1988 Stafford Act: A Case Study

During a National catastrophe and short amount of time for properness the federal government should take control regardless of the situation and work with local officials who would know the area better. When a city declares state of emergency is should be mandatory that the federal government can now have more power to execute a plan and available funds to provide. Local city officials should see the federal government not as a threat or as if they cannot handle the situation but more of an extra relief. Seeing hurricane Katrina was the biggest hurricane since 1975 everyday planning for this big of a natural disaster is not expected. In the past ten years it seems more and more natural disasters are taking the lives of thousand and costing states to fall. With proper technology giving local state officials a better outlook on time and planning is the first step in saving their communities. Executing and working with federal government showing them their local plan can give the federal government a better perspective on the scenario as well. By working together and having boundaries set will only save

Enacted in 1988, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, also known as the Stafford Act, is a United States federal law that lays out the framework for federal disaster assistance. It establishes a process for declaring disasters, determining response levels, and dividing up costs among federal, state and local governments, depending on circumstance. The intention of the law when it was created was to encourage states and local entities to develop comprehensive disaster preparedness plans, prepare for better intergovernmental coordination during a disaster, encourage the use of insurance coverage, and provide federal assistance programs for losses due to the disaster.

As Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma successively lashed the gulf coast starting in late August 2005, nature’s fury exposed serious weaknesses in the United States’ emergency response capabilities. Not all emergencies pose this magnitude of challenge. In the United States, the initial—and usually major—responsibility for disaster response rests with local authorities. This “bottom-up” system of emergency management has a long history and continues to make sense in most circumstances. Core Challenges for Large-Scale Disaster

Emergency powers allow for a Governor during situations that could cause damage to the state, to ensure that the state is adequately prepared for the emergencies and disasters. The powers given to the governor here is usually within statue or constitution and usually found in the state emergency management laws (Zimmerman, 2012). Additionally, these powers relate to the US President, as the Governors will declare state emergencies and then petition the President for a major disaster declaration to open up federal FEMA funding and response to help

In chapter 3, titled “Congress and the Agencies”, we learn of a few of the many laws, processes and agencies that have been created to better prepare the United States for a national emergency. Since the origins of the United States, the President has always been the lead on emergencies that required attention by the federal government, but the legislative and judicial branches of the government have become more and more involved in making sure that it is done constitutionally. One of the main reasons for this is because of the statutes that have been created because of the response to emergencies. These statutes have been separated into three separate categories.

This chapter provides an overview that describes the basic types of hazards threatening the United States and provides definitions for some basic terms such as hazards, emergencies, and disasters. The chapter also provides a brief history of emergency management in the federal government and a general description of the current emergency management system—including the basic functions performed by local emergency managers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the all-hazards approach and its implications for local emergency management.

At the federal level, the seminal statutory authority governing the federal response to disasters is the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford, 2013). The Stafford Act was originally enacted in 1988 and has been

When a disaster strikes and it is so sever that the local governments and the State governments together cannot provide the needed resources, the federal government then becomes the source for resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the Federal agency that coordinates the activation of the Federal Response Plan (FRP). However, due to past hurricanes and incidents, the response of FEMA has demonstrated that the government is not prepared to defend the US population as a whole. As demonstrated on Wednesday October 19, 2005, Hurricane Wilma intensified into a Category 5 hurricane within a 24 hours time frame. Hurricane Wilma produced sustained winds of over 173 miles per hour and with the atmospheric pressure of 882 millibars,

Disasters are not exempt from political attributes (Cohen & Werker 2008). Political factors may clarify much of federal disaster assistance (Garrett & Sobel 2003). A federal disaster declaration approval allows a president the chance to influence and form public policy (Sylves 2006). Election aspects impact whether a president declares an area is approved for a disaster declaration (Cohen & Werker 2008). Public policy must be analyzed in order to gain a clearer understanding of presidential leadership during Hurricane Katrina

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a body under the United States Department of Homeland Security that was created in 1978 to improve the safety of the American residents, especially during disasters. FEMA has a primary mandate of coordinating the response to any disaster that may occur in the U.S. and that overwhelms both local and state authorities’ resources. FEMA comes in to aid only after the governor of the involved state has declared a state of emergency and has made a formal request. However, there is an exception to the gubernatorial declaration requirement, when an emergency occurs on a federal property such as the Space Shuttle Columbia experienced in the 2003 return-flight disaster ("About the FEMA Agency", 2016).

