FEMA: Ready for 2006 Hurricane Season
Release Date: April 12, 2006
Release Number: HQ-06-058FactSheet
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to the unprecedented Gulf Coast hurricanes - Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma - was the largest mobilization of emergency response and disaster recovery resources in the history of FEMA - exceeding operational responses to the 2004 Florida hurricanes, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Great Midwest Floods of 1993.
FEMA approaches the 2006 hurricane season with a renewed sense of commitment, improvement and urgency, building on a solid foundation of experienced professionals and the lessons learned from last year's unprecedented disaster response activities. The 2005 hurricane season tested our nation as never before, and we are committed to increasing our preparedness for catastrophic events and smaller-scale disasters.
While states and localities have the lead in emergency response, FEMA will be prepared to coordinate the federal government's supporting role. FEMA also understands the special needs of Gulf Coast states, which will include a need for assistance with evacuation planning, difficulties with manufactured housing, and diminished law enforcement capabilities.
FEMA is implementing multiple new measures designed to strengthen essential functions so the agency can more effectively respond to all disasters. These improvements include building a 21st century supply tracking system, enhancing our ability to receive requests for individual assistance, expediting the pace of debris removal, and developing an smarter plan for long-term housing.
The following are examples of some of the improvements that will be in place for the 2006 hurricane season. Chief among them is completing the integration of FEMA operations with the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA will continue to make other significant enhancements beyond this hurricane season.
Strengthening Federal Coordination in the Immediate Response
Increased Level of Coordination with the Department of Defense (DoD) - To synchronize coordination and readiness with the military, whose personnel and capabilities can be critical in a major disaster response, FEMA and the DoD are placing a Defense Coordinating Officer (DCO) - typically deployed as lead field coordinator for the DoD at the time of a disaster - in each of FEMA's ten regional offices for ongoing preparedness and response coordination in disasters. FEMA is also streamlining the way it seeks assistance from the DoD by pre-scripting mission assignments in advance of the hurricane season so that time is not lost during the critical response period.
Upgraded and Coordinated Operations Centers within Homeland Security - FEMA's National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) - where federal government representatives from the Emergency Support Functions identified in the National Response Plan are collocated to coordinate activities during disaster response - is upgrading equipment and installing software to improve the interface, coordination, and exchange of information with the Department of Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC). In addition, improvements to information technology systems, audio-visual equipment, and Video Tele-Conference (VTC) capabilities at the NRCC and FEMA Region IV (Atlanta) and Region VI (Denton) Regional Response Coordination Centers will improve coordination, rapid exchange of information, and access to field reports before, during and after a disaster.
Improving Situational Awareness & Communications Interoperability
Deployment of Emergency Response Teams and Situational Awareness Teams - In addition to deploying FEMA Emergency Response Teams to state emergency operations centers to establish unified incident command with state partners, liaisons will be deployed with satellite phone capability to key local emergency operations centers to coordinate with local officials and report information from the local level. This concept was successfully used in the responses to Hurricanes Rita and Wilma and will be continued in this year's hurricane season. Capabilities will be further enhanced with the introduction of the Department's new Situational Awareness Teams that will improve situational awareness, collection of information, and on the spot reporting from the heart of the disaster.
Augmenting Survivable & Interoperable Communications Capabilities - Communications capabilities must remain in place for emergency response officials even when all other communications have been devastated by a disaster. In addition to increased deployment of satellite phones with emergency response staff, FEMA is augmenting current capabilities with High- Frequency (HF) equipment integration, Land Mobile Radios, Disaster Satellite Communications and mobile communications. Before the hurricane season, FEMA will conduct a series of four communications exercises to validate interoperability among federal, state and local emergency management officials. All of these measures will improve the ability of disaster responders at all levels to communicate with each other during disaster responses.
Commodity Preparations and Improving Logistics
Replenishing Disaster Commodities and Assets - In addition to replenishing and restocking essential disaster commodities such as water, ice, fuel, generators and tarps that FEMA has on hand at logistics and staging areas across the United States, FEMA is working with vendors now in advance of major hurricanes and other disasters to have a ready supply of needed commodities and assets for surge capability beyond FEMA's "on hand" capacity.
Enhanced Logistics Support from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) - While FEMA delivered more emergency meals and provided emergency medical services to more patients than ever in agency history during Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is working with the DLA to ensure available stockpiles of emergency meals, water, tarps, plastic sheeting, medical equipment and essential pharmaceuticals. FEMA signed an agreement in March with the DLA in which the DLA will provide the logistics support to ensure procurement, delivery, and vendor managed inventories of these commodities. For this year's hurricane season, there will be greater emphasis on providing commercial type meals with packaging similar to that used for Meals Ready to Eat but that are better matched to the general population's nutritional and caloric requirements.
Improving Delivery of Disaster Commodities within States - Building on a strong system of strategic pre-positioning of federal commodities developed in the last two years for quick deployment of assets to hurricane-prone states, FEMA is closely coordinating with states to improve commodity delivery. States will provide more detailed information to FEMA regarding precise staging areas and points of distribution to best reach populations in need. The state is then responsible for commodity distribution to victims.
Implementing Commodity Management System - A new commodity tracking initiative (Total Asset Visibility: Phase I) will provide FEMA with an improved ability to manage its inventory of certain commodities and to track the location of trailers carrying commodities such as water, ice, emergency meals, plastic sheeting, tarps, generators, cots, blankets, Joint Field Office kits, and material handling equipment distributed from the FEMA Logistics Centers in FEMA Region IV (Atlanta) and Region VI (Fort Worth). This tracking will provide real time status to FEMA and the states being assisted by this supplemental federal assistance and will result in more effective and efficient delivery of relief supplies to disaster victims. FEMA will continue its efforts to expand this tracking system to encompass other centers.
