emse232

Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

October 2008 Volume 15 - Number 1

International Disaster Update...

FEMA Improves Temporary Housing for Emergencies Response Amid Criticism

By Arthur Lee

After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has improved its responses to major hurricanes in terms of housing and control. Lately, FEMA’s publicity has been decreasing. In the public eye, if a government agency does its job well, publicity about it is normally reduced and it may even fall off the radar. The lack of headlines for FEMA during Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the two latest disastrous hurricanes, indicates that FEMA responded more successfully. In spite of its overall improvement, the FEMA response was still imperfect and draws much criticism.

FEMA was bombarded by criticism for its response three years ago to Hurricane Katrina, the costliest, and arguably the most destructive hurricane to ever hit the United States. The issues that FEMA was under fire for included the late evacuation of disaster areas and insufficient temporary housing for up to 100,000 people [1]. Due to the late evacuations and lack of housing, many Katrina victims were left stranded in the Superdome, the main facility for New Orleans sporting events. The conditions were described as “unbearable” and people felt like “they’ve lived there for years.” The stadium was dark, smelly, and non-fulfilling to the needs of the victims. As a result, violence ensued on many occasions. Looting was also very common during the days of disaster.

The sanitation of FEMA’s temporary shelters has also been questioned in the past year. A recent finding showed that FEMA shelters contain five times the amount of formaldehyde as people are used to [2]. Formaldehyde is a potentially harmful substance that can act as a carcinogen.

FEMA may have redeemed its reputation, however, with its quality responses to hurricanes this year. Its response to Hurricane Gustav (same region as Hurricane Katrina 3 years later) has been touted as a success. Approximately 2 million people were evacuated by plane to shelters before Hurricane Gustav arrived [3]. According to FEMA deputy director Harvey E. Johnson, “I think we’ve seen a very well-prepared nation for Hurricane Gustav.”

Although the response was much improved, the sanitation issue still looms. After the unsafe formaldehyde levels of shelters were brought to light, moving victims to safer shelters has become a priority for FEMA (4). Hurricane Ike temporary housing has been greatly influenced by this issue. The FEMA response was quick and effective, but due to health risks, FEMA officials did not provide trailers to refugees. This left many people unsheltered after the hurricane (5). An agreement was made thereafter between the state of Texas and FEMA in which FEMA agreed to bring in trailers and other housing options which met Texas formaldehyde standards to shelter unhoused victims (6). Although an agreement was promptly made, many were stranded without homes for an extended period of time.

FEMA is still not perfect at managing crises, and it never will be. But it gained valuable experience through its failure during Hurricane Katrina and was generally better prepared to shelter victims during the first two natural disasters of 2008 affecting the US.

Sources

1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090102428.html

2) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/16/tech/main3840261.shtml?source=related_story

3) http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/incident-management/articles/427234-FEMA-mobilizes-against-Hurricane-Gustav

4) http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/04/america/FEMA-Trailers.php

5) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092303529.html

6) http://hutchison.senate.gov/pr092308a.html