Federal Assistance in Post-Disaster Situations

In the events after a disaster, no matter the kind, there is a good need to accomplish certain goals and needs.  These goals and needs would include the following: disaster management in the health system, how to receive disaster relief and assistance from FEMA, and what occurs if the victims cannot receive the relief they were promised. 

Regardless of the type of natural disaster, the underlying health of the affected population has a significant impact on the disaster management.  People across the world struggle on a day-to-day basis against a laundry-list of chronic health conditions (heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and cancer).  With careful planning of effective public health measures, the care of the people with such conditions can be managed in a disaster situation without an increased negative effect on the health and well-being of the affected population.  However, to make this a feasible reality in such events, public health must be closely tied with disaster management, on a day-to-day basis, to ensure that our medical systems are equipped to handle a large surge of patients which would accompany a major natural disaster. 

Image 1 - Victims getting medical assistance after a natural disaster

Along with this, there is a need to develop a system for educating the public about how to prevent common illnesses and diseases.  “Having a public that is educated about how to manage their own health issues during a disaster is a key component to mitigating the health effects of disaster on individuals and communities.”  During a disaster, one of the challenges we face is that the health communities lay in both private and public sectors.  Hospitals and healthcare facilities are businesses; therefore, it is not always easy for emergency and health managers to coordinate seamlessly with each other during a disaster.  However, in the past few years there have been a couple successful examples.  One of these examples is when corporate pharmacies worked with the federal government to provide the H1N1 flu vaccine to communities throughout the United States. 

FEMA travel trailers are considered an alternate housing option and are only used when adequate housing options are not available.  These trailers are available in two ways: residence who will be located in a FEMA trailer park, and people who have private property that meets certain requirements.  The process for gaining a trailer begins with a toll free call to the disaster assistance helpline (1-800-621-3362).  The second step would be filling out an application.  However, before you can apply, the victim must provide FEMA with a social security number, a reliable phone number, all current insurance information, the annual income for the household, a bank routing number, and a description of what was lost in the disaster.  After applying, either online or on the phone, FEMA will mail the victims a copy of the application. 

Image 2 - FEMA trailers being delivered to disaster areas in the Southern states after Hurricane Katrina

Image 3 - FEMA contractors constructing the trailer's stairs and porch

Then, after 10 to 14 days, an inspector would contact the person if the paperwork successfully went through.  At the inspection, the disaster victim would need to show proof of land ownership, have workable utilities at the site, and sign papers.  In addition, the inspector would examine the land and its damage to create a report.  After an average of 10 days, the person would find out if the site was approved.  The next step is to have the FEMA trailer delivered.  Once delivered, a FEMA contractor will set up the unit and schedule a time to hook up the utilities.  If everything were to go “right” – the paperwork, insurance, and inspection – the displaced individuals would have to find alternate housing opportunities for a minimum of 4 weeks.  On the other hand, if problems arise, FEMA says it could take up to 8 weeks to receive the travel trailer, from the time you call FEMA to the time the trailer’s utilities are connected. 

“Under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, once a president declares a major disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) steps into the fray to provide disaster relief assistance.”  Ernest Abbott, who becomes a lawyer in 1976, is the owner of FEMA Law Associates.  His law firm deals with disputes that arise over eligibility for disaster assistance, which usually occurs between 6 months and eight years after a natural disaster.  There are two different reasons why it takes so long for Abbott to get involved.  The first reason is if issues with the displaced individuals’ insurance companies arise.  The second reason is if an inspector general determines that contracting was not done properly; or that the work should have never deemed eligible in the first place.  In addition, in major projects, structural damage is often hidden and can take a long time to detect. 

Image 4 - Victims in court to try and receive the federal assistance FEMA promised to them

             Collecting bids and price shopping is imperative in the contracting process.  FEMA will reimburse aid applicants no more than 75 percent of the cost of eligible work (debris removal, emergency work, and sheltering).  However, they will only “reimburse only the cost of what they think you would have paid had you bothered to shop around a little bit.”  The length of time this can take is evident in Abbott’s ongoing work with clients affected by Hurricane Katrina, many of whom are still trying to resolve disputes over how much disaster assistance FEMA should pay, six years after the disaster.  The key to working with FEMA is to describe, in writing, the decisions that have been made, the people you talked to, accounting records, and dates when each milestone happened. 

