Disaster Management: A State of Emergency

Before the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979, over 100 agencies had to work together to help people during and after major disasters (Smith).  The result was a conglomerate of uncoordinated efforts that didn’t work very well.  FEMA was created after a series of major natural disasters.  Ironically, after FEMA was created, less severe disasters happened and FEMA didn’t seem quite so important.  Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush used FEMA to make appointments as political favors and the people they appointed to head FEMA had no experience, training, or background in emergency management (Smith).  When a severe storm finally struck, FEMA was unprepared.  After a category 5 hurricane hit Florida City in 1992, it took 5 days for troops to show up to assist.  Over 125,000 homes were destroyed and thousands of people were left without federal assistance or necessities, like water or food (Smith).  Jane Bullock, former Chief of Staff of FEMA said of FEMA’s response to this disaster, “We were dysfunctional” (Smith).  FEMA finally stepped in to help only after the White House was inundated with telephone calls after the general public saw an interview with Dade’s Emergency Manager, Kate Hale (Smith).

After Bill Clinton became president, he put James Lee Witt in charge of FEMA, the first director with any emergency management experience (Smith).  Witt’s experience served him well and by all accounts, he was an excellent head of FEMA.  Witt developed a disaster prevention initiative, known as Project Impact (Smith).  Project Impact helped communities by joining local, state, and federal first responders and officials to prepare for major catastrophes to minimize the impact of disasters (Smith).  Almost 250 cities joined the project, but unfortunately, New Orleans declined to participate in Project Impact (Smith).  When Witt left after George W. Bush took office, Bush put his former campaign manager Joe Allbaugh, a man who had no emergency management background, as the head of FEMA.  Despite its overwhelming popularity and success, Allbaugh cut Project Impact, due to new federal budget restraints (Smith).

After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security was created and it reorganized FEMA as a smaller department under Homeland Security, instead of the separate agency it had always been in the past (Smith).  The Bush administration was concerned more with threats of terror than natural disasters.  Not only did Bush severely reduced FEMA’s budget and autonomy by including FEMA as a small department of Homeland Security, he removed the preparedness function out of FEMA (Smith). Jane Bullock, former Chief of Staff for FEMA stated that “The creation of the Department of Homeland Security became the death nail for FEMA” (Smith).  After FEMA was made merely a department within Homeland Security, FEMA lost many long time employees, including Allbaugh, leaving Brown in charge of FEMA (Smith).

In 2004, FEMA used a fictional scenario called Hurricane Pam, as a training exercise intended to prepare for a similar catastrophe in New Orleans. This preparedness exercise had effects almost identical to Hurricane Katrina (Smith).  Because the emergency preparedness exercise lasted only 20 days, it failed to prepare New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina for several reasons.  All stages of planning had not been completed due to budget cuts, including communications, healthcare, and transportation planning (Smith).  The exercise led to unrealistic expectations of what each level of government would assist with in case of emergency.  Also, promises made during the Hurricane Pam exercise were not honored during Katrina (Smith).

Local, state, and federal authorities were notified and warned many times by many experts of the vulnerability of New Orleans in the event of a severe storm (Parker et al.).  Unfortunately, the warnings were not taken seriously.  Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent American history.  The storm was the most expensive natural disaster ever in the United States (Howell).  The effects that Hurricane Katrina had on this nation will be felt for generations to come.  According to Frontline: The Storm, Katrina’s devastating effects were made worse due to the delays in communications needed to coordinate help from officials charged with disaster recovery, including the Louisiana National Guard, New Orleans Police Department, FEMA, as well as other local, state, and federal authorities (Smith).  Although the levee system of New Orleans was interconnected and protected the entire city, different sections of the levee were managed by different organizations that didn’t always work well together or even have the same goals (Parker et al.).  This unorganized system left the levees in New Orleans vulnerable and ultimately unsafe.  Shortly after Hurricane Katrina ended, the levees in New Orleans gave way, leading the streets of New Orleans to be severely flooded (Smith).  The flooding caused the Louisiana National Guard to lose power, backup generators, as well as mobile communications systems (Smith).  The Louisiana National Guard were not able to give any assistance at the beginning of disaster relief due to their own emergency.  Another tragic problem was that New Orleans Police were missing a quarter of their staff and their headquarters as well as many 911 switchboards were underwater.  Emergency communications systems were down for about a day and a half following the storm (Smith).  A major breakdown in communications came when requested resources and assistance were not given by FEMA (Smith).  While Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco begged for any and all help possible, Louisiana National Guard Major General Bennett Landreneau, as well as the Emergency Manager of Jefferson Parish, Walter Maestri, stated that they made very specific requests for assistance from FEMA (Smith).  While FEMA, as well as President George W. Bush, knew New Orleans needed vital help urgently, there was a huge delay in getting help deployed.  Jane Bullock, former Chief of Staff of FEMA, stated that she “…could never figure out who was in charge of that disaster” (Smith).

