**August 31, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) DISASTERS AS A GROWTH BUSINESS:

Larsen, Janet. \"Hurricane Damages Soar To New Levels - Insurance
Companies Abandoning Homeowners in High-Risk Coastal Areas.\" Earth
Policy Institute, August 29, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update58.htm]{.underline}](http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update58.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"Damage from hurricanes is soaring off the charts,
bankrupting insurance companies and depriving property owners of
insurance in high-risk areas. During the 1960s, worldwide damage from
windstorms with economic losses of \$1 billion or more totaled just \$4
billion. In the 1970s the figure rose to \$7 billion, and in the 1980s
it topped \$24 billion. Next came the 1990s, when hurricane losses
soared to \$113 billion. Then during the six years from 2000 to 2005,
hurricanes left a staggering bill of \$273 billion\.... Stronger storms
coupled with larger vulnerable populations represent a recipe for
economic and humanitarian disaster.

\(2\) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR HEALTHCARE
SYSTEMS:

Recommend checking out the following course developed by faculty of the
George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk
Management:

Emergency Management Principles and Practices for Healthcare Systems.

Washington DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health
Administration, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www1.va.gov/emshg/page.cfm?pg=122]{.underline}](http://www1.va.gov/emshg/page.cfm?pg=122)

\(3\) FEMA & DHS:

NBC \"Today Sunday.\" \"Interview With Authors of \'Disaster\'.\" August
27, 2006.

\[Audio transcript excerpt: \"This past year there has been plenty of
criticism over the government\'s handling of Hurricane Katrina. A new
book claims that the government\'s obsession with the war on terror
distracted officials from dealing with Katrina and Homeland Security
turned FEMA into a demoralized agency. The book is called \'Disaster:
Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security\'. Authors
Christopher Cooper and Robert Block are joining us to tell us more about
it\....\"

Reporter: \"Why? What was at the heart of it? {Katrina response failure
& DHS}" Cooper: \"That\'s not their core franchise. They\'re interested
in terrorism. And everything else takes a back seat.\" \....

Reporter: \"Amplify for me what I think is the major theme of the book
is that when Homeland was created and FEMA was sort of shifted into this
new role under the Department of Homeland Security that terrorism really
became the focus and we forgot about the disaster planning.\"

Cooper: \"They crammed this small agency into this big bureaucracy. That
was the stuff that the janitors basically did.\" Block: \"Exactly \--
that\'s exactly what happened. There became this new approach that we
needed to be prepared not to respond but to prevent and disrupt and that
became the watchword after 9/11. So if you are prepared to disrupt and
protect, then response becomes a symbol of failure because if you have
to call FEMA, if you have to call responders, it means you failed to
stop the terrorist attack. That works great in theory for terrorism but
you can\'t go out into the shores and tell a hurricane not to come
ashore. That\'s part of the problem.\"\]

\(4\) GLOBAL WARMING:

Lifsher, Marc and Jordan Rau. \"State on Verge of Greenhouse Gas
Restrictions.\" Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2006. At:

[[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-warm31aug31,0,5601690,print.story]{.underline}](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-warm31aug31,0,5601690,print.story)

\[Excerpt: \"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed
Wednesday on a plan to cut by 25% the amount of greenhouse gases emitted
from California electric power plants, refineries and other sources by
the year 2020\.... It would make California the first state in the
nation to fight global warming by slapping caps on carbon dioxide and
other emissions.\]

Rauber, Chris. \"Insurers Feeling The Heat of Climate-Change Losses -
Global Warming is Making Things Increasingly Uncomfortable for the
Insurance Industry.\" San Francisco Business Times, August 25, 2006.
Accessed at:
<http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/08/21/daily43.html>

\[Excerpt: \"The report {Boston-based Ceres Co., sponsored report} \--
co-written by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Evan
Mills, and industry veteran Eugene Lecomte \-- said climate change
ultimately threatens to bankrupt even the largest insurers and
government-run insurance programs unless steps are taken to reduce
warming trends believed to be linked to carbon-based emissions or
greenhouse gases.\"\]

Note: The Chris Rauber article is based on the following referenced
report:

Mills, Evan and Eugene Lecomte. From Risk to Opportunity: How Insurers
Can Proactively and Profitably Manage Climate Change. Boston: Ceres,
August 2006, 55 pages. Accessed at:
[[http://www.ceres.org/pub/publication.php?pid=0]{.underline}](http://www.ceres.org/pub/publication.php?pid=0)

\(5\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Lynn, Richardson R. \"Intrusive Measures Worse Than Terrorism.\" Atlanta
Journal Constitution, August 28, 2006. At:

[[http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/0828edterror.html]{.underline}](http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/0828edterror.html)

\(6\) INSURANCE:

Bliss, Jeff and Jay Newton-Small. \"Policy Disputes Stall Post-Katrina
Rebuilding.\" Bloomberg News, August 27, 2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-sbkatrina27aug27,0,2683829.story?coll=sfla-business-headlines>

\[Two views: A year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his New Orleans
home, Aaron Mercadel said his insurance company has given him \$7,000 to
rebuild. \"It\'s been a joke,\" said Mercadel, 50, whose Lower 9th Ward
house was assessed at \$55,000 before being flooded with 20 feet of
water. \"They send you a check for \$2,000, \$3,000 and expect you to
renovate a whole house.\"\.... Insurers shouldn\'t be criticized for
refusing to cover coastal homes repeatedly damaged in storms, said
George Dale, insurance commissioner for Mississippi. In some places,
\"people shouldn\'t be allowed to build,\" Dale said.\"\]

\(7\) KATRINA:

CNN.com. \"Transcripts: The Situation Room, Michael Brown Interview\"

August 29, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0608/29/sitroom.01.html]{.underline}](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0608/29/sitroom.01.html)

Cohen, Jon, Dalia Sussman, Gary Langer. \"Pain, Fury Still Rage A Year
After Katrina.\" ABC News Online, August 27, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=2360060]{.underline}](http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=2360060)

\[Excerpt: \"\.... Across the 91 counties in Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama designated as Katrina disaster areas, 57 percent of residents
say most of the approximately \$44 billion the federal government has
spent on hurricane recovery in the last year has been wasted - and that
rises to 66 percent in New Orleans, an ABC News poll finds. Other
assessments of the government\'s relief efforts are as bad or worse.
More than eight in 10 in New Orleans, and six in 10 across the Gulf
Coast, are frustrated with the process; nearly two-thirds in New
Orleans, and nearly half across the region, are angry about it. Seventy
percent in New Orleans lack confidence in the government\'s ability to
handle another major disaster. And most blacks in the region and across
the country think race has affected recovery efforts\....\"

DeBerry, Jarvis. \"Misconceptions Distort View of Katrina.\" Boston
Globe, August 28, 2006. At:
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/27/misconceptions_distort_view_of_katrina/>

\[Excerpt: \"Hurricane Katrina is not the story of Nagin failing to
commandeer a few dozen school buses to ride people out of town. It\'s
the story of people who went to school, were awarded degrees in
engineering, and then embarrassed themselves on the job {referring to
Corps of Engineers}. Katrina is also a story that highlights the
insanity of our bring-home-the-bacon method of funding the nation\'s
public works projects. Our senators and representatives are not rewarded
for supporting projects that will keep the greatest number of Americans
safe. Instead, they win accolades for projects that will bring the most
money to their districts and states.\" Note: Jarvis DeBerry is an
editorial writer and columnist for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.\]

Thomas, Evan, Jonathan Darman and Sarah Childress. \"New Orleans
Blues.\"

Newsweek, August 28, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14535072/site/newsweek]{.underline}](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14535072/site/newsweek)

\(8\) MITIGATION:

Barry. John M. \"A City Worth Saving.\" USA Today, August 29, 2006.