Text

Dunn, C. (2011, September 6). The Legal Ins and Outs of Post-Disaster FEMA Aid.

      Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http;//www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.

      jsp?id=1202513391671

How to Get Disaster Manufactured Housing. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2001, form

      http://www.fema.gov.news/newsrelease.cema?id=19865

The Uber Shelter: Tested and Refined

Rafael Smith designed the Uber Shelter as part of his Master’s thesis project.  The goal of his temporary shelter is to create a design that can be logistically brought to a site after a natural disaster.  His shelter comes to the desired site as a kit-of parts which measures 4’-0” x 8’-0” x 2’-6”.  This kit includes every component that is needed to assemble the two-story, three room structure.  Some of the components include walls made from corrugated polypropylene, a roof made from a UV resistant material, and telescoping support legs.  The multi-story unit allows for increased living space in a small land footprint by utilizing vertical space.  This feature is beneficial in urban disaster areas where land is scarce, such as Haiti.  The shelter has 190 square feet of interior space with a 69 square foot exterior porch and takes up an 8’-0” x 16’-0” footprint. 

Image 1 - Rafael Smith, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, standing next to his Uber Shelter's kit-of-parts

In the spring of 2011, Rafael Smith wanted to take his shelter to Haiti to conduct a pilot study after the earthquake.  The goal of the pilot study is to work with the families living in the Uber Shelter to understand, from the users ‘perspective, how to improve the product.  Therefore, Rafael supplied two incredible families with their own Uber Shelter.  It took Rafael two weeks to find the perfect families to be the recipients of his shelter.  The first shelter was built in the urban camp setting of Adokin in Haiti.  While Rafael was there, he found Genesis and his family.  After spending the day with them, Rafael decided to choose them to be the recipient for the first shelter.  After Genesis’s shelter was constructed, he told Rafael that he wanted to partake in the second shelter’s construction process.

            Rafael observed Genesis and his family, for a week, to discover their reactions while living within the Uber Shelter.  The day after the shelter’s construction, Genesis constructed an 8’-0” tall fence, of scrap wood and tarps, around the perimeter of his land.  Therefore, privacy is very important to the Haitian people.  During the shelter’s design process, Rafael envisioned that the exterior porch area would be open and used for exterior cooking.  However, per Genesis and their community, cooking is a private event and should the exterior porch area should be enclosed for two main reasons.  The first reason for the indoor cooking is that the neighbors can make judgment on how much income a family makes based on the food the family cooks; therefore, indoor cooking is required.  The second reason for indoor cooking is the camps’ dirt roads can cause a lot of airborne dust and dirt. 

Image 2 - A community comes together to help build a shelter for Magdala and her family 

            After the first shelter was built, Rafael met Magdala, through his translator, in a tent camp in Port-au-Prince.  Magdala lives there with her mother and daughter.  After losing their home in the earthquake, Magdala’s sister moved out of the city to Croix-des-Bouquets with her husband and two children.  They currently live in a plywood shelter that is surrounded by tall cinder-block walls.  Magadala’s sister offered to help her move out of the tent camp and onto a plot of land near her, as soon as she can afford to build a shelter. The tent camp Magdala currently lives in can be dangerous due to only having a thin piece of tarp separating them from the exterior elements.  Therefore, Rafael believes Magdala and her family must be experimenting some insecurities about their current living conditions.  Due to this, Rafael decided to construct the second Uber Shelter for Magadala and her family, near her sister. 

Image 3 - The process to take the Uber shelter from a kit-of-parts to a temporary sheltering structure

            Once the shelter was constructed, Rafale quickly realized that some of the “emergency shelter” features of the Uber Shelter were not reflecting the needs of Magdala and her family.  To solve some of the issues, Rafael decided to beef-up the original design to create a more permanent structure.  “The canvas roof was replaced with a corrugated steel roof, plywood walls were added behind the vinyl fabric on the first floor for security, shelving was added in the interior, and a plywood door with locks replaced the Velcro door.  Initially, Rafael thought the steel roof might turn the shelter into an oven; however, the shiny metal reflected the sun and the punched out windows provided an enormous amount of ventilation. 

            Another addition to the original design was a light-weight foundation to help distribute the shelter’s weight more evenly on the soft soil, much like that of snow shoes.  Once leveled and squared, holes were drilled through the two 2x6 “snow shoes.”  Then the earth anchors, provided by Platypus Earth Anchors, were hammered deep into the ground and tensioned for the desired need.  The anchors secure the shelter from any vertical uplift, via strong winds.  Due to Haiti’s extreme summer heat and the modifications to the shelter, Magdala’s shelter was constructed in two days.  In normal situations, the Uber Shelter, with the help of a community, can be constructed in only a matter of hours.  In addition, the shelter was slightly damaged during the transportation to the two desired sites.  Therefore, Rafael made a note of how to prevent this problem in the future. 

Image 4 - The Uber Shelter sits among other shelters in the Port-au-Prince commnunity

            Once both of the shelters were constructed in Haiti, Rafael began to take in the community and their culture.  In his spare time, he got to play with the children in the area.  He helped them refine their homemade bows and arrows.  To help make their arrows fly straighter, Rafael fashioned mock feathers out of corners of plastic water bags.  In addition, Rafael stayed at Magdala’s sister’s house during the shelters construction.  While there he enjoyed a relaxing evening watching the sunset with the family.  After sunset, the family held hands during a family prayer.  Then they sat down to eat cornmeal porridge under the glow of a kerosene lantern. 

Text

From Package to Home. (n.d). retrieved November 5, 2011, from http://ubershelter.

      blogspot.com.

The Single Deadliest Tornado in 64 Years Flattens Joplin Missouri

The tornado season of 2011 was one of the most deadly, costly, and tornadic seasons in recorded history. Imagine waking up one day and your whole town is completely flattened.   One such event occurred in the late afternoon on May 22, 2011, when Joplin, Missouri was devastated by an EF5 multi-vortex tornado.  This tornado, whose width exceeded one mile, rapidly intensified and tracked across the city.  Being only the third tornado to hit Joplin, the 2011 tornado, along with the Tri-State Tornado, ranks as one of Missouri’s and America’s deadliest tornadoes in history.  Experts have estimated the damaged in Joplin to equal $3 billion, making this tornado the single costliest tornado in US history.  In addition, the Joplin tornado is only the second F5 or EF5 tornado to touch down in Missouri.  Due to the tornadoes massive size and strength, a reported 162 people died from the tornado, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in US history and the 27^th deadliest in world history.  Between the day struck Joplin to July 15, 2011, 16,656 insurance claims have been issued with an expected payout of $2.2 billion - the highest insurance payout in Missouri history. 

Image 1 - The one mile wide Joplin tornado

The initial survey reported the Joplin tornado at a high-end EF 4; however, subsequent damage surveys found evidence of more intense damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5 with estimated winds peaking between 225 and 250 mph.  Sunday, May 22at 5:35 pm, the Joplin tornado touched down just east of the Kansas state line.  The damage surveys at the southwestern edge of Joplin rated the tornado between an EF2 and EF3.  However, as it reached the center of the town, at 5:41pm, the tornado rapidly intensified.  At the St. John’s Regional Medical Center, it was reported that the entire hospital was shifted four inches off its foundation.  The area after the hospital is the beginning of the EF% damage corridor.  Within this corridor, virtually every house was flattened.  The Joplin High School’s graduation ended only hours before the tornado hit, saving hundreds of lives.  “As the tornado hit the Pizza hut at 1901 Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded 4 employees and 15 customers into a walk in freezer.”  Since the door could not be held shut, due to the tornado’s suction force, Lucas wrapped a bungee cable around his arm, with the other end attached to the freezer door.  The tornado’s force was too much for Lucas to hold back; therefore, Lucas dies after being sucked into the storm. 

Image 2 -  The EF5 damage corridor running through the highly residential areas

Due to having winds up to 250 mph, the Joplin tornado hurled large objects (concrete blocks, trucks, and parts of buildings) up to 1/8 of a mile away.  At 6:12 pm, the Joplin tornado lifted just east of Diamond, MO.  This tornado, in its 37 minute lifespan, left a 22.1 mile long path of destruction.  Only days after the horrible disaster, the American Red Cross discovered some numbers responding to the tornadoes destruction and intensity.   In the 37 miles it was on the ground, the Joplin tornado completely destroyed 25 percent of the town, 2,000 buildings and 7,000 houses were leveled, 75% of Joplin reported damage, and 800 houses and/or buildings were damaged.  In addition to the building loss, the human and animal loss was just as devastating.  As of September 20, 2011, 162 know deaths have been directly linked to the tornado.  In addition, 1,3000 were missing and 900 people were injured, making the Joplin tornado the deadliest US tornado since that of the Woodward, OK tornado on April 9, 1947.  Of the 162 deaths, 54 percent died in their residences, 32 percent died in a non-residential building, and 14 percent died in their vehicles.  Due to the large number of deaths in residential areas, Joplin officials announced plans to require hurricane ties between the home and their foundations.

Image 3 - A little girl searching through the rubble for her belongings

 Officials have also stated that they have rescued 944 pets, 292 of which have been reunited with their owners.  “It is utter destruction anywhere you look to the south and the east – businesses, apartment buildings, companies, houses, cars, trees, schools, you name it, it is leveled, leveled,” said Joplin city Councilwoman Melodee Colbert-Kean.  has donated $500,000 to help with the cleanup and recovery efforts in Joplin.  “With devastation loss of 30% of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead.  Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hard working, humble, and especially resilient,” Pitt told a local reporter.  Along with Brad Pitt,s donation, FEMA has provided $5.6 million in housing assistance, which includes rental and home repair assistance.  Currently rebuilding, cleanup, and city planning is taking place in the devastated area of Joplin, MO.

Image 4 - A father rescuing his daughter from the debris from his leveled house

Only days after the tornado, hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers flooded to Joplin, MO.  The organizations included: the American Red Cross, FEMA, the Salvation Army, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Mennonite Disaster Services, and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.  The volunteers that have helped/ or are helping Joplin include 6 shelters, 120 points of distribution, and 23,000 volunteers.  Samantha Morris, a St. Louis school teacher, volunteered after the tornado hit Joplin.  ”I could have taken a summer trip; I had some of my fellow teachers who invited me to go with them.  When I saw the videos of the devastation here in Joplin, I just knew I wouldn’t feel right laying on a beach while these people are suffering,” Morris said.

Image 5 - Even though an area in the USA was destroyed, the American flag still finds a way to wave in the breeze

            Among the 32,000 volunteers, several players, coaches, and staff from the NFL’s St. Louis As of August 2 2011, more than 750,000 cubic yards of debris has been removed from the Joplin area.  In addition, more than 49,000 containers of household hazardous waste has been collected and removed.  Fellow Missouri resident, Brad Pitt, along with the Joli-Pitt Foundation, has donated $500,000 to help with the cleanup and recovery efforts in Joplin.  “With devastation loss of 30% of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead.  Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hard working, humble, and especially resilient,” Pitt told a local reporter.  Along with Brad Pitt,s donation, FEMA has provided $5.6 million in housing assistance, which includes rental and home repair assistance.  Currently rebuilding, cleanup, and city planning is taking place in the devastated area of Joplin, MO.

Text
Pape, J. (2011, August 2). Volunteers Activate in Joplin Recovery. Retrieved November 1,
      2011, from http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=4252

Charity Awareness Through A Unique Colorful Watch Design

Travis Lubinski and Trevor Jones started an organization called Flex Watches.  Flex Watches was created to inspire change, as well as become a symbol for a vibrant, active life.  Through their organization, they have developed the 10 – 10 – 10 standard (10 colors. 10 charities, 10 percent).  They hope this standard will achieve many goals.  The first goal is to create a new unique solution to watch design.  The second goal is to team up with 10 various charities to spread awareness through 10 unique watch colors (each color represents a different charity).  The third goal is to give 10 percent of each sale to the respected charity.  The 10 charities are the St. Barnard Project, the APDA, the Be Perfect Foundation, Nika Water, Breast Cancer Awareness, First Descents, The Imerman Angels, Life Rolls On Foundation, the LOHN, and the Mariners Outreach.  The mission of the St. Bernard Project (orange watch) is to create housing opportunities for Hurricane Katrina survivors so they can return to their homes and communities.

Image 1 - The orange watch represents the St. Bernard Project

Image 2- The orange band that can be paired with any of the other 9 colors

The APDA (yellow watch) is the country’s largest grass root organization serving the Parkinson’s community.  Each year they provide 4.5 million dollars to help fund research and patient care.  The Be Perfect Foundation (green watch), founded by the Hargrave family assists spinal cord victims who lack the financial means to pay for their medical care.  Nika Water (blue watch) strives to end the cycle of poverty.  They also want to create awareness and knowledge to get people involved in bringing clean water to poverty-stricken countries.  Breast Cancer Awareness (pink watch) supplies money to help make the country and the world aware that breast cancer comprises 22.9 percent of all cancers in women, worldwide.  The charity strives to show, women and men, the warning signs of breast cancer, how to perform self checks, and where to get a diagnosis.  First Descents (purple watch) helps to improve the lives of young adults with cancer by offering outdoor adventurous activities to help increase their self confidence.  The Imerman Angels (grey watch) carefully matches a person touched by cancer (a cancer fighter or survivor) with someone who has fought and survived the same type of cancer (a Mentor Angel).  The Life Rolls On Foundation (white watch) is dedicated to assist and inspire young people affected by spinal cord injuries.  They use action sports as a platform to demonstrate infinite possibilities despite paralysis.  LHON (black watch) was developed for those individuals who work up one morning and realized they have lost their central vision in either one or both eyes. 

Image 3 - The red watch represents the Mariners Outreach

Image 2- The red band that can be paired with any of the other 9 colors

Lubinski and Jones met Nathan Stodghill in San Diego, in the fall of 2011, during the taping of MTV’s The Real World.  Throughout Stodghill’s life, he has endured a number of suicides.  In addition, both Stodghill and his family has experienced their own family euthanize themselves.  Due to this Stodghill has developed The Living Memoir (TLM).  TLM is a forum about suicide awareness, and does so by providing four main aspects.  TLM is intended for people to remember the past (rewind section), live in the present (play section), think about the future (fast forward section), and unwind any emotions (eject section).  Along with providing awareness, TLM gives 20 percent of its profits to various suicide prevention foundations.  Currently Stodghill is working with Lubinski and Jones to develop another Flex Watch to support TLM.  To help support the Flex Watch Organization and their charities, people around the world can buy a complete watch ($30) or just the band ($15) on their website (flexwatches.com).  The purpose of this is to give the buyers the opportunities to mix-and-match the watches and bands to support multiple charities at the same time. 

Text

Created For People to Express Themselves in a Time of Crisis. Retrieved October

      25, 2001, from http://wwwthelivingmemoir.org

What is Flex Watches all about. Retrieved October 25, 2001, from http://flew

     watches.com

New Orleans Superdome: A Safe Emergency Shelter?

In August 1971, construction began on a 13 acre, 21 story tall stadium which was located in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Four years later, the 134 million dollar Superdome was opened to house its first NFL game, featuring the New Orleans Saints and the Cincinnati Bengals.  Since its opening, the 76, 468 seat Superdome has been used as a emergency shelter on a few occasions.  In 1998, the dome was used to house 14,000 people during Hurricane Georges.  During Georges, the dome did not experience damage due to the weather; however, the evacuees stole furniture and damaged property which resulted in thousands of dollars in losses.  In addition, there were great difficulties in supplying the thousands of evacuees with the needed necessities for a emergency situation.  In 2004, the dome was used again during Hurricane Ivan.  During Ivan, more than one thousand special-needs evacuees took shelter within Superdome. 

