Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Buras, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, causing widespread devastation and flooding throughout the Gulf Coast. Katrina was then, and still is, the worst natural catastrophe ever to occur in the United States.

While the City of New Orleans did not suffer a “direct hit” from Hurricane Katrina, the city’s levees failed in several locations, allowing water from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans. More than 80% of the City of New Orleans remained under several feet of water for almost three weeks. 1.5 million residents of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana (including nearly the entire population of New Orleans) were displaced from their homes. In total, Katrina was responsible for 1,833 deaths and more than $100B in damage.

The days and weeks following Katrina revealed a citywide humanitarian crisis in the City of New Orleans and total devastation on the Mississippi Gulf coast. The response to Katrina, which was generally considered a failure by all levels of government, compelled lawmakers to draft the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) (Pub L. 109-295), which was introduced less than one year after landfall and signed into law on October 4, 2006.

Aerial view of devastation in New Orleans caused by flooding after Hurricane Katrina

Among its most significant reforms, PKEMRA clarified the role of the FEMA Administrator as “the principal advisor to the President, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary for all matters relating to emergency management in the United States.” It also mandated that the FEMA Administrator report directly to the DHS Secretary, protected FEMA from changes to its mission by DHS, and returned to FEMA the functions that had been previously moved into DHS’ new Preparedness Directorate.

Below is a partial list of PKEMRA’s reforms, which are broadly categorized based on Congress’ intended audience and function.

Regarding Presidential Directives and Authorities, Congress:

Mandated that the President establish and maintain a National Preparedness Goal and a National Preparedness System.
Directed the President to establish thresholds for “catastrophic” disaster determinations and gave the President broad authority to provide additional resources and financial assistance in those circumstances.
Expanded the President’s Emergency declaration authorities by allowing the President to provide precautionary evacuations and accelerated federal support without a specific request from the impacted state(s).
Authorized the President to receive gifts (including monetary) from foreign organizations and governments.

Regarding strengthening the roles and responsibilities of the FEMA Administrator, Congress:

Directed the FEMA Administrator to establish the National Advisory Council, develop a National Emergency Communications Strategy, develop a National Housing Strategy, and develop a National Disaster Recovery Strategy aimed at encouraging the construction of disaster-resistant buildings.
Directed the FEMA Administrator to provide technical assistance to state and local governments for “preparation of hurricane evacuation studies and plans assessing storm surge estimates, evacuation zones, evacuation clearance times, transportation capacity, and shelter capacity.”

Regarding FEMA organizational reforms, Congress:

Amended both the Stafford Act and Homeland Security Act of 2002 to better define FEMA’s preparedness mission and to keep FEMA as a distinct agency within DHS.
Renamed the Regional Director positions in each FEMA Region to Regional Administrator and bestowed additional response authorities upon them.
Eliminated the position of Principal Federal Officer from the NRP (to eliminate confusion with the role of Federal Coordinating Officer).
Established the role of Disability Coordinator, strongly emphasized planning for individuals with disabilities and/or special needs, and expressly prohibited discrimination based on disability or limited English proficiency.

Regarding reforms related to Planning, Training, and Exercises, Congress:

Required the DHS Secretary to conduct a comprehensive review of the National Response Plan (NRP) and update the NRP to incorporate lessons learned from Katrina.
Required the NRP to include family reunification measures, address public health and medical needs of evacuees and the general population affected by the disaster, and to clearly describe the roles of the “Senior Federal Law Enforcement Officer.”
Required the NRP to create an additional ESF annex to address protection, resilience, and the restoration of critical infrastructure, and to assign a single federal agency to coordinate maritime salvage.
Directed the FEMA Administrator to submit to Congress a human capital plan that identified workforce size and training shortcomings, and a corrective action plan to address them.
Replaced the previous Top Officials (TOPOFF) exercise series with a new National Level Exercise (NLE).
Directed the DHS Secretary to utilize DoD support in national planning, training, and exercising to “promote better coordination.”
Included a number of provisions aimed at improving contracting and acquisitions and required that DHS conduct fraud awareness training for key staff.

Regarding improvements to FEMA’s Operational Coordination, Congress:

Required the FEMA Administrator to ensure that each Federal agency with a coordinating, primary, or support role in the NRP be capable and prepared to carry out its responsibilities, and to provide an annual report to Congress.
Directed the DHS Secretary to develop pre-scripted mission assignments for DoD support.

Regarding catastrophic disaster planning, and what ultimately would become FEMA’s Catastrophic Planning Initiative, Congress:

Required the FEMA Administrator to develop comprehensive catastrophic operational plans and promoted the notion of Regional Catastrophic Planning as a major initiative. Further, this act sets forth required elements of planning (several paragraphs) and prescribes the federal departments and agencies that should participate in planning.
Directed the Administrator to establish a Surge Capacity Force for catastrophic incidents and maintain a database that contains skills, qualifications, and experience.

Regarding general changes to FEMA Program eligibility, Congress:

Modified the definition of "major disaster" under the Stafford Act to include terrorism, infectious disease outbreaks, and chemical releases that cause damage.
Expanded the definition of "private nonprofit facility" to include museums, zoos, libraries, performing arts facilities, senior citizen centers, and homeless shelters.

Immediately following Hurricane Katrina, several organizations hurriedly produced After Action Reports capturing recommendations for improvements to FEMA’s Response operations and Recovery programs. This included the United States Senate and House, White House Homeland Security Advisory Council, and DHS’ Inspector General. Congress incorporated many of the recommendations for improvement from within these reports into PKEMRA’s final text.

If you’re interested in learning more, the full text of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act can be found on the congressional website. More information regarding FEMA’s progress with implementing PKEMRA reforms can be found in Actions Taken to Implement the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Published: Nov 21, 2008)

Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006