Hurricane Katrina 20 Years Later: Lessons, FEMA’s Future & Disaster Preparedness

As the former Chief of Staff of Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards, and the former Director of Louisiana's Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Mark has extensive experience in emergency management and disaster recovery, and he brings unique insights into the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. We're excited to have Mark on the EisnerAmper team as we support our governmental clients recovering from disasters.

So, Mark, you and I have worked on a lot of disasters in Louisiana, including Hurricane Katrina, the BP Oil spill, lots of historic floods, and the pandemic. It's hard to believe that Hurricane Katrina was 20 years ago, one of the most devastating natural disasters in our nation's history with over 1,300 lives lost.

Before we dive into the conversation, I'd appreciate if you tell me a little bit more about your background, especially through Katrina and what brought you here today.

Mark Cooper:

A lot of decades. But one of the things you didn't say, Jennifer, we've known each other for, believe it or not, almost 17 years, and goes back to my time coming back to Louisiana. I have a lot of decades of experience, and that's good and bad. I mean, it shows my age. This gray hair, each one of these hairs has something to do with a disaster I've responded to.

Actually goes back to my time with Los Angeles County. I graduated from LSU, grew up here in Louisiana, but went to LA after getting my master's degree from LSU. Cut my teeth there and worked in a number of organization over 20 years, including public safety organizations.

And actually, my first disaster was the Los Angeles riots back in 1992. And that kind of was my first introduction to emergency management and really kind of fell in love with the profession. And spent time with LA County Fire Department where I responded or supported the Northridge Earthquake response with our urban search and rescue teams. And actually the Oklahoma City bombing before that. We sent USAR teams there, and I know you have some of that in your background as well.

Katrina actually brought me back to Louisiana. I had an opportunity, it was an EMAC request, Emergency Management Assistant Compact from Governor Blanco to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the governor at the time, to send an LA County team to assist New Orleans to begin the recovery process.

Well, given that I was a deputy chief at that point with LA County Fire, and I was from Louisiana, they thought that I would be a good person to be part of that intergovernmental team that was deployed. Didn't go so well in New Orleans. We may talk about that in some of these other questions. But what it did was after that three-week deployment, and I'd always wanted to come back or thought about coming back to Louisiana. I loved my time out in LA County.

But after that experience, I felt like that maybe I have something that I could offer. Seeing all of the things that happened during Katrina and the response. That brought me back to the state. And as you mentioned, Governor Bobby Jindal hired me after he was elected to be Head of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Did that for almost four years.

During that time, we had Gustav and Ike, which was a major deployment. It was actually the first time after Katrina that FEMA had to respond to a major disaster. So that was really interesting, just seeing how all that played out and the interest that FEMA and others had in our response. And then BP Oil spill.

And then because of my support of public-private partnerships, Walmart asked me to join their team to head up their Global Emergency Management. Which I did for almost six years, including Hurricane Sandy and many other things that happened all over the country. Because the private sector, as you know, plays a major role in disaster response.

And then as you indicated, Governor Edwards brought me in to be his Chief of Staff, and it was right after the 2016 floods. And knowing my emergency management experience, he thought that that would be something that could assist me in my role, given the recovery was going to be a big part of what his administration was going to face.

And then we had three major hurricanes and we had as well as the pandemic. So a lot of time during that as well. So over the last 30 years, there's been a lot that I've been involved in. Certainly have gained a lot of experience, and I'm happy to be part of your team and continuing in that in a different role.

Jennifer Butler:

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Katrina was a defining moment in emergency management. So even with other major storms that have recently happened, what really stands out about Hurricane Katrina?

Mark Cooper:

Well, I can remember when it first occurred. And at that point, the EMAC requests hadn't gone in to Governor Schwarzenegger. And I remember watching it play out on TV and thinking, oh, my gosh, what's going on there? What's going on with this response? Because America, just like recently, what happened in Texas with those storms, were just glued to what was going on in Louisiana.

But when I came here, and as I indicated, it was a lot of frustration. We had a lot of resources. We had folks from public health, from law enforcement, from public works, representatives that came here to help the City of New Orleans. But what I saw quickly was there was no Unified Command in the sense from the state down to the locals.

