Search results for "FEMA" ...

• After Disaster Strikes: Be A Recovery Watchdog

  Cervantes details how the Union-Tribune covered the wildfires that ravaged San Diego in October 2007. The city and county governments offered "free" demolition and debris removal for destroyed properties. "We got a tip contractors were charging outrageous rates, so we decided to investigate and analyze the public records and data to see what was being done with taxpayer money."

  Tags: disaster; wildfire; Union-Tribune; FEMA; California Public Records Act; FOIA; demolition permit applications; RFP; requests for proposals; Governor's Office of Emergency Services; San Diego; GIS mapping; mapping

  By Danielle Cervantes

  2009

• Data Before and After a Disaster

  Heath lists and describes different federal programs that provide financial assistance after a natural disaster. He discusses where to get records of each program's spending, and how to best incorporate that information into a CAR story. Heath also describes the programs used by federal agencies to run simulations and assess potential damage; most of those programs are available for free and could be useful for reporters covering a recent disaster.

  Tags: natural disaster; FEMA; forest service; demographics; geophysical data; SBA loans; flood insurance; housing assistance

  By Brad Heath

  2008

• Investigating the Aftermath of Disasters

  Kestin explains how she and other reporters at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel discovered and revealed $530 million in fraud and waste in FEMA disaster aid nationwide. She provides an overview of FEMA and tells reporters covering disaster stories what things they should be looking for. Kestin also provides a list of sources for these types of stories.

  Tags: natural disasters; FEMA; Hurricane Katrina; fraud; federal agencies

  By Sally Kestin

  2006

• The Day After: Resources for Covering the Aftermath of Natural Disasters

  This tipsheet is comprised of slides from Nixon's power point presentation on covering natural disasters. The slides cover information about SBA disaster loans, federal contracts and other data. Nixon included examples of recent stories that used each type of data.

  Tags: environment; federal government; state government; response time; federal loans; disaster assistance loans; purchases cards

  By Ron Nixon

  2006

• Following the Money after a Disaster

  Buettner walks us through how story about the federal money given to New York after 9/11. He discusses the agencies he investigated and the sorts of data he analyzed to find out where the money was going. The data he discusses includes contract data, grant data, SBA Disaster Loans, and FEMA grants. Buettner discusses how he found and used each type of data. At the end of the tipsheet, he shares the results of his investigation.

  Tags: September 11; federal government; state government; relief efforts; emergency services; public health; public safety; housing and urban development; HUD

  By Russ Buettner

  2006

• CAR after the disaster: FEMA, SBA and other data

  This tipsheet is a good guide to investigating the government aid that generally follows large natural disasters. Specifically, Maines discusses his own experience investigating FEMA after Hurricane Katrina. He recommends various websites as a good starting point, and then offers advice for more detailed investigations. For example, Maines suggests comparing the FEMA database of funeral-related expenses to the number of deaths listed by the local medical examiner.

  Tags: government aid; federal government; relief efforts; humanitarian aid; FEMA; computer assisted reporting; hurricanes

  By John Maines

  2006

• CAR for covering natural disasters

  Maines offers many suggestions for incorporating CAR into fast-paced disaster investigations. For instance, he suggests using mapping to show the extent of damage in certain areas or neighborhoods. Maines also discusses some of the surprises that reporters for the Sun Sentinel faced after Hurricane Wilma, and how in the future journalists can anticipate similar surprises and work around them.

  Tags: hurricane; natural disaster; mapping; GPS; computer-assisted reporting; demographics; FOIA

  By John Maines

  2006

• The Idea Machine: Selected investigations from the past year and ways to do them in your own newsroom

  This tipsheet is a list of 55 well-developed story ideas. The ideas range from FEMA to racism to insider trading. For each one, McIntosh describes how the investigation was carried out by a different news organization.

  Tags: writing; reporting; editing; investigations; broadcast; newsroom

  By Shawn McIntosh

  2005

• Natural Disaster Investigations

  This tipsheet describes how IRE Award Finalist authors Kestin and O'Matz gathered information for their story "Cashing in on Disaster." They give hints as to what questions to ask and what money to follow when sorting through information after a storm. For those ordering through snail-mail this tipsheet includes the 55 page story it references.

  Tags: disaster; natural; FEMA; victim; relief; IHP

  By Sally Kestin, Megan O'Matz

  2005

• Wildfires Tip Sheet

  Watson compiled a list of online resources for the reporter covering wildfires. His websites included those who offer mapping and photographs, private companies who work with fire authorities, drought analysis information, the California Forestry and Fire Protection site, and tracking contributions.

  Tags: wildfires; mapping wildfires; drought analysis; California wildfires; wildfire emergency personnel; Fire Safe Council; National Weather Service; FEMA

  By George Watson

  2005