Accessed at:

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-29-katrina-forum_x.htm>

\[Excerpt: \"New Orleans can be protected against great storms. Levees
that survive overtopping is step one. Step two is building storm surge
barriers, as the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy and even Providence,
have. Step three - the most important and most expensive - is restoring
the coast. The river still carries enough sediment that, directed to the
right places, it can provide significant protection to the city, even
with the expected rise in sea level. Restoring the coast will cost an
estimated \$14.1 billion - spread over 25 to 30 years.\" Note: John M.
Barry, author of Rising Tide and The Great Influenza, is Distinguished
Visiting Scholar at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane
and Xavier universities.\]

\(9\) PREPAREDNESS:

Lipton, Eric. \"Despite Steps, Disaster Planning Still Shows Gaps.\" New
York Times, August 26, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/us/nationalspecial/26katrina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

Richard, Anne C. \"When The World Wanted to Help America.\"
International Herald Tribune, August 31, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/30/opinion/edrichard.php]{.underline}](http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/30/opinion/edrichard.php)

\[Excerpt: \"\...While America was tempted to try to go it alone in its
response to the hurricane, some of the contributions from other
countries were essential. Lessons from these stories of international
aid suggest that more could be done, both by the United States and the
international community, to be better prepared for next time. America
should be prepared to vet and handle foreign offers of assistance after
a large-scale crisis. The State Department should issue a preapproved
list of useful goods and services, developed with input from other
agencies and disaster experts. In addition, rules must be developed
regarding which regulations (like those governing food inspections and
use of doctors from overseas) can be waived during an emergency. The
outcome should be a system that responds to needs in the field and not
to desires of donors - preventing shipments of unneeded contributions
while taking into consideration legitimate foreign policy
objectives\....Lessons from Hurricane Katrina could contribute to more
effective American and global crisis response; these examples of
international goodwill should inspire American leadership and action.\"
Anne C. Richard is vice president of the International Rescue Committee
and a nonresident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations,
Johns Hopkins University.\]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer. \"The Next Time: Are You Prepared.\" August
29, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/282864_readyed.asp]{.underline}](http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/282864_readyed.asp)

\[Excerpt: \"\....The understandable sentiment among many Americans is
that, in the event of a major disaster, you can\'t depend on the federal
government to bail you out. No matter how accurate, that sentiment
emphasizes the importance of preparedness on the part of state and local
emergency management officials \-- individual citizens\.... The mirror
is where most of us will find the person most responsible for our
survival after a natural or human-caused disaster\.... Hurricanes are a
rarity in the Pacific Northwest, but earthquakes are not. And the threat
of a terrorist attack could face any urban area. We all should insist on
adequate preparedness from our community, our elected officials and
ourselves.\"\]

\[Commentary of Eric Holdeman, Director of King County, WA Office of
Emergency Management, on this editorial: \"All disasters are local and
waiting for the federal government to come bail you out is not a good
plan. Government has a role, but more importantly, every individual and
family needs to do their part to become better prepared.\"\]

Yen, Hope. \"Poll: U.S. Not Ready For Major Disaster.\" Associated
Press, August 27, 2006. Accessed at:

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_re_us/katrina_ap_poll&printer=1>

\[Excerpt: \"Their confidence shaken by Katrina, most Americans don\'t
believe the nation is ready for another major disaster, a new AP-Ipsos
poll finds. Poor people are more likely to fear becoming victims of the
next disaster\.... The survey, conducted one year after the devastating
hurricane and with much of New Orleans still in shambles, found
diminishing faith in the government\'s ability to deal with
emergencies.\'\]

\(10\) RECOVERY:

Hsu, Spencer S. \"First The Flood, Now The Fight - Critics Say FEMA Is
Impeding Gulf Coast Rebuilding As Disputes Hold Up Nearly \$1 Billion in
Relief Funds.\" Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2006. At:

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR200608
2901289.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR200608 2901289.html)

\[Excerpts: \"Through hundreds of\...disputes large and small, the most
costly disaster in U.S. history is fast becoming its most contentious,
with appeals and disputes worth nearly a billion dollars bogging down
repairs of critical public systems and delaying the return of residents.
Current and former officials at all levels blame FEMA workers\'
inexperience with eligibility rules, weaknesses in U.S. disaster laws
and inconsistent treatment by Congress for much of the wrangling. The
huge scale of the storm and honest disagreement over whether federal or
local taxpayers should pay the tab add to the conflict. \'Disasters
should be difficult to declare. . . . But once you get them, FEMA should
not worry about cutting costs,\' said Daniel A. Craig, who stepped down
in October as head of FEMA\'s recovery division and is now consulting
for New Orleans. \'Public entities are eligible for everything they have
lost due to the disaster. It is not up to FEMA to cut corners or makes
sure money is saved\'\....

\'We want to give them what they deserve but . . . make sure they are
not getting more than they deserve, at some other community\'s
expense\'\....