Image 1 - thousands of fleeing people waiting in line for shelter within the Superdome

In August of 2005, the massively strong Hurricane Katrina was on a collision course with New Orleans.  Even though the storm’s intensity was decreased from a category 5 to a category 3, just before making landfall, New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, demanded a mandatory evacuation of the city.  Even though, during the two previous uses of the Superdome as a emergency shelter, city officials still had not stockpiled enough fuel, food, and other supplied needed to handle the requirements of the prospected thousands of refugees taking shelter within the dome during Hurricane Katrina.  In 1999, the director of emergency preparedness or St. Tammany Parish told the Times-Picayune, “over the years, city officials have stressed that they did not want to make it too comfortable at the Superdome since it was safer to leave the city altogether.  It is not a hotel."

When Katrina came ashore, 9,000 residence and 550 National Guardsmen took shelter in the Superdome.  Once the levees around the city were breached, the number rapidly grew to 15,000 to 20,000 from those seeking refuge from the flood. During Katrina, officials set up security checkpoints, which confiscated alcohol, weapons, and illicit drugs from those seeking refuge in the dome.  Unlike previous hurricanes, Katrina sheared away much of the roof’s covering; therefore, water leaked into the stadium.  The storm and the leaking water, combined with the 20,000 refugees, caused$185.4 million in damage to the Superdome.  Due to this, the New Orleans Saints played their 2005 games in San Antonio’s Alamodome and Baton Rouge’s Tiger Stadium.

Image 2 - Lines blocks long were formed to gain emergency sheltering from the floods in New Orleans.

While the Saints called these two stadiums home for the 2005 season, the Superdome was still being used by thousands.  Due to high winds, leaking water, and extended use, many of the dome’s normal functions suffered.  One of those functions, the dome’s bathrooms, exemplified horrific conditions in the wake of Katrina.  The dome lacked power; therefore, the bathrooms did not have working lights.  This caused the people to be afraid to enter.  In addition, the toilets began to become backed-up.  The stench from the bathroom caused the refugees to find other options for a bathroom.  These options included empty bottles, boxes, and even in exposed corners.  Due to these hazardous bacterial conditions, many medical issues were formed the individuals started to get fevers, rashes, and experienced vomiting.  In addition, the individuals’ medications were quickly running low.  Most of which were needed to preserve homeostasis within their bodies.  One refugee, Becky Larue explained that she was down to her last blood pressure pill and had no idea when they would get out or when she could get the medical help she needed. 

Image 3 - People waiting hours in line just to receive sheltering and the necessities needed for living

However, the refugees were not the only ones who were greatly affected in the dome.  The workers trying to help the refugees were also impacted.  One worker, Janice Singleton, said she was robbed of everything she had on her, even her shoes.  She also stated, “They tore the dome apart.  They tore it down.  They were taking everything out of there that they could take.”  Due to housing 20,000 people, the Superdome and the refugees experienced large quantities of trash.  Both inside and out, including the Superdome’s 50 yard concourse which connected it to the shopping mall was a sea of trash that was five feet deep in some areas.  Even though the workers were trying to keep the dome as clean as possible, they were greatly outnumbered.  Therefore, the only area that remained clean was the areas in which they were currently cleaning. 

Image 4 - A view of the conditions within the Superdome only days after Katrina hit New Orleans

Days later, public transportation started to arrive to the stadium to transport the refugees to safer conditions.  Conditions inside the dome, even though thousands were being ferried to Huston, remained unbearable.  In addition, much of the medical staff that had been working in the “special needs” area was some of the first to be evacuated.  This left the remaining thousands of people to continue to suffer medically and get worse.  In January 2006, work began to clean up and renovate the Superdome.  Nearly 4,000 tons of trash and debris were removed, along with 1.6 million square feet of damaged carpeting, 650,000 square feet of wall hoard, and 500,000 square feet of ceiling tiles.  On September 24, 2006, the Superdome hosted its first game or event since the 2004 season.  This game featured the New Orleans Saints taking on the Atlanta Falcons.   

Text

Superdome Evatuation Completed. (2005 September 3). Retrieved October 27, 2011

       from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9175611/ns/us_news-katrina_the_long_road_

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