Changes to survivor signup have been implemented within the National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS), the program FEMA uses to manage disaster aid applications and disburse payments. Current and former FEMA employees expressed major concerns about requiring an email address to register for aid while agreeing the legacy system needs a technical overhaul and noting frequent crashes. Agency leadership has publicly prioritized modernizing aid delivery and tracking, with a former acting director comparing the desired transparency to Domino's pizza tracking. FEMA introduced a "Status Tracker" in June that provides document guidance and a visual representation of progress through the process. The new acting administrator met with DOGE to discuss a proposed Disaster Information Portal.
The changes to survivor signup have been made inside the program that the agency uses to manage disaster aid applications and pay out survivors, known as the National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS). Current and former FEMA employees told WIRED that, while they have major concerns about requiring an email address to register for aid, they do believe the system is in need of a technical overhaul.
The idea [is] that when you order a pizza from Domino's, you know when it was ordered, when it goes into the oven, when it comes out of the oven, when it's ready for pick up and sliced and in a box. Yet we don't have the same level of approach towards guiding and mentoring through the process of applying for public assistance or individual assistance," he said. "We have individual survivors who wait weeks to get responses, sometimes months before they get payouts,
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