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The USNS Comfort arrives in New York City in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sara Eshleman) Download OriginalIt really became personal for me when the USNS Comfort arrived in New York City.
I looked across the river as I was driving in this morning and had a flashback to the morning 18 ½ years ago when I was told that a small plane had crashed into the Trade Center. Our lives all changed at that moment, just as they have now.
I remember having the USNS Comfort come then. However, we didn’t need it for what we need it for now. We didn’t need it for people who needed hospital care. We needed it for crisis counseling for a lot of fire chiefs and police officers who were really, really overcome with the grief they faced from the death of their friends and people that they worked with. And we needed it to house and feed federal workers who came to support New York City and the Nation. I’ll never forget the feeling, and how perfect the names are, the “Comfort” and “Mercy.” I was told their predecessors were here in 1918 for the pandemic we had then.
The federal government has always been here to support the city. The Army, the Navy, the Marines, they’ve always been here for us when we needed them. And they’re here again for us now. I get flashbacks knowing that the city is under such stress now, and once again, it is personal for me. I spent 30 years in the fire department, so when September 11th happened, it was personal. Those lost were colleagues. They were leaders. They were friends. Everyone was affected by September 11th. And that’s what’s happening now.
Everyone is affected by the coronavirus in one way or another – a friend, a relative, a loved one that you can’t go and see because they’re in quarantine. I stopped to speak with a 100-year-old lady last week and stood six feet away. And I know everybody has put in this same care and effort.
I know how tough the people of this city are, and I’ve seen us take on some seemingly insurmountable challenges. Once again, we will take on this challenge together, even if its six feet apart. What we’re all going through is strange, but it’s necessary, and it is going to make a difference. The more we separate, the more everybody stays away, the better off we’ll be and the faster we’ll get out of this.
After September 11th, it seemed like every day we were fixing stuff, and it was getting slightly better. The grief, of course, was enormous, but the operation seemed to get slightly better every day. With this, we’re not there yet.
Help has arrived and it’s going to make a big difference. These visible signs of what our government is bringing to bear to help New York will help us defeat this pandemic. FEMA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are working with the city and state to supply everything we possibly can to expand the medical capacity as quickly as possible. We’re working to find solutions and doing all we can to slow the spread and treat those who need help.
Your government will be here for you. I’m really proud to be part of it.
Posted: March 31, 2020, 12:03 amAuthor:In times of uncertainty, helping others can have a significant impact. To make the most of your contributions, it’s important to follow these guidelines for donating and volunteering responsibly.
Donations
Financial contributions to recognized organizations are the fastest, most flexible, and most effective method of donating. Organizations on the ground know what items and quantities are needed, often buy in bulk with discounts and frequently purchase through businesses local to the affected area, which supports economic recovery. Critical needs change rapidly, so do not collect or distribute donations of supplies without understanding community needs.
To find a list of trusted organizations supporting COVID-19 response efforts that can put your generous contributions of money, donations, and time to the best possible use, visit National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
If you would like to donate bulk medical supplies or equipment (not individual items or small qualities), please provide us details on what you are offering.
Volunteers
Don’t self-deploy to affected areas. Trusted organizations operating in the affected areas know where volunteers are needed, and can ensure appropriate volunteer safety, training and housing. You can offer your services by visiting National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster to find and connect with organizations in your area that might need volunteer support.
Licensed Healthcare professionals that want to volunteer can get information on eligibility, view credential levels by clinical competency and register with the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals in their state. Medical Reserve Corps volunteers can help in different ways in their communities (call centers, drive through clinics, and more) by contacting a unit in their area.
Volunteers are also currently needed to donate blood. Many blood drives have been cancelled, impacting the supply. Blood donation centers have the highest standards of safety and infection control. To find where you can donate blood, visit the American Red Cross.
Posted: March 27, 2020, 7:03 pmAuthor:FEMA continues taking aggressive and proactive steps to address the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Under the direction of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, FEMA, the Department of Health and Human Services and our federal partners are working with state, local, tribal and territorial governments to execute a whole of America response to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and protect the public.
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories and four tribes are working directly with FEMA under the nationwide emergency declaration for COVID-19. FEMA is working with HHS to deliver additional supplies and ventilators. This includes using its Logistics Supply Chain Management System to procure and track commodities to supplement state and tribal purchases. FEMA also issued a $350 million Mission Assignment to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of alternate care facilities in New York.
