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FEMA announced the
revision of eight Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (RiskMAP) standards as
part of the semi-annual maintenance process. The revised standards add letters
of map revision (LOMR) to the standards addressing use of preliminary data, and
update and clarify requirements for letters of map amendment (LOMA) in coastal
high hazard areas. The changes also clarify requirements for “lettered” mapped
cross sections on maps and profiles, and set the requirements for Key Decision
Points during the mapping process.
Section 22 of the
Homeowners Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 allows fee exemptions to enable
“Map Change Requests” for habitat restoration projects. FEMA issued a mapping
standard to fully implement this provision of the law. In addition, Sections
217 and 218 of Biggert Waters Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12) specified changes be
made to FEMA’s map appeals process and the Scientific Resolution Panel. With
the issuance on July 31, 2015, a new standard regarding the Scientific
Resolution Panel, FEMA fully implemented these two provisions of BW-12.
A summary of the changes
in the standards and the public review is available at the FEMA
library.
As part of this maintenance
cycle, FEMA also issued new guidance documents for RiskMAP and updating the
related technical reference documents that define specific requirements for
flood risk project deliverables. A summary of RiskMAP standards and guidance
maintenance is available at www.fema.gov/guidelines-and-standards-maintenance.
In August 2013, a set of
standards for the RiskMAP program was issued as the FEMA policy “Standards for
Flood Risk Analysis and Mapping.” RiskMAP provides high quality flood maps for
communities to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), as
well as information and tools to better assess the risk from flooding. The
standards enable consistent performance of flood risk projects, processing
letters of map change, and related RiskMAP activities.
RiskMAP instituted a
semi-annual maintenance process for this policy to provide regular updates and
procedures for mapping. Updates to the mapping standards will typically be
issued twice yearly.
FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) regularly
updates courses to meet the changing and evolving training needs of its
students and the emergency management field. Recently, EMI revised its six courses within the public
information and external affairs topic areas, specifically incorporating new content on
strategic communications and social media. EMI is in the process of
piloting these courses across several states to ensure the content is
consistent with the requirements and demands of the nation’s public information
professionals. Arizona was the first state to offer one of the pilot courses.
See what students had to say at https://dema.az.gov/dema/news/arizona-pilots-new-pio-course.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) released three new topical fire reports that look at the characteristics
of fires in one- and two-family and multifamily homes and other residential
buildings for the period 2011 to 2013. Annually, an estimated 372,900 fires in
residential buildings resulted in an average of 2,530 deaths, 13,125 injuries
and $7 billion in property loss. Eighty-three percent of all fire deaths and 79
percent of all fire injuries occurred in residential buildings. These reports are available for free download from the U.S. Fire Administration's website at www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/reports.html.
The USFA statistical reports
explore aspects of the U.S. fire problem that affect Americans in their daily
lives. Primarily based on data collected through USFA's National Fire Incident
Reporting System (NFIRS), the reports briefly address the nature and relevance
of the specific fire or fire-related problem, highlight important findings, and
suggest other resources to consider for further information.
Starting October 1, 2015, all transportation service
providers seeking to participate in FEMA’s Logistics Supply Chain Management
System (LSCMS) will be required to log in through FEMA Logistics’ new
performance tracking system in order to accept contracts for service. FEMA’s
Logistics Transportation Management Branch (TMB) began implementation of this
first-ever federal Transportation Service Provider performance metrics program to
measure vendors’ performance in January 2015. Carriers will now be
assessed on five performance metrics on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis.
The data captured in LSCMS will allow FEMA to more efficiently respond to the commodities
needs in disasters/incidents by tracking trends to improve the overall
performance of these service providers.
In the wake of disasters, people often wonder whether
there is a way to protect both people and property from such devastating
losses. Mitigation is the way to provide that protection. Hazard mitigation
means taking action to reduce or prevent future damage, preferably before a
disaster strikes.
