FEMA Failure

FEMA was established after a number of serious natural disasters that took place, but after that there were very few disasters so FEMA has not been in practice. Secondly FEMA has a history of poor planning, people with skill sets not suited for emergency response, FEMA was therefore not considered to be a priority agency when Hurricane Katrina

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act is mainly focused on response. The government was nowhere near prepared in 2005 when hurricane Katrina struck, then shortly followed by hurricane Rita. “In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed thousands of homes and displaced over 1 million people. In light of widespread Congressional and public interest in U.S. agencies’ performance in assisting hurricane victims, GAO initiated work under the Comptroller General’s authority to examine federal housing assistance.” (GAO Reports. 2007.)

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

When a natural disaster comes to mind you think many resources are utilized. You think many agencies from around the world must have come to help one of the biggest disasters the country has seen. Although that is not exactly what happened in New Orleans many agencies did come to help. Local, State, and Federal agencies were present during and after the hurricane. Governor Katherine Babineaux Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin called a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation, shortly after, President Bush to issue a state of emergency and mandatory evacuation on a federal level to ensure assistance from agencies like FEMA and the America Red Cross (Kamp). Mayor Ray Nagin also

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.

through filthy, contaminated water with no help. Yet, how to get to those who needed assistance was going to be a challenge within itself. There was going to have to be a plan for transportation.

Within the constitution, there is no explicit clause that grants the federal government to provide relief for natural disasters, and therefore under the 10th amendment the power is in that of the states, not the government. However, despite this recently the federal government has been held accountable to providing relief efforts. In addition, there is no way to change the constitution to give the federal government this power, as neither can the legislative, nor executive, nor judicial branch can add/change the constitution, and therefore this power must be returned to the states. The article suggests that through the federalist papers, the founders wanted the states to unite together, and provide relief to each other as the states, not the

Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a

As the state of our currently understood weather patterns and global climate become more understood, in context, with great concern, the federal government has placed an ever larger portion of its national focus on promoting a more efficient response to such concern via disaster mitigation and management with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A historical extension of the federal government for which is principle utilized for disaster aid and response, this agency is as much a direct extension of the current presidential administration as it is a crisis agency for social good. This simple description clearly suggests a detailed understanding following the Hurricane Katrina disaster that left the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, in particular, as a study in social failure. But as an agency emboldened by an administration concerned with climate change, FEMA has shown as an agent for change in how it addresses and refocuses states in preparation for the inevitable future climate change.

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).

“The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (Stafford Act) provides the legal authority for the federal government to provide assistance to states during declared major disasters and emergencies” (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, 2013). Under this act, in order for an emergency to be declared, the governor of the state of the emergency in question must respond to the incident. After that if the governor cannot support the emergency, or it is out of the capability of the state, then the governor of that state must submit in writing a request to the President for support. The President of the United States can then declare an emergency due to a natural disaster and open up funds appropriated by congress through this Act.

In the United States, people who live in poverty are already one of the most vulnerable populations and it is this population that is heavily impacted by public policy relating to natural disasters. Often, public policies relating to disaster preparedness and recovery are not discussed until after a natural disaster takes place which is too late to do any good for the people affected and who are devastated almost beyond comprehension. The role of government in disaster preparedness and recovery became a “hot button” issue especially after Hurricane Katrina when the federal and local governments seemed to protect/help those who already had resources and not those with little to no resources. According to a Gallup Poll by Jones & Carroll (2005), forty-nine percent of respondents said that FEMA was most helpful to them while thirty-one percent of respondents said that nothing was helpful to them during recovery from Hurricane Katrina. This information indicates that there is a gap in services disaster relief policies and programs that needs to be filled.

Ensuring that people have access to food is perhaps one of the most immediate concerns following a disaster, such as a storm, earthquake, civil disturbance, or a flood. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for effectively managing the federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident, coordinating relief efforts, and making assistance available to States, communities, businesses and individuals.

Hurricane Katrina exposed huge issues in the United States disaster preparedness and response programs. In 2005, the structure for homeland security was unable to manage catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina. Unified management of national response

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.