They were competing against each other. And not only that, the same thing was happening with FEMA. So FEMA was at odds with certain things with the state, which is one of the reasons why our team ended up assisting with body recovery because the contract between FEMA and the state had broken down. So that whole, the importance of Unified Command really played out. Also, communications we know was a major issue. And that has certainly changed communications here in the United States.

But one thing I will say is that, and I can remember doing a flyover of New Orleans the day before I left, and still water was up to a certain level with many houses, and the devastation was just obvious from the air. And I can remember thinking about, again, what could I do in coming back?

But when I went back to Los Angeles, of course, everybody wanted to know what lessons were learned? And the first thing I said was, "This could have been a major earthquake and the same problems that existed in Louisiana would've existed in Los Angeles." It wasn't the State of Louisiana. It was the preparedness and response of emergency management at that point.

So obviously that changed a lot of things. But a catastrophic disaster like that could have happened anywhere during that time, and we would've run into the same problems.

Jennifer Butler:

Absolutely. So everything you mentioned, from infrastructure vulnerabilities to coordination, I think those are all of those lessons learned that Hurricane Katrina, you said you brought them back to Los Angeles.

Mark Cooper:

Right.

Jennifer Butler:

So thinking about everything that we've learned, how do you think that communities are better prepared now after Katrina?

Mark Cooper:

Well, I think Louisiana is definitely better prepared. And when I came back was three years after, a little less than three years after Katrina had struck the state. Where a lot of things we took that we did, or it was already being done before I came as far as operation. But personal preparedness is certainly a more important aspect. That was not really focused on that much, but it is now.

But getting back to Unified Command, I mean, again, Louisiana was just symptomatic of what was going on in other states. And we quickly set up an organization for responding to disasters to look at Unified Command and NIMS and all those other things that are important to the response.

I think lessons were learned. The importance also of working with other states and coordinating with other states. We saw that play out in Gustav and Ike when we had to rely on other states to assist with sheltering, which is always going to be a major issue for us during crises.

So that regional component, but certainly having the folks at FEMA understanding what our issues are. And I think with the region, the FEMA Region Six for Louisiana and the other regions across the United States, understanding their states and their needs.

And then certainly what was born out of Katrina is the role of organizations like Eisner, because I know EisnerAmper, because I know your disaster recovery organization that was born right after Katrina. And certainly we would here in Louisiana, that's where that would happen because we had all the experience.

So I think now we've got a lot of organizations out there, both nonprofit and for-profit agencies doing consulting. That space has certainly been filled and helps states when they don't have the resources or the people to build that capacity.

Jennifer Butler:

So you touched a lot on preparedness and coordination and things that we have learned, and you brought up private sector as well. Thinking about how those lessons learned here in Louisiana have been adopted across the country. Talk a little bit more about areas that communities, local communities, how they can engage with partners to prepare and then get ready to respond.

Mark Cooper:

Well, one thing that was actually born here in Louisiana right after Katrina and during Governor Jindal's years and my time at GOHSEP, was the concept of a Business Emergency Operation Center. That was not around prior to 2008. And that became a best practice for engaging businesses more and both all aspects of emergency management from preparedness response, recovery, mitigation.

In fact, what we did here in Louisiana when I went to Walmart, FEMA was so interested in what we did, we ended up sending someone to spend six months from Walmart because they were part of that Business Operation Center here in Louisiana. We actually sent someone to FEMA for six months to help set up the National Business Emergency Operation Center. So certainly that's something that's changed.

I mean, at the community level, again, you get back to the personal preparedness. Because the federal government, the states, local governments can do all they can do, but there's something on the individual and the families to make sure that they're prepared. And I think that we initiated back then get a game plan for Louisiana, and actually that's still in existence today.

You hear that logo all the time, but it's what it was. It was get a game plan for what you're going to do in a disaster and taking care of your family, your neighbors, the elderly, the disadvantaged. So I think, again, there's more of an understanding of that now, and I don't think that was necessarily around prior to Katrina.

Jennifer Butler:

Yeah, I'm glad that you brought up the Business Emergency Operations Center. I was actually really proud to help support you guys and GOHSEP of that. And yeah, it was groundbreaking at the time to bring all of those private sector partners together, set up an actual physical business EOC, and then have that replicated across the country.

