The Natural Hazards Center is collecting letters from people within the disaster community about what we believe needs to change as the Biden administration takes office. You can read more about the project here. I wanted to post my letter in case you were looking for ideas. (This is by no means comprehensive, there’s a 500 word limit! So, this is just what popped in my mind first.)
Across the United States, our risk of disasters is growing as we begin to feel the impacts of the climate crisis and the continued repercussions of inequality, poor development decisions, and more people living in more hazardous areas. Emergency management is on the frontlines of addressing this risk and managing the fallout. Unfortunately, our current approach to emergency management is often ineffective, inefficient, and unjust. It is of vital importance that significant reform is undertaken to ensure that emergency management is able to adequately meet the growing needs across the country.
Changes are needed to all aspects of the emergency management system including government, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. It is particularly important to see changes made at the state and local levels across the country. However, given the audience for this letter, I will keep my recommendations to the federal level.
I believe an important first step is to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of current emergency management structures, policies, and programs to determine which areas should be prioritized for reform. This type of evaluation should be conducted independent of federal agencies but should be done with their cooperation and by the leading experts in emergency management, specifically. Critically, recommendations should not only align with field experience but also empirical emergency management research. The following are changes that I would expect such an evaluation to recommend:
Remove FEMA from DHS and restore it to an independent, cabinet-level agency.
In the absence of removing FEMA from DHS, there should be a clear distinction between the two in terms of leadership, vision, and budgets.
Select a FEMA administrator with emergency management experience and expertise who also has a progressive vision for the agency and for emergency management more broadly.
Integrate climate change throughout all relevant policies and programs overseen by FEMA. The agency should plan for multiple climate scenarios.
FEMA should undertake catastrophe planning that aligns with what the empirical research tells us about how responding to these events is categorically different than responding to disasters.
Grow FEMA to have a more robust and permanent staff.
Further fund mitigation efforts and prioritize frontline communities.
Develop a national adaptation strategy/ plan that outlines the approach to prioritizes hazard mitigation support and funding to communities across the country.
Environmental justice should become the driving force of FEMA’s work. All FEMA programs need to be reviewed to prevent perpetuating further systemic inequality.
Overall greater transparency with FEMA. Complete data sets should be made publicly available.
Review all FEMA programs and policies to evaluate the extent to which they are based on empirical research and revise as needed.
Congress must undertake an independent, comprehensive investigation of the failed federal response to Hurricane Maria.
A permanent solution for the National Flood Insurance Program that prioritizes the needs of marginalized communities.
Further clarity on the relationship between emergency management and public health at the federal level is needed.