FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate Shares 3 Lessons from 2011

By: Craig Fugate on February 02, 2012

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Photo courtesy of Brittany Trotter/FEMA

2011 was a memorable year for those of us in the emergency management field — and for the many Americans impacted by disasters.

Massive blizzards simultaneously blanketed dozens of states across the country. As snow melted, parts of the Midwest and upper Midwest experienced severe flooding. Texas and other states fought dangerous wildfires for months.

Last spring, our nation was devastated by the deadliest outbreak of tornadoes since the 1950s, with multiple instances over just a few weeks. In August, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia and was felt as far as New York City — just one of the 5,017 earthquakes experienced in 2011, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

And as expected, the 2011 hurricane season didn’t give us a break. We had 19 tropical storms, the third-highest total since records began. Irene became the first hurricane to make landfall since 2008. Days later, Tropical Storm Lee proved that storms don’t have to be hurricane strength to cause significant damage. Then there are the thousands of smaller disasters that communities handled every day, out of the media glare.

So as we reflect on the past year, many wonder, what lessons did we learn?

First, not all disasters come with warnings — and we all need to be ready. Last year, various areas of the U.S. were hit with different types of disasters. Some, like the floods along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, were well forecast. Others, however, came with little to no warning. And even with some events, such as Hurricane Irene, we may have had advance warning, but there wasn’t great certainty of forecast.

Ultimately we all are vulnerable to these hazards. It’s very difficult to prepare for them at the last minute. If we all take away one lesson from 2011, I hope it’s that we all have a responsibility to be prepared.

Second, we can’t underestimate the importance of the entire team. For a long time, we’ve talked about planning for the needs of the whole community and leveraging the resources of the whole community to meet those needs. We saw it in action repeatedly — in the southeast after the tornadoes, in Joplin, Mo., in May and in Vermont after Irene.

All of these response and recovery efforts engaged the entire team, including federal, state and local officials, the private sector, nonprofits, the faith-based community, volunteer groups and most importantly, the public. And it made a remarkable difference.

Third, 2011 further proved that we must prepare for worst-case scenarios or “maximum of maximums.” Japan’s tragic earthquake, resulting tsunami and power plant meltdown was a big wake-up call for all of us. We need to get serious about planning for incidents that involve significant loss of life, destruction of property and threats to our power grid or other infrastructure.

In many ways, 2011 reinforced what we already know: Disasters can strike anytime, anywhere; it takes the entire team working together to effectively serve communities and survivors; and we must continue to plan for and test ourselves for the maximum of maximums.

As we begin 2012, let’s apply those lessons and do our part to help the team by getting prepared.

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