleep in this makeshift shelter every night in cots only inches apart.
"Everything is beautiful here - the food, everything. I have no complaints. At night, everything gets quiet," Ms Zeno said.
During the day, scarcely a minute passes without a tannoy announcement, usually about a missing child or a reminder of the shelter rules - no alcohol, no weapons, no smoking indoors.
Evacuees are allowed to leave the shelter at will but they must check out first and will undergo a body search when they return - men forming one queue and women another.
At one end of the stadium, dozens of evacuees queue to collect clothes, shoes, toys and books that have been donated by well-wishers.
At the other, a small group gazes at a wall of handwritten notices from family members hoping to find one another.
"Paul Precious De Shawn Williams, La Troya is looking 4 U. I'm in the arena across the street. Love you, please call," says one.
Pictures of children who have lost their parents are posted under a notice asking "Do you know me?"
Samuel Williams's family was split up when they left New Orleans after spending 2½ days on the side of a highway with no food or water.
One daughter came with him to Houston and he discovered this week that his second daughter is in Atlanta, Georgia.
"A lot of friends and family members didn't make it. They drowned.
"Hopefully, I'll be out of here in a couple of days. I'll probably go to Atlanta," he said.
Everyone in the Astrodome will have to move out by the end of this week - to another shelter or to housing provided by local authorities, charitable organisations or private individuals.
Ms Zeno hopes to join her sister, who has found a house somewhere in Texas and to get a job as soon as possible.
"We don't want to go from shelter to shelter. But what are they going to do with all these people?" she said.
Among more than 4,000 people still housed in shelters at the Astrodome, the Reliant Center next door and the Convention Center downtown, almost all are African-American.
These are the most vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina, unable to leave New Orleans before the hurricane because they had no money, no car or just nowhere to go.
Houston has created a small city within a city during the past two weeks, housing an estimated 150,000 evacuees in shelters, hotels, motels, apartments and private homes.
Houston schools have taken in more than 15,000 new pupils from the New Orleans area and local doctors are struggling to treat thousands of new patients whose medical records were destroyed in the aftermath of the hurricane.
The cost of helping the evacuees has already hit $50 million but Houston city and Harris County authorities expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to reimburse it.
Police overtime pay accounts for some of the cost, although there has been no perceptible increase in crime since the influx from New Orleans.
Houston's mayor, Bill White, reminded newcomers this week that Texas, which imprisons and executes more people than most other US states, shows little mercy to criminals.
"If somebody decides to make a life of crime, Houston isn't the best place for them," he said.
There has been little sign of tension between evacuees and the rest of Houston's population, although five teenagers were arrested on Tuesday when a fight broke out at a school after someone threw a soft drink can at a group of newcomers from New Orleans.
For the most part, Houston has welcomed its new neighbours and the city has set up a scheme called Neighbour to Neighbour that pairs new arrivals with families who will help them to settle into the city, offering practical advice and emotional support.
Most of the newcomers from New Orleans will stay in Houston for months and many are expected to settle in the city for good.
Ms Zeno has lived in New Orleans all her life but she is not sure that she will be going back there.
"New Orleans, it's all I know. But the crime there is so high. The city officials, the police force, all of that is so corrupt. I guess that's my answer. I need to stay put," she said.