A new report (44 pages) from RAND Corp for FEMA: Streamlining Emergency Management.

“The U.S. emergency management system has met a number of increasingly difficult challenges in recent years, such as extended wildfire seasons, more intense storms, and of course an ongoing global pandemic. In fact, FEMA noted that “the number of annual disasters that [they] have managed has tripled in the past ten years and highlights the pivotal moment that climate change and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have created.”

To combat this, FEMA and other agencies created constructs—programs, grants, assessments, doctrine, and coordination bodies—designed to help assess preparedness; support disaster response and recovery actions; enhance government capabilities through grant funding; and improve organization of emergency responses. However, the large amount of constructs that were created are “poorly integrated and not optimally structured for the current operating environment.” Poor integration can lead to confusion about when to use similar constructs, which can lead to disjointed reporting and a lack of shared situational awareness.

FEMA tasked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), operated by the RAND Corporation, to conduct a review of 31 specific constructs to identify opportunities to streamline, simplify, and strengthen the system. Constructs include the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program, the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), and threat and hazard identification and risk assessments (THIRAs).”

This is a guest posting by Ms Jolie Wills, a practitioner formerly from NZ and now living in the U.S. Readers are encouraged to reply to her via this posting or to her co. website noted below.

Those working in emergencies are feeling the burn. Disasters are increasing in frequency and severity and the layering of disasters is now sadly all too common. We can harm even the most resilient of people if we load them up with too much for too long.

A recent study in Australia (Charles Sturt University) of first responders and disaster workers indicated that:

• more than 50% are showing high levels of burnout
• the group have ten times the rate of severe depression compared to the general population
• 40% are considering quitting their role.
  Here in the United States, burnout has been topping the list of concerns at the last two emergency management conferences I have attended in 2022. Not a rosy picture.

The ramifications of burnout ripple through the sector. For example, with little energy to spare, emergency personnel are reluctant to enroll in continuing education and professional development on top of an already demanding role. This means we are not developing emergency managers to take the place of established leaders and emergency management professionals as they retire out of the field.

We can be reassured – there are methods and approaches to prevent burnout that have been designed specifically for this challenge in these very conditions.

Hummingly has been working to address the challenge of burnout in those working after disasters for the last decade and is bringing those learnings and crisis-informed methods to support the sector in New Zealand.Emergency managers across New Zealand have united in their effort to banish burnout. The local government groups and the national ministry have joined together to take a sector-wide approach to support the well-being and performance of emergency managers and prevent burnout.

So, what to do here in the U.S.? Inaction is not an option. We must question the ethics of continuing to hurt great mission-oriented people when we know this work is psychologically hazardous and when methods and measures exist to help prevent burnout.

If our disaster workers are feeling the strain now due to the cumulative and relentless load they face, how will we fare if we lose the 40% of our workforce that have leaving on their minds? And what will this mean for our communities when disaster strikes?

New Zealand is making moves to banish burnout in the sector. Here are some questions for our American readers:

• How do we make a transformative change here in the U.S. too?
• What would this take?
• Who would we need to get involved?
• What levers would we need to pull?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and please join me in the call to make a sector-wide shift for the benefit of the great people working in emergency management and the
communities they support.

This is an unusual but important posting. The Diva was a friend of the late Bill Anderson, who was an important pioneer in the emergency management research field. Please support this effort to carry on his work.

For those looking to get outside for some summertime activity, the Bill Anderson Fund Disaster Dash is coming up! The Dash is a fantastic opportunity to participate in a virtual 5k walk/run, with the proceeds going to support the Bill Anderson Fund’s (BAF) mission to expand the number of historically underrepresented minority professionals in the fields of hazards and disaster research, policy, and practice. Your support is more important than ever this year, as BAF has recently welcomed their largest cohort of doctoral student Fellows ever! Proceeds from this year’s Dash will support the expansion of the BAF’s professional development programming and research training.

A great moment to get out there in support and share with your friends/colleagues/networks!

Thanks to Lori Peek, Director of the Hazards Center at the University of CO/Boulder, for providing this link to a source of information about new books in the field of emergency management. She noted the New Reads series for a quick download on new publications. And she noted that they always welcome new submissions: https://hazards.colorado.edu/library/new-reads

From the CRS: Selected Federal Financial Assistance for
Emergency Response to Extreme Heat

From HStoday: ‘Unrelenting’ Disasters Compel FEMA to Take ‘Deep Dive’ into Assessing Future Workforce, Criswell Says.

From the GAO: The Three Rs of Pandemic Learning: Roadblocks, Resilience, and Resources.

The Diva just returned from FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, MD, for the 24th annual symposium. This is the first one to be live in 3 years.

It was nice to see old friends and familiar faces, and I met lots of newcomers to the field. I welcome comments from readers who were there.

Of special interest to me is the availability and knowledge of potential users of new text books, since I am the editor of some in recent years. There were several sessions devoted to new books and help for potential authors of books.

What surprised me is how much improvement is needed to bring new books to the attention of potential adopters. Readers of this blog know we feature book reviews, and a full page of this website is devoted to completed Book Reviews. I welcome suggestions about how we can create a better and faster way of calling new books to the attention of adopters.

It is unusual to see a review of a disaster event 50 years later, but that is what this one does. See: FEMA reflects on Hurricane Agnes 50 years later.

With the 50th Anniversary of Hurricane Agnes, one of the worst storms to ever hit the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are holding special events to recall that storm and encourage residents to learn more about their flood risk and take actions now to be prepared as we enter hurricane season in the Mid-Atlantic region.Hurricane Agnes formed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall June 19 as a Category 1 storm and caused significant and widespread damage from Florida to Virginia. before it joined with another storm system before moved into the Atlantic Ocean and back over the Mid-Atlantic region where it dumped immense amounts of rain in the following days and brought flooding to communities like Pottstown and Norristown along the Schuylkill River.According to FEMA, rainfall from Agnes caused catastrophic inland flooding, the geographic scale of which had not been seen in decades. Tragically, 128 people lost their lives across eight states, including 50 in Pennsylvania, 21 in Maryland, 14 in Virginia, and one in Delaware. Across the eastern United States, more than 362,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes due to the flooding, including 222,000 in Pennsylvania alone.

Future FEMA: Reimagining Crisis Response. (Author is Peter Gaynor, former FEMA Director.)  Congress had realized that the nation had multiple and disjointed ways it responded to a variety of major crises.