summary of federal policy for transportation of hurricane evacuees

8/14/2019 Summary of Federal Policy for Transportation of Hurricane Evacuees

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Summary of Federal Policy for Transportation of Hurricane Evacuees

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act)

was made law in 1988 as an amendment to the Disaster Relief Act of 1974. This Act

constitutes the statutory authority for most Federal disaster response activities(FEMA, 2009). The Disaster Relief Act appropriated financing to the Department of

Homeland Security for the Stafford Act (Bea, 2005). The Stafford Act authorized the

President to declare major disaster areas and, through Department of Homeland

Security, to administer assistance to state and local governments. Under the

Stafford act, grants are to be made to states and localities for the purpose of

establishing programs for the development and maintenance of mass evacuation

plans (FEMA, 2007, p. 107).

The Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (Post Katrina Act) of 2006

amends both the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Stafford Act to clarify the

roles of the federal government agencies in emergency management. Specifically,the federal government is mandated to partner with State and local

governmentsto build a national system of emergency management that can

effectively and efficient utilize the full measure of the Nations resources to respond

to a catastrophic incident ("Post Katrina Act," 2006, Sec 512). The act requires the

federal government provide assistance with the preparation of hurricane evacuation

studies and requires the FEMA administrator to establish a plan and schedule for

completing, maintaining and periodically updating evacuation studiesto ensure

that States and local governments have complete information available to them for

the preparation of their own evacuation plans ("Post Katrina Act," 2006, Sec 535).

The Act specifically requires that each State include in its evacuation plan detailed

and comprehensive predisaster and postdisaster plans for individuals with specialneeds[and] those unable to evacuate themselves ("Post Katrina Act," 2006, Sec

221). There is a specific emphasis on the States responsibility to develop a plan to

evacuate all persons, including those who need additional assistance.

The Post Katrina Act requires the National Response Plan (NRP) to incorporate

lessons learned from the 2006 hurricane season (National Response Framework,

2008, p. 2). But the analysis of the 2006 NRP criticized the plan for being too

focused on the national issues at the expense of the local and State governments. As

a result, the Plan was revised and renamed as the National Response Framework

(NRF) with the intent to commit the Federal Government, in partnership with local,

tribal, and State governments and the private sector, to complete both strategic andoperational plans (National Response Framework, 2008, p. 3). Integral to the NRF is

the emphasis on the coordinating and assistance role of the Federal government.

The Federal governments role is explicitly described as follows: When an incident

occurs that exceed or is anticipated to exceed State, tribal or local resources, the

Federal Government may provide resources and capabilities to support the State

response (National Response Framework, 2008, p. 6). The NRF clearly requires the

State Governor to request assistance from the Federal government except in two


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types of extenuating circumstances. The NRF makes it clear that all levels [of

government] have a responsibility to developresponse plans, but acknowledges it

is the responsibility of the Federal government to facilitate interagency and

intergovernmental plans (National Response Framework, 2008, p. 28). The NRF

delegates responsibility to States and local governments for the development of

detailed, robust, allhazard planswith supporting procedures and protocols toaddress their locally identified hazards and risks (National Response Framework,

2008, p. 74). In addition to requiring the States and localities to include plans for

persons with special needs and those who cannot evacuate themselves, the NRF

introduces the element of household pets.

The NRF is not complete in itself, but incorporates Emergency Support Function

Annexes which groups federal resources into functional response groups as well as

support annexes, incident annexes and partner guides. The Mass Evacuation

Incident (MEI) Annex to the NRF gives specific instructions and guidelines to all

levels of government for the planning and execution of evacuation of large numbers

of people. The MEI Annex specifically ensures that federal agencies will coordinatetheir actions with State, local and tribal governments and emphasized the

supporting role of the Federal government (National Response Framework: Mass

Evacuation Incident Annex, 2008, p. 2). The MEI Annex requires States and local

governments to consider the needs of all persons in the evacuation plans, including

those with household pets. The Annex specifically notes that individuals may

choose to not evacuate if directed to leave their animal(s) behind and therefore

requires evacuation plans to include plans for pets (National Response Framework:

Mass Evacuation Incident Annex, 2008, p. 3). The Annex provides further details of

the Federal responsibilities, including the oversight of aerial evacuations and the

coordination of fuel for the evacuation. The Annex also suggests the use of transit

agencies and school district buses for transportation of evacuees, but emphasizesthis is at State and local responsibility (National Response Framework: Mass

Evacuation Incident Annex, 2008, p. 12).


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REFERENCES

Bea, K. (2005). Federal Stafford Act Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations,

Eligible Activities, and Funding.

FEMA (2007). Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act as

amended and Related Authorities.FEMA (2009, Friday, 29May2009). Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and

Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93288) as amended Retrieved

October 3, 2009, from http://www.fema.gov/about/stafact.shtm

National Response Framework(2008). Washington DC: Department of Homeland

Security.

National Response Framework: Mass Evacuation Incident Annex(2008). Washington

DC: Department of Homeland Security.

Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006(2006).

summary of federal policy for transportation of hurricane evacuees

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