FEMA's Marc K. Raoul '10 Helps Disaster-Struck Communities Recover and Rebuild

Since 2011, NJIT alumnus Marc K. Raoul ’10, an emergency management specialist for FEMA, has traveled across the U.S. and its territories to help communities recover and rebuild following hurricanes, floods and pandemics. A veteran of Hurricanes Sandy (2012), Irma (2017) and Maria (2017), he’s been a damage assessor, a disaster recovery planner and a proposal reviewer for towns and cities in New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Missouri, California, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. He was back at NJIT in 2021 to help operate FEMA’s campus-based COVID-19 vaccination center.

What drew you to engineering?

Growing up in Haiti, I was good in math and very creative in science. I aspired to be an engineer in high school, as there was such a need for civil engineers in Haiti to build residential housing, roads and water infrastructure. Later, as a student in the U.S., I was most interested in urban planning and civil, environmental and water resources engineering, as well as in principles of management, scheduling and estimating. When I saw a FEMA advertisement for local hires to help with disaster management in the wake of Hurricane Irene, I knew that with my skill set, I could contribute.

What is your role in disaster response?

I work on recovery assistance for states, local municipalities and certain private nonprofits that provide critical services to the communities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, but not on behalf of individual property owners. I assess the damage to roadways, bridges, public buildings and parks. I write recovery proposals for federal grants that include damage descriptions and dimensions, and, in some cases, the scope of work and cost estimates. I also compile applicants’ estimates for the work they’re contracting and make sure the proposals are effective, the costs are reasonable and that they follow federal policies and procedures. I’m also sometimes the close-out specialist who makes sure that the work has been done properly and the money spent appropriately. If there are discrepancies in the projects, such as cost underruns or overruns, I work with municipalities, among other public entities, to reconcile them.

How do you interact with communities?

I am not pulling people out from under collapsed buildings. That’s not my expertise. I work on recovery.  I ensure that the survivors are back on their feet. I talk to community members about how to prepare for their recovery – to understand the scope of work that needs to get done. I explain the policies, laws and regulations of the public assistance program, and ensure that they follow environmental and historical preservation guidelines, as well as hazard mitigation planning to build back better to avoid similar damages in the future. For example, any building over 45 years old falls under historical preservation protocols and must be rebuilt according to pre-disaster construction. But it should also be built back better. As an example, if a library has flooded, the repaired building needs to be more solid and the books placed in a more protective way.

In the aftermath of Maria in the Virgin Islands, I was the person on the ground serving as the public assistance crew leader, training local hires to help their community, and conducting multiple meetings with the survivors to explain the role of the public assistance program. Local hires had a lot of skills, but hadn’t worked on public assistance. I also met with members of the U.S. Congress to explain what FEMA was doing to help the islands recover. The devastation there was huge. There were landslides, damaged roads, many roofs blown off and so much debris, including fallen trees blocking streets. The recovery was very costly, because it’s expensive to transport so many materials to islands.

How does Sandy stand out among disasters?

It was an amazing moment for me, because it was a Category 5 disaster in New Jersey. I was assigned as a project specialist for Long Beach Island and the towns around it. It was terrible. LBI is located between Manahawkin Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and when I got there, so much was still under water and so much property destroyed. The storm sewer system was damaged. The people there were survivors, but they were suffering. My job was to pinpoint what they needed to do to recover. The main issues that had to be dealt with immediately were emergency protective measures and debris removal operations.  

Is your work with Sandy over?

I was detailed as a section chief to supervise recovery for all state agencies during Sandy and I’m still doing close-outs, including for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, which operates the Newark Bay Treatment Plant and processes over 300 million gallons of wastewater per day. That was a very big, complicated project and involved a number of agencies, such as the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The project had to demonstrate how it would mitigate the problem, including by replacing and resizing old pipes and wires, to make the system more resilient. FEMA gave time extensions, because of the complexity of dealing with new building codes, environmental regulations and permitting.

Are communities better prepared to cope with disasters than when you started 11 years ago?

I think they are better prepared to cope with disasters, due to the multiple events that have occurred over the past several years. Each disaster is different, and they therefore have learned to prepare for different situations. FEMA representatives always advise survivors to prepare for the future. For individuals, this means having emergency medical and repair kits, and for communities, it means rebuilding better by following up-to-date codes and standard and by mitigating hazards and improving infrastructure.

What was it like to be back on NJIT’s campus during the pandemic?

When I moved to the U.S., I started out at Brookdale Community College and my advisor recommended that I continue at NJIT. She told me it was a great school that would provide me with a lot of engineering expertise. I met some students at NJIT during the pandemic and shared my story and my job experience. I’m very proud of the way I’ve been able to use the skills I learned there in my service. It was amazing for me to be back there, because I saw so much transformation. There were so many buildings I had never seen!