In this assignment the researcher will be looking at the events that unfolded in the 9/11 disaster in America, specifically the circumstances that led up to it, what happened during the disaster and the roles and responsibilities of the public services. This incident would class as a disaster as apposed to an emergency due to the size and scope of the event and the fact that it could not have been handled locally. A disaster is defined as a major disruption of a community or society which causes widespread losses and impacts, and exceeds the ability of the affected community to handle with its own resources. Whereas an emergency is a situation that poses an immediate threat to health, the environment, property or life. In most cases these two words can overlap and be used interchangeably because they are similar but not the same. ‘Though both emergencies and disasters present situations that demand quick action, one can prepare for emergencies but not disasters.’ (Online, 2010)

Some of the disaster plans did not work, and some simply did not have one in place like with Hurricane Katrina. Our homeland security that was put in place have to be prepared. I know now in Louisiana State employees are non-profits of the states during any kind of disaster they have to check on the people they serve.I know in hurricane Katrina a lot of disabled, and the elderly got left there, and I think some even drowned. Now, a plan is in place for the elderly, and the mentally challenged. This plan can even be built on, but a plan needs to be put in place for future disasters(heritage.org,2015,Np).

Under the terms and conditions of the Stafford Act, once the state of Pennsylvania has reached its maximum limit of resources, the Governor can request a Presidential Declaration of Major Disaster, in order to receive federal support. He may also use the Commonwealth funds and may transfer up to $10,000,000 from unused General Fund money in order to deal with the disaster emergency. Moreover, the Governor can use all Commonwealth and political subdivision resources available as necessary to deal with the disaster emergency and is responsible of authorizing purchases, lease or make other arrangements with the Federal Government for temporary housing units to be occupied by disaster victims so it can serve as shelters. The Governor may also request the interstate mutual aid which supplements emergency response capabilities of Pennsylvania. He must first look within Pennsylvania borders to determine whether the resources are available to support his responsibilities involved in the immediate response.

The mudslide tragedy of Oso, Washington buried many homes and 44 people lost their lives. Natural disasters are incidents that affect the population by causing physical and emotional damages, loss of life, property damages, and sometimes emphasizes the failure of public administrative processes (Donahue & Tuohy,2006, p.5). The federal government knows more about the risks, but they do not have power to act (Kettl,2014, p.3). Also, local governments have the power

Throughout human history there have been many kinds of disasters. Many of these disasters have been mad-made, whether they be the fault of improper infrastructure, lack of maintenance, or just poor planning from the engineers. These types of disasters can usually occur frequently and we usually we put the blame on someone who will pay for the damages to those who were affected by the disaster. There is however another type of disaster that plagues man-kind, and is known as a natural disaster. Natural disasters are the ones that are caused by Mother Nature, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and severe flooding. Each type of natural disaster brings with it, its own types of hazards and ways in which people can prepare for them. Many of these types of natural disasters are unpredictable, so planning and managing them has to be done ahead of time in order to prepare for the worst after the disaster is over. There are however, some natural disaster that we can see coming, and even then we are sometimes caught off-guard with the damages they can bring to an area. This was the case with hurricane Katrina in 2005. The massive storm caused millions in damages and killed thousands of people, and was a lesson that sometimes we are not fully prepared to handle nature’s wrath. The lessons that we learned from hurricane Katrina are vital to help us prepare for another massive storm if it were to hit in the near future.