Posts Tagged: FEMA

News

FEMA and California wildfires: A report card

The sun appears red through a haze of wildfire smoke in California. (Photo: Neil Lockhart)

Nearly a year after the 2017 California wildfires hit the north and south state, the report card on FEMA—the Federal Emergency Management Agency—is in. The Sept. 4 analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office detailing FEMA’s performance credited FEMA with fulfilling its own disaster readiness goals, but says that wasn’t enough for the agency to be sufficiently prepared to deal with the horrific fires that engulfed parts of the state.

News

Earthquakes: A fight to protect infrastructure

A bicyclist rides by debris following the 1994 Northridge quake. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

The images of California’s powerful earthquakes over the years have been vivid — the shattered buildings, the collapsed bridges, the buckled highways. A Los Angeles lawmaker is proposing updated earthquake legislation geared toward saving infrastructure, noting that modern building codes are designed to save lives but not necessarily preserve the physical structures.

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