The Mitigation Best Practices webpage on FEMA.gov highlights different stories about how mitigation assisted with reducing or preventing damage from disasters. Learn more by visiting www.fema.gov/mitigation-best-practices-portfolio.
The Ready Campaign and America's PrepareAthon! created an online toolkit that
collects how to tips, and images for using social media tools as a way to
promote hurricane preparedness. Components of the toolkit can be used
throughout hurricane season.
FEMA's EMI conducts a monthly series of Virtual Tabletop
Exercises (VTTX) using a video teleconference platform to reach community-based
training audiences around the country and provide a virtual forum for disaster
training. The VTTX programs are designed for a community-based group of at
least ten or more personnel from local or state emergency management
organizations with representatives from other disciplines such as public
safety, public works, public health, health care, government, administrative,
communications, military, private sector, non-governmental, and other whole
community partners. Participants must have an appropriate site equipped with
video teleconference capability that can access FEMA.
EMI will conduct VTTX
programs between August and September 2015 on a variety of subjects:
- August 25-27, 2015:
Building Collapse Focused
- September 1-3, 2015:
Public Health Infectious Disease (written and hosted by the CDC)
To apply for a VTTX
event, submit an email request to participate in the exercise to Doug Kahn at douglas.kahn@fema.dhs.gov or call
301-447-7645. The deadline for applying to participate in a VTTX is four weeks
prior to the start date.
FEMA announced $180 million
in funding available through two Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant
programs: Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM).
These two grant programs assist state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments in strengthening our nation’s ability to reduce the potential cost of natural disasters to communities
and their citizens.
Both HMA FY 2015 Funding Opportunity Announcements can be
found at www.grants.gov. Eligible applicants must apply for funding through
the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal accessible at https://portal.fema.gov. All applications must be submitted no
later than August 28,
2015 at 3 p.m. EDT.
FEMA's HMA grant programs
provide states, local governments, tribes, and territories funding for eligible
mitigation activities to strengthen our nation’s ability to reduce disaster
losses and protect life and property from future disaster damages. Further
information on these grant programs is available at www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance.
FEMA is
reminding National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders, who filed a
claim as a result of Hurricane Sandy, they have until September 15, 2015, to register to have their claim files reviewed if they believe their claims were underpaid.
FEMA is committed to
ensuring every NFIP policyholder who filed a claim as a result of Hurricane
Sandy receives every dollar they are due under their policy. The agency
established a process for Hurricane Sandy survivors to have their claims reviewed,
and where warranted, additional payments will be made to those policyholders.
FEMA sent letters to approximately 142,000 NFIP policyholders who filed claims
resulting from Hurricane Sandy, offering them an opportunity to have their
files reviewed. To date, more than 8,900 policyholders have joined the process.
To be eligible for the
review, policyholders must have experienced flood damage between October 27,
2012 and November 6, 2012, as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Policyholders can
call the NFIP’s Hurricane Sandy claims center at 1-866-337-4262 to
request a review. Alternately, policyholders can go online to www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandy-nfip-claims to
download a form requesting a review. The downloaded form may be filled out and
emailed to FEMA-sandyclaimsreview@fema.dhs.gov to
start the review process. For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or
have a speech disability using 711 or VRS, please call 866-337-4262. For
individuals using a TTY, please call 800-462-7585 to begin the review process.
Before contacting the claim center, policyholders are asked to have their flood
insurance carrier name and policy number at hand.
FEMA will request the policyholder’s claim file from
their insurance company and forward it to the NFIP review office within two
business days. Files will be assigned to a highly skilled, NFIP-certified
adjuster who will serve as a caseworker for the insured. The entire process
should take less than 90 days. Caseworkers will contact policyholders to guide
them through the review process. Additionally, there
are several nonprofit service providers ready to offer free advice and answer
questions policyholders may have. A list of these advocacy groups can be found
on the claims review website at www.fema.gov/sandyclaims.
Policyholders who have already registered for the
Hurricane Sandy claims review do not need to take any additional action and can
expect to be contacted by their caseworker.
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