New Orleans was awarded at $7 million dollar grant in 2003 from the Department of           ability for first responders to communicate in the event of an emergency (Smith).  Without interoperability between local, state, and federal law enforcement, first responders and emergency management personnel, the states, local, and even individuals become islands amongst themselves, instead of working together with the federal government, at the most vulnerable times (Smith).  Because federalism allows each state to operate under their own guidelines and the federal government did not impose standards or oversight, funds distributed to state and local governments intended to increase interoperability were spent on things not related to communications at all, such as life vests for canines and garbage trucks (Smith). 

President Bush’s initial response to Hurricane Katrina was to fly over New Orleans (Smith).  He couldn’t see the utter devastation that the people were enduring or the reality of the what people were going through from the air.  Mayor Ray Nagin was frustrated by President George W. Bush and others holding many press conferences, without doing much to help the people of New Orleans.  A full six days after Katrina, Bush gave yet another press conference, this time addressing FEMA’s inadequate response to the storm (Smith).  According to an article in the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, “The Katrina disaster was not solely a failure of the federal government; rather, it constituted a failure at all levels of government that was, in fact, years and decades in the making” (Parker et al. 207).  There is good news; FEMA has a new director, Brock Long, who was nominated by President Donald Trump and just confirmed by the United States Senate on June 20, 2017 (Trunko).  Long has most recently served as Executive Vice President of Hagerty Consulting, an emergency management consulting firm, has many years of experience in the emergency management field in public and private sectors, including directing the Alabama Emergency Management Agency as well as working at FEMA (Brock).  Long’s experience along with his degrees in leadership, government public management, and criminal justice, as well as his certificates in public safety and as a certified local emergency manager should serve him well as the new leader of FEMA (Brock).  Brock may very well be the most experienced person to ever head FEMA.

Even though there were many mistakes before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, there were some successes.  Approximately 1,800 people died during and after the storm (Howell).  Although this is a tragic loss of life, the death toll was predicted to be anywhere between 50,000 – 100,000 people.  Another thing that worked well in helping evacuate New Orleans was the contraflow traffic plan, allowing more lanes of traffic to depart the city than were normally available (Howell).

There are some major lessons learned looking back at what happened before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. According to President George W. Bush, the United States needed more federal authority and for the military to be in charge, since they had a large and ready force that could be mobilized faster and more effectively (Smith).  Planning in advance will help to solve problems that may occur as a result of our government’s limitations and will help us to be better prepared and have better results when the next disaster strikes (Howell).  Local, state and federal government agencies and communities need to put in more action behind preparedness, instead of just talking about what the problems could be.  Another issue is the need to rely on non profit or private organizations that are not government agencies (Howell).  Since our federal system shares but also limits powers of each level of government, non profits can help greatly since they aren’t held to the same limitations as governmental agencies (Howell).  In 2007, FEMA was given more power to act in preparing and reacting to disasters and somewhat autonomous status due to the passing of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (Parker et al.), which should also help to solve some of the management problems experienced during Hurricane Katrina.

  

Works Cited

"Brock Long." Hagerty Consulting, hagertyconsulting.com/employee/brock-long/. Accessed 20 June 2017.

Howell, John. "Journal of Global Intelligence & Policy." Journal of Global Intelligence & Policy, vol. 5, no. 7, Summer 2012, pp. 27-34. Academic Search Complete, dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=94267139&site=ehost-live. Accessed 19 June 2017.

Parker, Charles, et al. "Preventable Catastrophe? The Hurricane Katrina Disaster Revisited." Journal of Contingencies & Crisis Management, vol. 17, no. 4, Dec. 2009, pp. 206-20. Academic Search Complete, dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=45269877&site=ehost-live. Accessed 20 June 2017.

Smith, Martin. "The Storm." Produced by Marcela Gaviria et al., narrated by Will Lyman. Frontline, PBS, 22 Nov. 2005. PBS, WGBH Educational Foundation, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/storm/. Accessed 12 June 2017.

Trunko, Matthew. "Senate confirms Trump's nominee to lead FEMA." Washingtono Examiner [Washington, DC], 20 June 2017. Washington Examiner, www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-confirms-trumps-nominee-to-lead-fema/article/2626487. Accessed 20 June 2017.