April 7, 2023

Said@Duke: Former FEMA Administrator Brock Long on Building Local Capacity to Address Emergencies and Disasters

Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

Screenshot of @NichInstitute tweet. Copy: Last week, former @FEMA adminstrator Brock Long spoke with @DukU and @UNC students about the urgency of revisiting the mission and role of FEMA in the face of the climate crisis. Link: https://today.duke.edu/2023/04/saidduke-brock-long-building-local-capacity-address-emergencies-disasters Graphic:Headshot labeled Brock Long, Former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Large Quotation mark and Said@Duke icon of comment bubble. Text: "I know everybody's like, 'This disaster was terrible. We need a bigger FEMA. We need to reform FEMA.' Well, back up a second. Why are we not building the capability at the local level, within our citizenry, first?" Brock Long, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and now executive chairman at Hagerty Consulting, spoke with faculty and students from Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on Wednesday. Long was joined on stage by event organizers Miyuki Hino (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina), Brian McAdoo (Nicholas School of the Environment), and Ashley Ward (Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability).

Long spoke about the urgency of revisiting the mission and role of FEMA in the face of the climate crisis. His remarks addressed how risk mitigation, preparedness and disaster recovery responsibilities could be better shared among citizens, businesses and government agencies. 

View more from the Said@Duke series.

This article originally appeared at Duke Today.

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