U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency

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U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

FEMA’s Capability Development After Katrina

Robert A. Farmer Director of Operations

Office of Response and Recovery Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Terrorism

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Hurricane Katrina Forecast Track

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. History.

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Hurricane Katrina (August 23-30, 2005)

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Hurricane Katrina: Immediate Aftermath

New Orleans, La., Monday, August 29, 2005 -- An aerial photograph from one of the first New Orleans fly overs showing the flooding as a result of the breeched levees.

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Hurricane Katrina Response

New Orleans, La., September 2, 2005 -- Colorado Task Force 1 (CO-TF1) Hazardous Materials Technician carries an infant to safety after being discovered floating on a furniture cushion inside of a house where the parents were incapacitated. CO-TF1 also evacuated the infant’s parents to safety.

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New Orleans, La., September 4, 2005 -- A view of the roof of the Superdome which was damaged as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina Response

New Orleans, LA. August 28, 2005 -- Residents bring their belongings and line up to get into the Superdome which was opened as a hurricane shelter in advance of hurricane Katrina

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FEMA Capacity Building, FY2007 to FY2010

TOTAL TOTAL

Positions Funding Modernize & Integrate FEMA IT Systems 0 31,250

Facility Infrastructure 0 12,904

Shape the Workforce

Incident Mgmt Assistance Teams (IMATS) 205 35,515

NRCC/RRCC 24/7 Watch Capability 60 6,587

Operational Planning 90 13,776

Emergency Communications - MERS 61 26,621

Disaster Logistics 70 17,353

Disaster Assistance 118 12,557

Public Disaster Communications 6 959

Continuity Programs - IPAWS 5 34,634

Hazard Mitigation 23 7,586

National Preparedness 55 13,122

Grants Advocates - Regions 30 2,460

Capacity Building for Business Activities 65 19,966

GRAND TOTAL 788 235,290

(dollars in thousands)

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Workforce Type Total

Reservist 6,100

Cadre of On-Call Response & Recovery Employees (CORE) 3,200

Permanent Full Time (PFT) 5,000

FEMA Corps 920

DHS Surge Capacity Force 3,865

Workforce Totals ^19,085

FEMA Workforce Status Report

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Hurricane Sandy (October 22-31, 2012)

Left: A NASA satellite image of

Hurricane Sandy on October 29; most of the U.S. coastline is artificially

highlighted to show the scale of the storm

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Katrina vs. Sandy Data Comparison

Katrina Sandy

Inundation Area (square

miles) 93,000 1,800,000

U.S. Deaths 1,330 162

Housing/Property Damage $108 billion $50 billion

Peak Shelter Population 273,000 23,000

Peak Power Outages 2.5 million 8.5 million

Debris (cubic yards) 118 million 6 million

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Hurricane Sandy – Personnel on Ground

^{(6 NOV)}

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Snapshot: Response Teams

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Snapshot: Logistics Commodities

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Snapshot: Mobile Communications

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National Response Coordination Center ‘Before’

(September, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina)

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National Response Coordination Center ‘After’

(October, 2012 – Hurricane Sandy)

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FEMA’s Crisis Management System Implementation:

PHASE 1b (September 1 – September 30, 2012)

New Products

• Incident Action Plan (IAP)

• National Response Coordination Center Situation Report

• Senior Leadership Brief

• Daily Situational Awareness Report to National Activation Status Map

• Resource Support Section Process

• Feedback and updates from 1a

femacms.webeoc.us

WebEOC Crisis Management

System

Cloud-based System

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Lessons Learned – Using WebEOC During Sandy

• After Action Reports for Hurricane Isaac & Sandy concluded that WebEOC was correct choice for FEMA’s Crisis Management System

• Real time data easily shared between FEMA Headquarters, Regions and Incident Management Assistance Teams

• Cloud capability allowed use on any web connected device, laptop, tablet, iPad, smart phone

• Intuitive System - Offgoing personnel able to train incoming reliefs on new features or changes within minutes

• Widespread use of WebEOC through out country in 19 other Federal

Departments and Agencies, 40 States, hundreds of cities/counties and industry provided a number of users that had prior experience using WebEOC and

reduced learning curve experienced when new systems are introduced

• Focusing on a single shared web database reduced creation of new single purpose databases, spreadsheets and share point sites allowing best practices to be captured, refined, shared and continued

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1. Transportation

(Dept of Transportation)

2. Communications

(Dept of Homeland Security -- National Communications System)

3. Public Works and Engineering (Dept of Defense ^-U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

4. Firefighting

(Dept of Agriculture)

5. Emergency Management

(Dept of Homeland Security – FEMA)

6. Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Housing & Human Services

(Dept of Homeland Security -- FEMA)

7. Logistics Mgmt. & Resource Support (General Services Administration -- FEMA)

8. Public Health and Medical Services (Dept of Health and Human Services)

9. Search and Rescue

(Dept of Homeland Security -- FEMA )

10. Oil & Hazardous Materials Response (Environmental Protection Agency)

11. Agriculture & Natural Resources (Dept of Agriculture)

12. Energy

(Dept of Energy)

13. Public Safety & Security (Dept of Justice)

15. External Affairs

(Dept of Homeland Security )

Emergency Support Functions

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FEMA Corps

FEMA Corps team members talk with a local volunteer in Sea Bright, NJ during Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts

FEMA Corps team members walk through a devastated neighborhood in Union Beach, NJ

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Tools FEMA Currently Uses

 Full website (www.fema.gov) & Mobile website (m.fema.gov)

 Blog (blog.fema.gov)

 Disaster Pages

 Widgets

 Facebook

 Twitter

 YouTube

 Mobile App

 Text messages

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Sandy After-Action Review

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• Integrating Federal senior leader coordination and communications into response and recovery operations

• Coordinating Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and Recovery Support Functions (RSFs)

• Refining the mission assignment process

• Implementing incident management structures

• Using planning and analysis to drive operational decision-making

• Ensuring continuous improvement of disaster doctrine, policies, and plans

Ensuring Unity of Effort Across the Federal Response

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Ensuring Unity of Effort Across the Federal Response

 Executed a Principal-Level Exercise for Cabinet officials in preparation for the 2013 Hurricane Season

 Streamlined the Mission Assignment process

 Issued new guidance on the National Incident Management Assistance Teams

 Developing procedures to improve effective tasking of Other Federal Agencies for recovery purposes

 Enhancing the Agency’s

analytic capability to collect, verify, and disseminate

information

 Improving crisis action

planning at all levels of the response

Accomplishments In Progress

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• Ensuring a qualified disaster workforce

 FEMA Qualification System (FQS)

implementation was in progress during Sandy response and recovery efforts

• Preparing to deploy the entire workforce

 FEMA deployed nearly all of its available, deployable personnel

• Supporting deployed personnel

 Challenges with staging, administrative, and logistical support

• Ensuring continuity of operations

 Balancing large deployments with steady-state operations

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Developing an Agile, Professional, Emergency

Management Workforce

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Developing an Agile, Professional, Emergency Management Workforce

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 Drafted a new FEMA personnel

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U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency