NCDP Perspectives

A look at some key legislation since Hurricane Katrina.

By Zayna Syed 

Streets that looked like canals, the Superdome surrounded by water, scores of displaced people on highway overpasses—these are some of the historic images that emerged from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. As we approach the hurricane’s 19th anniversary, it is worth looking at how much Katrina has influenced emergency management and the legislation crafted in its wake.

Hurricane Katrina exposed major gaps in the U.S. emergency management system. In the United States, the field of emergency management further evolved after the inflection points of the 9/11 and anthrax attacks. These attacks led to a focus on managing security incidents and bioterrorism. However, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina made it clear that the field had prioritized terrorist events to the detriment of other disasters. Lessons learned after Katrina led the field to refocus again on an all-hazards and a more whole-community-oriented planning approach.

Lawmakers and government agencies have made several adjustments since Hurricane Katrina, fundamentally reshaping the emergency management field. Read more about some of the key policy developments since Hurricane Katrina made landfall below:

Post-Katrina:

Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (2006) – This act fundamentally re-vamped the role of a national emergency management agency, giving FEMA greater flexibility and clearer authority in a post-9/11 environment. Among the many changes, this established FEMA as a separate agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and created 10 regional FEMA offices, each with a regional administrator. It also addressed how people with disabilities are affected by disasters, creating a Disability Coordinator within FEMA and disaster assistance from discriminating against people based on disability or English proficiency.

Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (2006) – This act is an amendment to the Stafford Act, which authorizes FEMA to provide rescue, care, shelter, and essential needs to household pets and animals during a major disaster or emergency. The response to Hurricane Katrina made it clear that pets were an essential part of the calculus for people when deciding whether to evacuate. According to one study, 44% of people who refused to evacuate did so because they were concerned about leaving their pets behind. One veterinarian estimated that a quarter of deaths were from people who couldn’t leave their pets behind.

Disaster Recovery Reform Act (2018) – This act introduced a number of reforms. Most significantly, it helped local governments find reliable funding for pre-disaster mitigation. In the past, local governments struggled to identify consistent funding for their pre-disaster mitigation planning. This act created the National Public Infrastructure Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund, which enabled states that had received a Presidential disaster declaration in the past seven years to apply for funding to improve their mitigation plans.

Sandy Recovery Improvement Act (2013) – This act changed many of FEMA’s administrative authorities, marking some of the most significant changes in the way the agency functions since the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988. The act draws on lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, the Category 3 storm that devastated the U.S. eastern seaboard and Caribbean islands. The act’s main goals have been to reduce the financial burden of disasters on the federal government, increase flexibility in who can receive public assistance funds, expedite the provision of those funds, and provide financial incentives for projects to be completed on time and at reasonable costs. In addition to the other provisions was the authorization for a chief executive of a Tribal Nation to request a major disaster or emergency declaration separately from the state.

As climate change continues to disrupt nature’s delicate balance, it will make weather events like Hurricane Katrina more common, more extreme, and more unpredictable. Climate change is also making disasters more complex, with several distinct impacts compounding or cascading upon each other to create a larger total risk. Aside from drastically reducing our emissions, one of the key ways we can prepare for climate impacts is by developing more robust systems for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Whether this means creating new policies, reforming existing ones, or making changes in the way our government agencies operate. Nineteen years later, much has been achieved, but the hard work of building resilience remains.

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Zayna Syed graduated from the M.A. Climate and Society program at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. She is also a student employee at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports project work through research and writing.