HOUSTON (AP) – Blacks living in Houston are far more likely to count on faith for protection this hurricane season than government agencies that most blacks see as dishonest and unprepared, according to a university study released Monday. Eighty-three percent of blacks surveyed believe the city is only somewhat or poorly prepared to handle an ordeal like Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath of which led Texas Southern University to conduct the telephone poll of 404 blacks in Houston. Fifty-six percent of those polled said they don’t trust the government to tell the truth about disasters, while 55 percent said they believe the government uses disasters as an excuse to remove the poor and minorities from their neighborhoods. But when asked if God would protect them from harm if a hurricane hit Houston, nearly eight in 10 of blacks surveyed said they believed that was true. “If they don’t trust the government, where else do they look?” said Karen Callaghan, a political science professor at TSU. “They’re looking to God in this case.” Frank Michel, a spokesman for Houston Mayor Bill White, had not seen the survey but said Houston was prepared for a disaster. Michel said he could understand how a person of any race might have doubts about government preparedness after Katrina. Katrina, which swamped New Orleans nearly a year ago, exposed deadly shortcomings in preparedness and raw tensions about race after a slow federal response. “We think we’re as prepared as any city in the country,” Michel said. The survey was conducted in late April and had a margin of error of 4.87 percentage points. Callaghan said 3 to 4 percent of those surveyed were hurricane evacuees living in the city. Houston, with a population of about 2 million, is about 30 percent black.