FEMA Unveils Updated Online Photo Library Database Highlighting Disaster Images

Editors, researchers, and the general public can now access an online collection of more than 9,200 images in the FEMA photo library.

The photo library contains thumbnail and high-resolution images of natural disasters and terrorist events taken by FEMA’s staff of disaster field photographers. The library also consists of images of FEMA’s disaster response and recovery mission.

Available at www.fema.gov, the images can be searched by keywords, date ranges, places, and types of disasters or by disaster number designation. Up to 100 thumbnail images can be viewed on a single page and the latest application gives the user the ability to create, save and e-mail an album of images.

Included in the photo library are more than 2,900 hurricane related images, 1,440 flood related images, and some 600 earthquake related images. Also in the collection are more than 1,700 images related to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The majority of photographs in the collection are of public domain. Photographs may be downloaded, reproduced and distributed without further permission from FEMA and may be used for educational and informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits and Internet web pages. Copyrighted photographs within the collection are specially marked with a copyright symbol and are color coded for easy identification. Permission should be obtained for photos that are copyrighted.