Lessons we can learn from Katrina: Preparedness is the key

September 6, 2005 - Ironically, September is designated as “National Preparedness Month.” However, at this early stage in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, it appears that we need to revisit the nation’s, as well as each state’s organizational preparedness for major natural disasters. While all those who are working to help relieve the suffering of our fellow Americans in the Gulf region deserve commendation, it appears that federal and state governments might have been better prepared to respond to a disaster such as this, especially with the several days warning that the hurricane was headed toward the Gulf coast.

When I served at FEMA, the agency director, James Lee Witt, was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Unfortunately, the current Administration did not continue this practice. As Director Witt told me then, his membership at the Cabinet level allowed him to be treated by other Cabinet secretaries as an equal, and that made it easier for FEMA to serve in its coordinating role in a disaster under the Federal Response Plan. The President and Congress should revisit FEMA’s place in the government and strengthen its ability to fulfill its mission as the central coordinating agency in a disaster.

Reports that FEMA may no longer be focused on preparedness and training for disaster and that some of those resources have been diluted by the need to serve the Homeland Security function is another cause for concern. If this is true, the President and Congress need to review the steps that need to be taken to restore FEMA to its ability to be better prepared to meet the enormous challenges that events like Katrina pose for America.

My primary assignment at FEMA was to help state and local government support programs that mitigate the effects of major natural events. As we undertake the substantial task of rebuilding large areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and other states in the region, I hope that we will support stronger building codes, coastal and flood plain management requirements, and spend public funds only on sustainable development projects. Building along low-lying coastal areas and flood plains needs to be tightly controlled by federal, state, and local authorities to avoid a repeat of this kind of disaster.

While many Massachusetts residents are offering donations and other assistance to help relieve the suffering of our fellow Americans in the Gulf Coast region, we should also ask whether we, ourselves, are prepared for natural disasters here at home. Like charity, safety begins at home! We should all check out the web site www.ready.gov (you can link to it through the preparedness page on my web site at www.senatormoore.com/prepare) and follow the guides to get a kit of emergency supplies, make a plan for what you will do in an emergency, and be informed of the threats we face in our region. For example, hurricane season for New England lasts through the month of November.

States also need to check their preparedness for natural disasters as well as threats to homeland security. Three bills, now before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, would go a long way to helping prepare the Commonwealth to more effectively respond to events like Hurricane Katrina:

Senate Bill No. 1371 would establish a “Commonwealth Emergency Management and Hazard Mitigation Trust Fund” – a sort of rainy day fund to be available to help rebuild after a disaster and to support projects that would make our communities better prepared. By setting aside some money that would be appropriated each year, we could minimize the possible need for higher taxes after a major disaster since that would be the worst time to raise taxes.

Senate Bill No. 1368 would establish the “Massachusetts Emergency Health Powers Act” to update our century-old public health laws to more effectively deal with a major outbreak of infectious disease whether from terrorism or a flu pandemic. The last time these laws dealing with such safety measures as quarantine were comprehensively addressed was in the deadly Influenza Epidemic of 1918.

Senate Bill No. 1372 (as redrafted) would focus on strengthening the administration and enforcement of the State Building Code by reforming the Department of Public Safety as the Department of Building and Construction Safety. How well, and where, homes and businesses are built can make the crucial difference in their ability to withstand fierce hurricane or blizzard winds and tidal or riverine flooding. Its time that the state’s public safety agency paid as much attention to the safety of where we live and work as it does to carnival rides.

Beyond these important initiatives, we need to consider improving our procedures for ensuring continuity of state and local government in times of disaster. If our capital city of Boston suffered damage from a major natural or manmade disaster, we need to have a plan in place to keep state government functioning to help with relief and reconstruction. This fall, the Legislature meeting in Constitutional Convention, should advance an amendment (Senate Bill No. 17) to the Constitution to preserve our form of representative democracy in time of a major disaster.

If Hurricane Katrina has taught us anything, it is that there is a great deal that we can, and should, do to make our homes, our communities, and our Commonwealth better prepared to deal with horrific disaster regardless of the cause. As the federal government reviews its ability to respond to disasters in the coming months, we should seize this opportunity to help ourselves and our families by making sure that each citizen and each state does its part to be prepared.