New FEMA Director Changing How the Organization Operates
Aug. 24--FEMA has learned from its response to Katrina and is changing the way it will conduct future operations, FEMA Director R. David Paulison told the Sun Herald on Wednesday.
Paulison, who was on the Coast to speak with local mayors and visit an elementary school, said he would work to improve agency communications, logistics during an emergency, debris handling and the way that residents prepare for a disaster.
He is applying the "very pragmatic" philosophy he used as chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department and director of Dade County, Fla.'s, emergency management office to rehabilitate FEMA's tattered name.
"The most important thing that I saw didn't work well was communications," Paulison said. "We had a major breakdown in communications between the local and state governments. We had a breakdown between the state and federal government and, quite frankly, we had a breakdown in communications within the federal government."
The agency will begin deploying reconnaissance teams to disaster areas- beforehand, if possible- that will keep officials updated via satellite videophones and create a system that would be able to handle the multitude of information coming in after a major incident.
"If CNN and FOX can do it, why can't we?" he said The military will also be issued pre-determined mission assignments so local units can begin helping as soon as a disaster occurs.
FEMA has bought 20,000 GPS tracking devices for trucks that Paulison said should eliminate the headaches of not knowing where supplies are delivered.
"Our job is to deliver supplies to the state and their job is to distribute it out," Paulison said. "We had trucks in the wrong place, showing up late, showing up early. It created a big problem for the state."
FEMA has also muscled up stores of MREs, the military meal-in-a-bag used to feed people, increasing the 160 tractor-trailers warehoused before Katrina to 770.
The agency from now on will handle debris contracts differently. It will pay local governments the same reimbursement amount whether officials choose to use the Army Corps of Engineers or private businesses. FEMA used to offer 100 percent reimbursement for Corps of Engineers work and a lesser amount for private haulers.
Paulison is encouraging local governments to have local contractors in place before a disaster strikes.
"We are trying to really revamp the hurricane debris removal process," he said.
He said the average citizen, though, should be prepared with at least food and water for natural disasters that may occur in their areas.
"We have become complacent and dependent as Americans," he said. "One gallon of water will get you through a day. I spent Memorial Day getting ready for hurricane season in Florida."
Paulison has served as the director of FEMA since September 2005, when Michael Brown resigned over widespread criticism of the agency's Katrina response. He is a career firefighter.
"Hurricane Katrina was a watershed event for emergency management in this country. Not just for Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama but for the entire country," Paulison said. "We are moving all of FEMA into the 21st century in both equipment and business processes. We want to be more flexible and less bureaucratic."
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