In Pictures: Trailer camp life

The BBC News website visited a Fema trailer park in Baker, Louisiana, home to more than 1,600 people evacuated from the New Orleans area.

The caravans are parked on a 60-acre site outside the town, and have free electricity, water and gas. People will live in them for the next 18 months at least.

Baker's mayor Harold Rideau says the town has opened its arms to evacuees. But there have been problems with rising crime and a drain on resources.

Casterry Reddick lives in a trailer with her two children. "I am working so that helps out," she says. "That's what helps keep my sanity."

Security guards patrol the trailer park and check identification at the gate. A ban on keeping guns on the site has been rescinded.

Marie (l) and Justine (r) Bernhardt came from Sacramento, California, to deliver a consignment of toys and games to entertain children at the park.

One of the main problems is boredom. Families without cars or mobile telephones are hardest hit.

Annie Ford is 97. She wants to go back to New Orleans, but her house has been badly damaged. She says she does not know whether she will ever see the city again.

Glen Morgan helps out on the park's advisory council. He wants to see more authority figures talking to people at the site.

Some are concerned about the long-term social impact that the many "trailer towns" will have on the people that live in them, and the communities they join.

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