{Gil Jamieson, FEMA Deputy Director for Gulf Coast Recovery}\....

In St. Tammany Parish, officials were told last year that to obtain FEMA
reimbursement, they needed to prove that each tree stump was the work of
Katrina before it could be removed. Cleanup waited for months while the
parish photographed and obtained global positioning satellite data on
each one. When the evidence was presented to a new FEMA crew, they
asked, \'Why did y\'all GPS all these things?\'\....

Generally, the federal government will pay only to restore facilities to
pre-disaster conditions, not upgrade them, as a way of protecting
taxpayers. But several former federal and state officials said the rules
are open to broad interpretation and congressional intervention. In the
wake of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, FEMA appears to be taking a harder
line, several current and former officials said\....

One reason for mistakes is that FEMA has suffered a \"brain drain\" of
top officials familiar with the complex rules to retirements and agency
upheaval in recent years, said David Fukutomi, a FEMA consultant who is
serving as a spokesman. But Fukutomi, who left FEMA this spring to
become director of response and recovery for contractor EG&G, noted that
experience shows that local officials spend more freely when they expect
the federal government to pay their bills.\"\]

Le, Uyen. The Invisible Tide: Vietnamese Americans in Biloxi, MS - An
Update One Year After Hurricane Katrina. National Alliance of Vietnamese
American Services Agencies, August 26, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.navasa.org/]{.underline}](http://www.navasa.org/)

\[Excerpt: \"Twelve months after hurricane Katrina, the
Vietnamese-American community, as with other marginalized communities,
continues to struggle with rebuilding. Vulnerable people have the least
safety nets, and are most unable to survive if public and other sources
of assistance are not readily available or accessible.\"\]

Pender, Geoff. \"Legislators Weigh In With Their Priorities
Post-Katrina.\" Biloxi Sun Herald, August 27, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/15372440.htm]{.underline}](http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/15372440.htm)

\(11\) STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, CANTON \-- EM BT DEGREE HAS BEGUN:

Received news from Dr. Janet McClellan at SUNY-Canton that their
Bachelors of Technology Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management is
now operational and that 12 new majors have been declared in this
program and \"many more\" are anticipated in the Spring. A description
of this program can currently be located in the \"Programs Being
Proposed\" section of The College List on the EM HiEd Project website.
It will soon be modified and moved to the Emergency Management Bachelors
Degree section. Until then, for more information, Dr. McClellan can be
reached at: <mcclellan@canton.edu>

\(12\) WAR ON TERROR:

Ferguson, Niall. \"What If The London Bombers Succeeded?\" Jewish World
Review, August 29, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://jewishworldreview.com/0806/nferguson.php3]{.underline}](http://jewishworldreview.com/0806/nferguson.php3)

\[Excerpt: \"\...I can\'t get over how quickly the world has moved on
since the exposure of the Heathrow bomb plot.\"\]

Kondracke, Morton. \"Congress Faces Tests: Can Parties Fight Terror
Together?\" Jewish World Review, August 29, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/kondracke1.asp]{.underline}](http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/kondracke1.asp)

Lehman, John. \"We\'re Not Winning This War.\" Washington Post, August
31, 2006. Accessed at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083002730.html>

\[Excerpt: \"\.... This not a war against terror any more than World War
II was a war against kamikazes. We are at war with jihadists motivated
by a violent ideology based on an extremist interpretation of the
Islamic faith\.... Rumsfeld\'s question \-- are we killing, capturing or
deterring jihadists faster than they are being produced? \-- must be
answered with an emphatic no\.... In reviewing progress on the three
fronts of this war, even the most sanguine optimist cannot yet conclude
that we are winning or that we can win without some significant changes
of policy.\" Note: John Lehman was secretary of the Navy in the Reagan
administration and later served as a member of the 9/11 Commission. This
is a condensed version of an article that appears in the September issue
of the U.S. Naval Institute\'s Proceedings magazine.\]

Prager, Dennis. \"Just A Reminder About Who and Why We Are Fighting.\"
Jewish World Review, August 29, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://jewishworldreview.com/0806/prager082906.php3]{.underline}](http://jewishworldreview.com/0806/prager082906.php3)

B. Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, N-430

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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