Disasterology: April 2023

This newsletter is a compilation of recent disaster ~things~ that I think are cool, important, or otherwise of interest to people who are intrigued with disaster (broadly defined).

There’s a little something for everyone!

---

*Rubs hands together* No time for pleasantries. Let’s jump right in.

Get In Losers, We’re Suing FEMA

Nine environmental/ community advocacy groups are suing FEMA for rebuilding the power grid in Puerto Rico without renewable energy. They argue FEMA is actively perpetuating risk by rebuilding infrastructure in ways that will continue to bring harm to the island and that they are ignoring the solutions that would decrease risk and help Puerto Rico be better prepared for the next disaster.

Cue me with the Kris Jenner camcorder “You’re doing amazing sweetie”!! IMAGINE IF FEMA RECOVERY FUNDING WENT TO REBUILDING COMMUNITIES IN A WAY THAT MINIMIZES RISK AND INCREASES THE OVERALL WELL-BEING OF THE COMMUNITY. Sorry to scream but like, yes, hi, hello. DO THAT?!?!? Jeeze.

St. Charles Parish in Louisiana also wants in on the action. They have filed suit against FEMA in pursuit of information on the modeling being used to determine NFIP rates for Risk Rating 2.0. Y’all know I’m always here for the NFIP drama but in all seriousness, the outcome of this type of case (whether this lawsuit or another NFIP-related lawsuit) could have a tremendous effect not only on the future of the NFIP but on where people are able to live.

I haven’t been to law school, but I do feel comfortable using legal jargon in everyday life. So, take this as you will but MORE PEOPLE SHOULD SUE FEMA. We are dramatically underusing our legal system in the disaster context for the benefit of our communities. The federal government (FEMA or otherwise) is not just going to reform emergency management on its own. We must force them/ Congress to do it. One tool in that toolbox is lawsuits. I’m hopeful that we’re entering our Disaster Lawsuit Era.

---

Page Six

The big emergency management gossip this month has been the Florida/ Everbridge fiasco.

“Why is it always Florida”, she sobs.

In case you missed it: residents across Florida were awoken around 4:45 am a few days ago when a test of the state’s emergency alert system went awry. They received a “test” of the emergency alert message on their phones. The problem? The test was intended to air on TV. Oops.

When I woke up, I saw this had happened and thought, “Oh, that sucks” and then simply moved on with my life because accidents happen. Annoying, sure, but this isn’t Hawaii.

Of course, there are real consequences to mistakenly sending an alert. Some people posted online that they were turning off emergency notifications on their phones. That’s not great but also, likely only a small fraction of people. Accidents are going to happen with emergency alert systems. At the risk of stating the obvious, that’s why you run tests… We’d always rather find out about potential issues during a test, than when we actually need it.

So anyway, I didn’t expect to hear anything else about this situation. What I failed to account for (and that’s on me) is that DeSantis never misses an opportunity to be dramatic AF. In what was simultaneously the overreaction of the century and an ovation-worthy act of political theater, by the end of the day FLORIDA SAID THEY CANCELED THEIR EVERBRIDGE CONTRACT. Girl, wut?

I saw multiple local emergency managers in Florida speak out with concerns about how they will be able to send out emergency alerts and how they will find the resources to do so. One might consider that canceling the Everbridge contract is likely to have a bigger negative impact for Florida, than one failed test.

Look, I wasn’t there. I don’t know exactly what happened. But from my understanding of how this system works, and what every other emergency manager I know has said, it is most likely the case that this was human error in Florida. I’m not normally one to defend a private company but there seems to be some grade A gaslighting going on here.

Everbridge thinks so too. They put it out a 10/10 letter dripping in sweet sweet subtext. And, hey, maybe it turns out that this was Everbridge’s fault. I still think that immediately canceling the contract was a wildly disproportionate reaction. It also makes me wonder who the state will be hiring to take their place and who those people have dinner with… But that’s none of my business.

Incidentally, DeSantis wasn’t the only politician to jump on this.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, pledged to file legislation to prohibit such tests between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. — a bill he said would be called the “Stop Wake Act,” in apparent homage to the DeSantis-backed “Stop WOKE Act.”

I— sigh. Imagine if Florida lawmakers spent their time writing legislation that would address the state’s gargantuan risk instead of whatever this is. These are not serious people.

When I got started in emergency management everyone always said Florida had the best emergency management in the country. At the time I took that as gospel. In retrospect, perhaps that was true by some measures (although arguably not by others). And, while I’m not super interested in pitting one state against another, I do think it’s important to recognize the crown belongs elsewhere.

Obviously, the plethora of issues within Florida emergency management is of greatest concern to Florida residents who, as with the rest of the country, deserve to have an effective emergency management system. It’s also a shame for the many good emergency management folks at the local level. Y’all deserve better than whatever DeSantis and the state are doing.

---

A MEME BREAK (for the Succession fans).

---

This Month’s Emergency Management News

Preparedness

• FEMA wants to confront growing challenges with more personnel in Government Executive

Response

• Chasing Clout by Barb Mayes Boustead

• As Wisconsin braced for tornadoes, Republicans text ‘Wisconsin voter alert’ complete with emergency tones in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

• Student journalists reporting on traumatic campus events: How to cope in Teen Vogue

Recovery

• As California floods, a farmworker town feels forgotten – again in The Washington Post

• The federal government accidentally burned down their houses, then made it hard to come home in ProPublica

• ‘It’s unimaginable pain’: The everyday affects of the Marathon Bombings, 10 years later in Boston Magazine

• ‘We feel like nobody cares’: Floods force residents of Fort Lauderdale neighborhood to start over from Local10

• Thousands of Katrina survivors were freed from debt to the state. Those who already paid are out of luck from WWL-TV

Mitigation

• San Mateo County’s new sea level rise plan calls for a 100-foot buffer zone for shoreline development by KQED

• Louisiana’s coastline is crumbling. These Tribes know how to save it in Rolling Stone

• A 1983 repeat? Why Salt Lake City is preparing for flooding – but not a State Street river from KSL

---

The End Bits

I would love it if you’d forward this to your friends, post on social media, and undertake any other form of newsletter sharing you deem appropriate.

In case you signed up for this newsletter without knowing who I am (a bold choice!) you can read my book Disasterology: Dispatches From The Frontlines of The Climate Crisis to catch up! You can read a USA Today review here, order it here, or get it as an audiobook here. You can also find more from me on my blog, listen to this episode of Ologies, or follow me on Twitter and Instagram where I impulsively narrate my every thought. And now TikTok.

Finally, this newsletter is ~FREE~. I plan on keeping it that way because eliminating barriers to disaster knowledge is important. However, I’ve created a “paid subscriber” option for $5 a month or whatever you’d like to give if you’re interested in supporting this work.