FEMA Jenny Lenz and Amberly Beckman

To Recap Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. FEMA was responsible for the recover efforts to the area. FEMA received criticism for doing “too little, too late.” FEMA’s public rating was the lowest of all governmental programs.

Objectives & Programs Keep the public informed throughout rescue and relief efforts. Provide housing for those who had homes destroyed in the hurricane. Provide rescue work for people missing or hurt as a result of the hurricane. Allow states to develop recovery efforts Updates were given on the FEMA website and news organizations. Trailers were provided to residents (which were later found to be hazardous). Little information was found on this- FEMA aided in rescue work from reports given. Funds were given to states and individuals as relief aid.

Evaluation Inform Public Adequate job, but only on the positive aspects. Negative information came to light later Provide Housing Trailers were provided, but were found to have high levels of black mold and toxic formaldehyde. Rescue Work Very general work was done in terms of emergency rescue work Give Funding to States Gave states $39 million dollars for recovery

Our Evaluation of FEMA They did not hire a PR firm, which would have helped with their public image. Communication with the public throughout the crisis was lacking, and didn’t improve afterward. Their use of multiple media means was helpful, but often happened too late. Even positive goals, like the housing units or supplies sent to the area were not sufficient, and in the end hurt the campaign.

Our Plan for FEMA Objectives Regain public trust through acknowledgement of fault. Make the efforts to help and rebuild more public. Programming Admit to fault where there were problems, and issue an apology. Hold 10-Year Anniversary fundraisers, benefit concerts, and any other public form of fundraising to illustrate FEMA’s active involvement in the rebuilding process. Evaluation Did FEMA acknowledge fault publicly? Did polls show a higher level of trust by at least 10%? Were the fundraising efforts well publicized? Was it clear that FEMA was holding the events as a tool to rebuild areas hit by Katrina?

Questions/Comments?