It is important that requests for assistance, especially for critical supplies, get routed through the proper channels as soon as possible. The most efficient way to identify critical gaps and get results:
- Consistent with the principle of locally executed, state managed, and federally supported response, requests for assistance at the local and county levels should first be routed to their respective state.
- Any needs that cannot be met by the state or tribe should then be sent to the respective FEMA regional office. FEMA regions will direct requests to FEMA National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. for fulfillment.
- If you have medical supplies or equipment to donate, please email FEMA’s National Business Emergency Operations Center.
All 10 FEMA regional response coordination centers have been activated to support response efforts. FEMA Regional Administrators are coordinating closely with their state, local, tribal and territorial governments to determine the type and level of support needed which could include the deployment of liaisons and Incident Management Assistance Teams.
To help slow the spread of COVID-19, review the guidance: 15 Days to Slow the Spread. To help the public distinguish between rumors and facts about COVID-19, visit the FEMA Coronavirus Rumor Control page.
Posted: March 24, 2020, 11:38 pmAuthor:October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month; a month to ensure all Americans are safer and more secure online. At FEMA, we are always focused on preparing ourselves, our partners, and the American people for the many threats and hazards we face as a nation. As the need for cybersecurity has grown, so too has our cyber preparedness efforts.
In partnership with our colleagues at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), we support numerous programs aimed at making the nation more resilient to cyber-attacks. In the past ten years, we have invested over $165 million in grant funding to bolster state and local jurisdictions’ cyber preparedness. While more can always be done, this funding addresses what we are seeing in national reports and assessments where cybersecurity is identified as a national area for improvement. Our state and local partners are using the funding to develop cybersecurity plans and programs, provide training, conduct outreach and exercises, and acquire hardware and software, firewall enhancements, and closed emergency network infrastructure.
Just like a more traditional response to a natural disaster, we must also be ready to respond to a “cyber disaster” as a cyber-attack can trigger physical consequences. These physical consequences could result in significant impacts to governments, businesses, and individuals. Thus, we work with CISA and other federal agencies to ensure our response plans are coordinated and rehearsed regularly with our government and private sector partners.
Next year we are facilitating a national level exercise based on a major cyber-attack. The exercise, known as NLE 2020, will integrate several existing exercises, including CISA’s series of exercise modules called Cyber Storm. This will enable us to examine different phases of a connected incident through a unified and collaborative effort. The exercise participants will include all levels of government and the private sector. We will examine each participants’ respective roles and responsibilities to respond to such an event. Our joint goal is to ensure this is the largest and most impactful cyber exercise for all our stakeholders. Exercises, such as this large-scale event or the more frequent offerings led by CISA, are instrumental in increasing our level of preparedness for cybersecurity incidents.
We also provide our state and local partners with the technical skills they require to make their communities more secure and resilient to cyber-attacks. We offer over 20 online and in-person courses, focused on everything from network assurance and digital forensics, to information security and cyber incident response. Since 2004, FEMA has trained more than 87,000 federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial officials on cybersecurity.
But cybersecurity does not fall squarely on the shoulders of government. Every American has a role to play, which is why this month is focused on raising awareness about what you can do to protect yourself at home, work, or school. Using complex and different passwords for your accounts, keeping your antivirus software and operating systems up to date, and scrutinizing emails before clicking on links are simple things that make a big difference. The theme of this year’s awareness month is “Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT.” because these individual steps are often more important than technological solutions. Learn more about what you can do at Ready.gov/cybersecurity.
Preparedness is a team sport. Whether it be for natural disasters or cyber-attacks, it takes all of us to reduce our vulnerability to these risks. Given increasing cyber threats, we should strive to build a culture of cyber preparedness.
Daniel Kaniewski is deputy administrator for resilience at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Agency’s Acting Deputy Administrator.
Posted: October 28, 2019, 4:31 pmAuthor:October is National Community Planning Month. Community planners around the globe join the American Planning Association in highlighting this year’s theme of “Planning for Infrastructure that Benefits All”. This year, the focus is on how well-planned infrastructure projects strengthen communities, boost the economy, expand opportunity, and promote equitable development. Infrastructure projects include transportation systems, housing, parks, dams and levees, and communication systems, among others.
The topic of well-planned infrastructure is especially relevant to FEMA’s mission as we continue to focus on increasing community resilience across the nation through mitigation activities. A key area of focus is specifically mitigating those infrastructure systems that are considered “lifelines.”