Customer Service: Expediting Help to Victims
Improving Shelter Population Management - FEMA is working with the American Red Cross, the nation's largest operator of major congregate shelters during disasters, to develop and improve methods to better identify and more quickly assist those who have evacuated to a congregate shelter. On Presidential Declared disasters, this tracking capability will assist FEMA and the Red Cross in further developing and implementing methods for quickly identifying and reunifying missing and separated children and family members during a disaster.
Doubling Registration Capacity to 200,000 Per Day - During the days and weeks following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, FEMA surpassed 100,000 registrations a day, shattering all previous records of intake. While call center capacity was ramped to its highest levels ever, FEMA is pursuing even more robust contract and contingency surge capabilities that will quickly allow for rapid expansion to a registration intake capacity of up to 200,000 per day. FEMA Internet-based registration capability will be increased by improving accessibility, allowing FEMA to handle more registrations than ever before. This will help reduce registration wait times and FEMA Helpline information delays following a major disaster.
Piloting Deployable Mobile Registration Intake Centers (MRICs) - Recognizing that many disaster victims may be stranded or in congregate shelters with no communications, and unable to register for assistance, FEMA is enhancing an aggressive, new program in the 2006 hurricane season that uses Mobile Registrations Intake Centers that will immediately deploy to congregate shelter populations and other individuals displaced in the aftermath of a disaster and provide an on-site capability to quickly register for FEMA assistance.
Enhanced Identity Verification During Registration - While FEMA's primary concern is always the disaster victim, FEMA is committed to being an outstanding steward of taxpayer dollars. In order to improve our stewardship responsibilities while simultaneously reducing the delays associated with disaster victim identity verification, FEMA has retained a contractor. This FEMA contractor will conduct rapid identity checks during the registration process providing another - but expedient - layer of verification surety to the ID check process and helping to further minimize waste, fraud and abuse.
Expanding Home Inspections Capacity - FEMA will nearly triple the daily home inspection capacity of FEMA contracted firms from 7,000 per day to 20,000 per day through a new contractual agreement. This added capacity - combined with a newly established third party evaluation of inspections performed on victims' damaged homes - will increase the speed and accuracy of home inspections that determine the FEMA repair and replacement grants for which a victim may be eligible.
Improved Speed and Suitability of Temporary Housing - FEMA is developing updated policies to improve and quicken determination of applicant eligibility for FEMA's Individuals and Households Assistance Program (IHP) along with determining eligibility for Expedited Assistance. Additionally, FEMA is clarifying the policy on the appropriate use and authorization of emergency sheltering funds (403 assistance) and individual housing assistance funds (408 assistance) for disaster victims. These improvements will streamline the applicants' eligibility determination and speed the provision of temporary housing units to eligible victims.
Debris Removal Process Enhancements - Critical to the ability of a community and its residents to quickly recover is the expeditious removal of debris. In Hurricane Katrina, the debris volume was unprecedented. FEMA has adjusted its debris removal policy to ensure consistent cost-sharing for federal contracting (through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and local government contracting. Further, FEMA is establishing a nationwide list of debris removal contractors that can help states and local communities better plan for, and more rapidly respond to debris removal requirements in times of disaster. In addition, FEMA has developed guidance for local government debris removal contractors and is conducting a training session titled "Debris: Contracting, Monitoring, and Demolition" at the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Fla. These initiatives will help reduce the confusion surrounding debris removal contractors and debris removal eligibility and allow debris removal operations to move ahead more quickly and with greater financial integrity.
Increasing and Improving the Disaster Workforce
Enhancing the Disaster Workforce for the 2006 Hurricane Season - In addition to increasing the size of FEMA's Disaster Assistance Employees (DAE) cadre by 100 percent immediately following Hurricane Katrina (3,992 pre-Katrina; 8,094 today), FEMA is currently filling more than 700 two-year Cadre on-Response Employees (CORE) positions for Hurricane Katrina. These employees, who will remain dedicated to Katrina and Rita disaster recovery work, will allow permanent full-time employees and the enlarged disaster reservist (DAE) cadre to concentrate on the 2006 hurricane season. Also, FEMA is converting more than 4,000 disaster temporary employee positions within the National Processing Service Centers to two-year CORE term positions to improve retention and increase surge capacity. A larger number of experienced disaster workers means FEMA will be able to respond more quickly to the needs of victims over a greater area in the event of a large or catastrophic disaster, and will provide a more rapid and focused response to smaller disasters.
Training Employees for Disaster Readiness - FEMA will train 3,000 disaster "generalist" surge cadre employees for ready deployment during the height of the 2006 hurricane season and is increasing its capacity to deploy and communicate with the increased number of disaster employees. These surge employees will form a "generalist" pool of disaster workers and will be trained in a number of basic functions cutting across traditional program areas including Community Relations, Individual Assistance, Public Assistance and Logistics. The training will take place in spring and summer 2006 and will be drawn from the training programs already developed by the various program areas and supplemented with basic information about FEMA's goals, mission and programs.
Through these generalists, FEMA will have a pool of disasters workers ready to respond quickly to large or catastrophic disasters, performing a variety of basic but important functions such as quickly canvassing areas immediately following a disaster to inform citizens of FEMA's programs, assessing the community's needs, and serving as strike team members for shelter or hotel populations. In turn, this ability to draw upon a large pool of generalists will free up FEMA's more specialized and experienced workers to provide the expertise required to deal with the more complex problems specific to the particular disaster.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in March 2003.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 12-Apr-2006 13:45:25