“Helping people before, during, and after disasters.” That’s the mission that took me to the Peace Corps, to work for clean air and water at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to serve overseas with Church NGOs, that took me to nursing school, and that ultimately brought me here to FEMA. Now I’ll be leaving the agency and will miss its important work.
My FEMA family are dedicated, passionate public servants working within complex systems to make things incrementally better for the American people. They spend weeks and months away from their families to serve strangers across this nation. They don’t deserve to be scapegoated by politicians and pundits who don’t understand the complexities of emergency management.
No agency is perfect, and there are always ways to trim budgets, increase efficiencies, and find ways to do more with less. What I have seen happen to this agency and other agencies over the past months is a disaster in itself, and the damage will take decades to repair.
Indiscriminate staffing cuts, repealing common-sense policies and regulations that protect folks from losing their homes and children, these aren’t efficiency. It’s rich folks with ideological bones to pick, slashing at social safety nets and decades of hard work.
I’ve worked with teams implementing requirements to elevate infrastructures in floodplains. These programs prevent the kind of catastrophic loss of life we saw in Texas. In January, without explanation or a plan to protect vulnerable communities, the administration repealed all of our work and planning.
I’ve led a team researching and developing policies that provide extra resources to low-income communities during post-disaster rebuilding. Building larger culverts under roads, flood-proofing basements and crawl spaces, building tornado safe rooms in schools to protect kids, concrete poles and guide wires for power lines, and shoring up hillsides to prevent landslides and road closures. Without this help, the most vulnerable communities will continue to suffer the most significant harm. Instead of rebuilding over and over again, we can save money by doing it right the first time. In January, this administration repealed that policy and all the work associated with it. For what? It certainly isn’t saving money, and it puts lives at risk.
I’ve worked with engineers, analysts, and architects to strengthen bridges, fortify potable water and wastewater treatment facilities, and ensure that electrical redundancies are in place in the event of power outages. These are evidence-based improvements learned over decades from hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and thousands of lost lives. It is simply foolish to throw it all away.
This administration’s dysfunction will impact future generations in areas around the nation that are vulnerable to natural disasters. I’ve watched, over the past six months, as politicians repeal practical policies and regulations so that they can have a couple of talking points.
Let me be clear. This is not efficiency. My work with my colleagues was not “woke.” It was NOT “DEI” and it was not “waste.” It was public service and professionalism.
I’m tired of watching young folks in the FEMA Corps and senior leadership being forced out of this agency without plans to replace them. When senior leaders leave abruptly, we lose decades of institutional memory and knowledge rooted in experience. When FEMA Corps is disbanded, we lose our future public servants and leaders.
I’m tired of watching elected and appointed leaders who should be protecting the American people destroy essential policies to score political points. How will they face their constituents when more people drown needlessly and communities remain in ruins?
I’m tired of wondering what the next disaster season will look like without a strong, empowered federal agency leading disaster response and recovery efforts. FEMA mobilizes expensive-to-build and sustain elite teams of experts nationwide. No state can match that investment, and it is inefficient and foolish to ask them to do so.
I’m tired of worrying about my neighbors. It is only a matter of time before a disaster strikes in our area. We’ve had floods and fires before. While we always pitch in to help each other recover, some disasters require more than neighbors can provide. That’s why we invest our taxes in public services that we can call on in disasters. Instead, the leaders in Washington are investing in tax breaks for people who don’t need them and who have enough private resources to protect themselves from harm. You’re never going to see Bezos, Musk, or the other billionaires digging out their neighbors. They will be long gone on their private jets and yachts.
While I’m just one small piece of a large organization, I see the damage that has been done under this administration and am saddened at the lack of understanding or transparency coming from our political leaders. We can do better. We must do better.
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FEMA is a bloated bureaucracy with too many political chiefs and not enough Indians. FEMA should be eliminated and emergency management be made a part of individual state’s government backed up wih Federal money instead of Federal employees helping only who they like.
Truth.
I would like to know what FEMA did for Page County residents from the aftermath of hurricane Fran in 1996.
I didn’t move to Page County until 2008 so I don’t know what relief FEMA may have provided prior to then, but FEMA did help me in 2020 by providing some reimbursement for my mother’s funeral expenses since she died from COVID. I can’t tell you how much that helped me deal with that financial burden.
Melinda Jones. Hard to find how Fran was met, but here’s now from the FEMA app: “Can I apply for FEMA assistance if I have insurance?
Yes, you can. Even if you have home insurance, you might still qualify for FEMA assistance. You’ll need to file a claim with your insurance company and then send FEMA a copy of the settlement or denial letter. FEMA can’t pay for losses that your insurance already covers.
Last updated February 13, 2025”
For uninsured losses FEMA “may” help with basic needs. FEMA is not a replacement for insurance.
There are two Disaster Recovery Centers within 200 miles of Luray for face to face interactions. Both are in WVa. None in VA. Otherwise, applying for help is found in the app.
My question was I’d like to know if anyone in page county received help from FEMA during that time.
During the aftermath of Fran I had heard from local people that the process was frustrating to go through even more so during an already trying time.
So letting local government handle it might be a better alternative.
Depends on what FEMA help you’re talking about.
Food and emergency shelter should be and almost always is free, easy and plentiful.
But getting free government money to rebuild structures should be hard.
First, we need to prevent fraud. That means prove you own the property and that you have need for taxpayer money.
Next, we need to figure out how much the taxpayer should pay when people fail to have private insurance.
It’s not government’s role to rescue people from reckless financial decisions.
Then we need to make sure the taxpayer is not paying to rebuild in a flood plain. Fool me once….
Then we need to be sure the money goes into rebuilding as agreed, not diverted.
You should expect the same process as you’d get from the bank.
Careful, diligent, well documented, sometimes frustrating.
Thank you and yes I agree that does make sense.