Lifelines are systems, like roads and power, that allow critical government and essential business operations to continue. Lifelines are essential to human health and safety, or economic security. They include police and fire departments, hospitals, power plants, arterial roads, grocery stores, and the cellular towers that connect everything. These often-interconnected systems are, simply put, essential for communities to keep the “lights on.”
The best way to protect lifelines is to include them in your state, local, tribal, or territorial mitigation plans. Over 20,000 communities across the country begin planning for resilient actions and projects in their hazard mitigation plans. Mitigation plans help decision-makers understand their risks from natural hazards and prioritize actions that will reduce the impacts of future events. Often, these actions include improving and investing in lifelines. For example, a mitigation plan can help identify infrastructure-protecting actions like:
- Adopting and enforcing up-to-date building codes
- Retrofitting and strengthening infrasturtucture to resist natural hazard damage
- Raising roads and bridges to maintain dry access during flooding
Plans become a great source for mitigation projects when funding becomes available, whether it is from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program or another source.
Mitigation can and should be a part of everyday considerations, and the important role that planning plays is highlighted under FEMA’s recently released National Mitigation Investment Strategy. Often when people hear the words “hazard mitigation” their minds quickly jump to elevated homes and shelters for riding out storms, but those are only a few of the many great options for protecting where you live, work, and play.
By integrating mitigation plans with community planning processes, we can create safer, more sustainable neighborhoods that make mitigation a part of everyday life. For example, community planners can promote safe growth principles, protecting citizens by encouraging people to live in areas at lesser risk for flooding or earthquakes. Or when designing a new community park, developers could incorporate a drainage pond for storm runoff to reduce flood risks to nearby streets and housing. By including lifelines and risks to hazards in community planning decisions, you not only make your community safer from natural hazards, but more sustainable and resilient as well.
Learn more about National Community Planning Month and those FEMA programs that work with community planners every day here:
- FEMA’s National Community Planning Month
- Mitigation Planning
- National Mitigation Investment Strategy
- National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
- Floodplain Management
- Building Sciences
- Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP)
- National Dam Safety Program
- Hazard Mitigation Assistance and the upcoming Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities (BRIC) funding stream
For more information about National Community Planning Month, visit https://www.planning.org/ncpm/.
Posted: October 23, 2019, 4:15 pmAuthor:It only takes one storm, one flash flood, or one inch of water to cause significant damage to a home or business. September marks National Preparedness Month – a reminder to all of us that we need to be prepared for unexpected disasters and emergencies that can strike at any time. One of the most important steps you can take to prepare for the next storm is to purchase flood insurance.
One year ago, this month, Hurricane Florence released record-breaking rain on the Carolinas and much of the Southeastern United States. The powerful storm dropped up to 35 inches of rain on eastern North Carolina alone, causing flash floods throughout the region. Florence survivors Tony and Rita Morello of New Bern, North Carolina lost everything, but they were prepared with flood insurance.
After the storm, it took Tony and Rita Morello days to get back to their home from a family reunion in Georgia. When the couple finally arrived, they discovered that everything in their home had been destroyed. The Morellos were left with nothing but the items in their suitcases and the clothes on their backs. The realization was devastating, yet the Morellos knew they had a flood insurance policy that would allow them to recover, rebuild, and get back to their routine.
As we know all too well at FEMA, disasters happen every day. National Preparedness Month is an opportunity for all residents to take simple steps today to reduce the impact of storms tomorrow:
- Create a family emergency plan and talk to your children about what to do during a disaster.
- Get involved with community preparedness efforts and sign up for alerts and warnings in your area.
- Learn your evacuation zone.
- Build a preparedness kit or “go-bag” with water, food, medications, clothing, and critical financial, medical, and legal documents.
- Speak with your insurance agent to renew your policy or visit FloodSmart.gov to purchase a new flood insurance policy.
Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the United States. Purchasing or renewing flood insurance is one of the most important steps you can take to financially prepare for a disaster. Most homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies do not cover flood damage, and just one inch of water in the average-sized home can cause more than $25,000 in damage. Insured residents, like the Morellos, can recover quicker and more fully from a flood than their uninsured neighbors.
Preparedness makes us more resilient as a nation, and it starts with you: individuals, families, and communities, taking the right steps to protect the life you’ve built.
Posted: September 26, 2019, 6:32 pmAuthor:National Preparedness Month is every September when we focus on preparing ourselves, our families, and our communities for the disasters and emergencies that can happen where we live, work, and visit. This month we encourage everyone to take actions that will make us better prepared to reduce the impact of disasters. The 2019 theme is: “Prepared, Not Scared,” and focuses on teaching children the importance of preparedness.
