Bill Koplitz is the photo desk manager at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, DC. He has has viewed and approved all the 2299 Hurricane Katrina images that have been added to the FEMA on line photo library in the past 3 months and the 1700 images from the 4 Florida hurricanes of 2004. Previous to this position he was a commerical photographer in Sarasota, Florida for 20 years. http://www.instantpictures.net/
The FEMA photo library is located at: http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/. He also photographs local events for the agency.
The FEMA on line Photo Library contains approximately 16,588 public domain disaster related photographs dating back to 1980. While the majority of the collection is of declared disasters there are also photographs from significant public events which have occurred on or near the National Mall in Washington, DC.
The photographs are of Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Typhoons, Fires, Avalanches, Ice Storms, Blizzards, Terrorist Attacks, Earthquakes, and the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster.
The subject matter of photographs in the collection:
- FEMA and other disaster workers (Urban Search and Rescue, Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, National Guard, Red Cross, US Army Corps of Engineers, Forestry Service, IRS, State Disaster Workers) searching for and/or helping disaster victims. - Photographs of damage to private property and public infrastructure. - Photographs of FEMA success stories where a modification to a building or house lessened the damage from a natural disaster. - Photographs of training. - Photographs of FEMA provided housing for displaced disaster victims. - Photographs of elected or appointed officials surveying the disaster and providing support to disaster workers and victims.