So yeah, bringing in the private sector is really important. And I think one of the things that you touched on too was that local presence and having an understanding of the community in which you're serving.

But one of the things that's really important is for that trust to happen between the local community, any partners, organizations, consulting companies that come in. Can you talk to us a little bit about what organizations, communities, state agencies should be thinking about when they're ready to engage with partners?

Mark Cooper:

Right. Well, I think that trust, and we're kind of at a crossroads right now, begins at the top, and that's with FEMA and that trust. And I know that was an issue for me coming back to Louisiana right after Katrina. There still was not that trust, and that was something I knew was very important to build and did it in several ways.

Number one is not to play out issues with the media, which seemed to be what was happening prior to that time. And again, once you do that, the organization, whether it could even be a for-profit or a consultant, if you're going to play out problems that you're having, settle it behind closed doors. That's one of the things we did and built that trust upon that. So again, there's a lot of states that have capabilities, but I think all of them, to some degree, they can't do everything.

So I think the role of a consultant and nonprofits to come in and assist is extremely important. I mean, they bring, first of all, they've got folks, usually people working for them that have extensive backgrounds in emergency management, so they understand it. So it's not someone that maybe just fresh out of college or coming from another industry.

I think that expertise they bring to organizations like EisnerAmper, including yourself, I mean, I think that plays a major role because you've been there and you've done that. And so for a state, and especially with what's happening right now nationally, there's probably going to be a lot more responsibility pushed down to the FEMA region and also the state level.

When they don't have that capacity, where are they going to find that? Well, there are a number of people that are in different industries, different organizations that can assist them in all aspects of emergency management, quite frankly.

Jennifer Butler:

Yeah. And I think I appreciate you acknowledging that when you've seen things firsthand, had an opportunity to help sort of respond and recover. It takes an entire village to come in and help during a disaster. But what always needs to happen is that everyone's operating with the utmost integrity and that everyone's operating with disaster survivors in mind. And unfortunately, we see sometimes organizations that are coming in, maybe they're not familiar with the location, they're not familiar with the culture, and then also maybe they don't have those trained resources.

So from our perspective here at EisnerAmper, the most important part is to make sure that the communities are getting exactly what they need. That you're operating with integrity at all times and that you can be a trusted partner. Because that's one of the things that I think we definitely learned after Hurricane Katrina. And like I said, we sometimes continue to learn after these disasters.

Mark Cooper:

Well, I think that's extremely important. I mean, in EisnerAmper, I know you've got locations all over the United States, so to have an understanding of the state that you're going into is extremely important. I know I can speak to Louisiana because you're here and the folks on your team that understand what happens here.

I mean, I think that's been part of the issue with FEMA is that, and they've kind of gotten away from... The regions play an important role and I'm really happy with FEMA Region Six. So to have a trusted partner in a consultant or in another organization that understands the state they're in, I think that's extremely important because that trust is built.

There's some trust immediately with the groups that you're representing, the states, the local officials. They know you understand. You've been there, done that. You've been part of it, whether it was as a survivor of a disaster or being involved in an organization that had some role in disaster response. I think that's extremely important.

Jennifer Butler:

Yeah. And I think as we wrap up here and think about the 20th anniversary of Katrina and all the lessons that we've learned, and so many people got their start in emergency management after Hurricane Katrina. What would a Katrina-like event look like now with the current state of emergency management and FEMA? And what might that look like?

Mark Cooper:

I think we've obviously built up capacity tremendously, both at the federal, state, and local levels. I guess my concern would be, and I don't think this would impact whether it's a successful response from an unsuccessful response, but there is some complacency.

And you talked about Business EOC. I don't think that's being utilized as much as it has in the past. And I think that's one thing that FEMA and the state and local governments can build upon that. So while I think we're prepared, there's always going to be things we can do to make it better, and that's what I think we're going to be seeing that happening.

Jennifer Butler:

Thank you so much for coming and sharing your insights on Hurricane Katrina. Your service not only in Los Angeles, in Louisiana, but now at a federal level. Voices like yours are super important as we move forward in emergency management and disaster response. And certainly we really want to recognize and acknowledge the devastation that was Hurricane Katrina on the 20th anniversary.

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