Over the last two years, emergencies and natural disasters have tested us as a nation. We have responded to unprecedented hurricanes and wildfires as well as flooding, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other unexpected, perilous events. As emergency managers we know that our efforts will be most successful if the public is prepared.Disasters affect everyone, so it takes everyone to help prepare. This includes making sure our children are prepared. Ask your child’s school and child care providers about how you’ll be reconnected with your children in the event of an evacuation. Talk to your kids about what to do in a disaster. This can be a tricky conversation to navigate but using the resources available on Ready.gov/kids can make it easier to talk through the topic.
Preparedness starts with having an emergency plan. An essential part of this is ensuring you are financially prepared. To start, keep emergency cash at home to have on hand if you need to leave your home quickly. Start an emergency or rainy-day fund to cover unexpected disaster costs that include food, water, hotel, gas, and insurance deductibles; this can help stem the impact of lost income. Sticking to a budget can be hard but saving even a small amount can make the difference during recovery. Also, take steps to protect your personal finances. By collecting, copying, and storing your financial information now, it could help you avoid problems and recover faster after a disaster. Use and share this checklist with friends and loved ones to make sure you have the information and documents you need.
Before a disaster occurs, be sure to check your homeowner’s or renter’s policies to ensure adequate coverage. This includes making sure you have flood insurance, which is typically not covered by homeowner’s insurance. Just an inch of water can cause more than $25,000 of damage to your home.
Another important step is developing a family emergency communications plan, designating an out-of-town person to serve as a contact for all family members to reconnect. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find. And sign up for First Aid and CPR training so that you know what to do if a family member, friend, neighbor or co-worker needs your help. Life-threatening emergencies can happen in the blink of an eye, and emergency responders may be minutes away, when seconds count. You may be able to save a life by taking simple actions immediately.
While we may not know when or where a disaster could strike, taking steps to be prepared can reduce the impacts to you and your family. Go to Ready.gov to learn more.
Posted: September 19, 2019, 2:30 pmAuthor:As the storm track and severity of Hurricane Dorian changes, it’s important for those in its forecasted path to stay alert to the dangers it could bring.
Pay attention to the forecast in your area, and be prepared to follow guidance from local officials. You may be ordered to evacuate with little notice. Be ready to leave, have a plan for where you will go.
Areas in the storm’s path include Florida, southeastern Georgia and the Carolinas. Impacted areas could experience life-threatening storm surge, dangerous winds and significant infrastructure damage in the coming days. This could include damage to power, water and road systems.
The window of time to prepare is rapidly closing, so don’t wait to finalize your storm preparations.
- In Florida, download the FL511 mobile app for updated road and traffic conditions on evacuation routes. You can visit floridadisaster.org for information on emergency preparedness, shelters, road closures and evacuation routes. In Georgia, visit GEMA.Georgia.gov for evacuation or storm updates. In South Carolina, download the SC Emergency Manager mobile app. In North Carolina download the ReadyNC mobile app.
- Download the FEMA app (in English or Spanish) for directions to open shelters, a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, disaster survival tips, and weather alerts from the National Weather Service.
- Visit Ready.gov for more information on what you can do ahead of this dangerous storm.
FEMA and its federal, state, local, tribal partners will continue to dedicate resources and staff until this storm is no longer a threat to our country.
Posted: August 31, 2019, 5:03 pmAuthor:Every year, FEMA and the United States Coast Guard meet to discuss the past year’s hurricane response efforts and to plan for future storms. It may not sound extraordinary, but it’s not only one of the best opportunities for FEMA to engage with the Coast Guard on our joint mission to protect the homeland, but it also brings together multiple FEMA Regions (representing the states most at risk from hurricanes) to discuss how we can better prepare for future storms.
This annual gathering allows us to learn how the Coast Guard is securing and reconstituting U.S. ports, conducting maritime operations, and fulfilling requests for search and rescue both at sea and in response to a major storm. Most importantly, it provides us lessons in leadership to take back to our organizations on how to do better for future storms and improve our decision-making processes.
The 2019 Senior Leadership Seminar took place June 26 – 27, 2019 in Norfolk, VA. In addition to recapping our operational posture and response to Hurricanes Florence and Michael, we discussed our emergency support functions for hazardous materials and search and rescue. Each of these brings FEMA and the Coast Guard closer together, as we swap stories, experiences, and lessons learned from past storms.
