Norton Hearing to Apply Lessons from FEMA Workers Now in Haiti (1/21/2010)

Norton Hearing to Apply Lessons from FEMA Workers Now in Haiti

January 21, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management will hold a hearing, Wednesday, February 3, at 2p.m.,Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2167, on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) program, which has six teams rescuing people from the rubble of the Haiti earthquake. The Congresswoman spoke yesterday with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, who briefed her on the FEMA USAR teams in Haiti, who are among 558 FEMA personnel deployed to Haiti for rescue and recovery, along with other skilled emergency personnel. "As FEMA personnel perform live-saving, humanitarian work in Haiti, our country and our subcommittee also stands to benefit from what we are learning there, in preparation for similar catastrophes along earthquake fault lines and in similar disasters in the United States," Norton said. Two of the federally funded FEMA teams are from Fairfax County and another is from Los Angeles, all of whom are dual U.S and international teams. In addition, two urban rescue teams from Florida, a second team from California, and a team from New York also have been deployed for rescue work in Haiti. There are 27 FEMA urban rescue teams throughout the United States funded through the Stafford Act, under the Congresswoman's subcommittee jurisdiction. They have unique rescue and recovery expertise in their areas of the country. FEMA also has its own firefighters, emergency technicians, structural engineers, and similar personnel in Haiti, who, Norton believes, "will bring home not only gratitude from Haiti, but lessons for the United States." Among the most important of the personnel in Haiti is a Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) team. The MERS team has communications equipment that can operate regardless of the nature of the disaster.

The Congresswoman said that the FEMA urban rescue teams have unique skills well beyond typical emergency workers. "These FEMA teams, along with surgeons and other medical personnel, are the most important personnel on the ground in Haiti," she said. The Congresswoman is holding the hearing now because a bill to reauthorize the urban rescue teams has been reported and could be strengthened based on findings from the Feb. 3 hearing. Many areas in the U.S. are earthquake prone, some in unusual places, such as Tennessee. Norton said, "The subcommittee is interested not only in rescue and recovery, but also in disaster mitigation, such as state building codes, that would prevent the crumbling of buildings and the loss of lives we see in Haiti today."