Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

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March 2007                                                                            Volume 12 - Number 3

Perspectives...

Hurricane Katrina: My Personal Experience
By Emily McKenzie

On October 3rd, 2005 I arrived in Baton Rouge, LA on disaster assignment in support of the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita recovery efforts.  As a contractor, my assignment was to provide technical assistance at the FEMA Joint Field Office (JFO).  As this was my first deployment, I arrived with mixed feelings, unsure what to expect and what was expected of me. Although I was excited for the opportunity to help in the response and recovery efforts, I was also apprehensive and worried that my experience and skill level would not measure up to the task at hand.

My individual assignment was to work as a GIS Specialist in the Geospatial Intelligence Unit (GIU).  Entering the GIU for the first time was an overwhelming experience.  I was amazed at the energy and enthusiasm that filled the room.  I had never been around so many geospatial analysts at the same time before.  The wealth of knowledge and experience as well as the willingness to share ideas and skills were invigorating.  There was no time to sit back and take it all in as I was thrown into the fire within an hour of walking in the door.  By the end of the second day, I felt as if I had been a part of the team for weeks.

My specific task was to provide mapping support for the temporary housing efforts.  I was assigned to a working group comprised of FEMA, USACE, and Louisiana State officials as well as other contractors who were trying to provide housing options for those in need.  The group needed a product that could display the construction progress and occupation status of housing sites in a simple and concise manner.  This was not an easy task as the massive amount of data that we received everyday was unorganized and often incomplete.  I worked with my group members to establish standards for data collection and retrieval in order to organize the databases and streamline the production process.  I was then able to pull from my previous GIS training to develop a series of map templates that communicated this information easily and effectively while enabling others in the GIU to replicate the process.  Once this process was developed and these maps were circulated throughout the JFO, the GIU began receiving several requests for these maps from other departments and agencies everyday.  The maps proved to be very useful in helping FEMA officials understand the current temporary housing situation and make decisions accordingly.  

My second rotation in January 2006 at the Baton Rouge JFO proved to be quite a different experience.  The energy and positive attitude that was prevalent in the GIU during the first few months after the disaster had dissipated.  Management had been through many changes and the GIU no longer felt like a cohesive team.  Divisions between federal employees and contractors became visible even within work groups.  Map production suffered as new managers did not have enough GIS knowledge and experience to fully understand its capabilities. Analysts were reluctant to share data across agency and contractor lines and consequently simple tasks became cumbersome and time intensive.

 The temporary housing group had also gone through several rotation changes despite its continuing high profile status.  The new group members were unaware of the potential of using GIS to meet their data analysis needs and map requests were much less frequent.  In order to generate interest in the capabilities of GIS I became more creative in the types of maps and analysis that I produced.  My role had significantly changed as I was forced to take a proactive approach to the situation and essentially sell my services.  

My first disaster deployment was a worthwhile experience.  Working in the GIU with so many talented analysts provided me with the opportunity to sharpen my skill sets at a rapid pace.  Even though I was not on the front lines of the disaster directly helping those in need I felt as if I made a significant contribution to the effort.  This experience has motivated me to learn more about emergency management so that I can apply these new skills in a similar situation in the future.