We also looked at the mission, where FEMA has often partnered with the Coast Guard to respond to hazardous material and oil releases and conduct search and rescue operations during contingencies. Throughout the 2017 and 2018 Hurricane Seasons, we worked together to protect communities and carry out our mission. The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is no different. By talking about the challenges facing our communities and the areas of opportunity for positive impacts in our response, FEMA and the Coast Guard are better prepared for the next hurricane.
The seminar allows us to collaborate even with the differences across our regions. Each response to hurricanes is unique, but they can inform how we do things and how to do them better. Lessons from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Michael, Florence, and beyond are changing the way we train staff, engage our states, and build capabilities to respond to an emergency. They impact every community differently, but our mission doesn’t change: helping people before, during, and after disasters. Each day, we’re making decisions to help prepare our communities and partners for the next storm, which is always different than yesterday’s response. It’s one of the most important aspects of our work with the Coast Guard, too, in that we can and continue to do better so we can serve our communities when they are most in need.
In each of our Regions and at the Coast Guard, we are identifying innovative approaches to future storms with the dual goals of reducing their impact on communities and improving our ability to respond to them.
In Region II, we are engaging industry partners to address our complex logistical challenges and improve supply chain redundancies, implementing a mentoring program to support capacity building, and collaborating with local partners to strengthen infrastructure resilience. In Region III, we are not only adapting our timelines for response but increasing our logistics capability, talking about debris missions, and expanding our FEMA Integration Team Program. In Region IV, we have instituted readiness visits with the region’s and states’ emergency management leadership where concerns specific to each state’s unique needs and capabilities are discussed transparently, effectively, and consistently during on-site visits. Each meeting has produced specific, measurable tasks and timelines which support the state’s training, staffing, logistics, and programmatic capabilities. In Region VI, we continue to hold regular exercises and quarterly Regional Interagency Steering Committee meetings to gather our state, local, federal and tribal partners in one room to discuss how our capabilities have changed and what to expect during the next disaster.
Following a storm, the Coast Guard supports FEMA and state agencies in a variety of missions, including search and rescue, and works with federal, state and local partners to reconstitute the Maritime Transportation System in the impacted port quickly to prevent disruption to the flow of commerce.
We’re making decisions in support of these initiatives and more, knowing that our communities, states, and the public across the nation are counting on us. Our job, our responsibility, and our charge as leaders is to ensure we are ready. This seminar is one example of the steps we are taking to ready ourselves, our Region, and FEMA to respond to the next hurricane.
Posted: July 15, 2019, 2:05 pmAuthor:
The Puerto Rican community of Toro Negro is located in the central, mountainous municipality of Ciales. The isolation and privacy of this small community has been cherished by its residents for over 100 years. It was in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, however, that the remote nature of the community proved to be a challenge.
Its seclusion—the closest town is a 35-minute drive—reduced access to basic services such as garbage pickup and mail delivery. As the hurricane’s aftermath worsened, the limited basic services created pollution and raised public health concerns.
The 32-household community quickly realized they needed to become more self-sufficient in order to recover from the hurricane. They began to take initiatives to expand infrastructure and minimize dependency on outside services.
Toro Negro installed donated solar panels and battery storage system to generate its own electricity. They rebuilt roads and bridges to improve the basic services they had lacked following the storm. They even made plans to create a community aqueduct.
Another Toro Negro community project that has started to take shape is the “Mapa Madre,” or “Mother Map” in English. This project identifies archaeological sites, garbage collection points and ongoing reforestation efforts in bodies of water that cross the municipalities of Barceloneta, Barranquitas, Ciales, Corozal, Florida, Jayuya, Manatí, Morovis and Orocovis. Once all the information is gathered, the “Mapa Madre” will be the ideal mechanism to develop strategies to protect the area’s watershed.
As of July 5, 2019, FEMA has obligated about $2.5 million through its Public Assistance program to the Municipality of Ciales, where the community of Toro Negro resides. The funds have reimbursed disaster-related expenses for emergency protective measures and debris removal. These emergency protective measures are actions taken to eliminate or lessen immediate threats either to lives, public health or safety, or significant additional damage to public or private property in a cost-effective manner.
While this type of aid is essential to recovery, it is communities like Toro Negro that have proven that disasters like Hurricane Maria are no match for empowered community members.
Posted: July 10, 2019, 4:50 pm
