FEMA

The failure of FEMA during these events brought a transformation to the organization, to the point it actually became an incredibly effective program. The lessons learned allowed FEMA to act efficiently and effectively through a variety of emergencies. According to Haddow et al. (2011), it worked flawlessly for “The Midwest floods of 1993, the Northridge, California earthquake, and for “The Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995” (p. 11). These multifaceted events, proves that when operated effectively the all hazards approach is more

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.)

time of crisis by R. David Paulison, who unlike Brown, has had a career focused on disaster

Since its inception, FEMA has dealt with quite many disasters. In all these disasters, at least, people’s lives and property have been saved. Public opinion on the performance of FEMA is quite divergent. However, there is a feeling that FEMA has several weaknesses that if corrected will help the agency achieve its objectives and even exceed public expectations about its performance. In particular, FEMA’s responses to 9/11 attacks and

In order to help the people further, FEMA absorbed other services thanks to the Executive Order 12127 in which President Carter merged many of the separate disaster-related responsibilities to FEMA such as The Federal Insurance Administration, The National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, The National Weather Service Community Preparedness Program, The Federal Preparedness Agency of the General Services Administration, The Federal Disaster Assistance Administrations activates from HUD, Civil defense responsibilities were also transferred to the new agency from the Defense Department’s Defense Civil Preparedness Agency. FEMA receiving the power and leadership to direct other operations and creating them as one was a move to give the people in need a service for whatever crisis that is affecting that said area. FEMA has a long history from being created in 1979 and since then they have grown to be stronger with more power to do things for an area such as Flint Michigan.

Over the years of Hurricane Katrina, Fema faced many criticisms. Back in 9/11, They acted fast and accordingly to the disaster. During hurricane Katrina, they were slow and had false promises that the locals of New orleans believed (Maestri, “The

Over the years of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA faced many criticisms. Not only FEMA, but “every level of government was roundly criticized”( Howellq ). Back in 9/11, They acted fast and accordingly to the disaster. During hurricane Katrina, they were slow and had false promises that the locals of New Orleans believed ( Maestri, “The Storm”, PBS ). Many people asked FEMA for resources and help, but that turned down because they did not “ask the right way” ( Hale “The Storm”, PBS). During an interview with one of FEMA’s secretaries, “Michael Brown”, had claimed that FEMA could not help Louisiana because they didn’t tell them what they

FEMA was not able to provide effective disaster relief due to incompetent leadership. Those in charge, such as FEMA Director Michael D. Brown were unqualified and in power because of connections to the Bush Administration. Bush’s saving grace in this category was his quick passing of the “PATRIOT Act”. Though it can be argued that it was a poor decision in the long run, he responded quickly and innovatively in an attempt to protect America from potential terrorist attacks.

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

In the integration of FEMA into the DHS, FEMA had to contribute to the start-up costs of the new department, but unfortunately evidence suggests that the agency may have been made to pay a disproportionately higher amount than larger agencies. FEMA officials say this directly affected their levels of service in 2004 and 2005 (14). In the integration, FEMA lost some programs, but lost major ones as well (14). In 2005, plans continued to reduce FEMA. Director at the time, Michael Brown, wrote a memo in June expressing his concern about the agency’s future if the cuts continued (13). Perhaps the most ironic cut was the disaster planning exercise “Hurricane Pam.” This exercise, in which outlines a scenario where a disastrous hurricane hits New Orleans, leaving more than 100,000 people in the city, began a year before Katrina. The exercise was never finished because the Bush Administration cut funding (13).

In a time of crisis, the government response to the situation at hand was poor and inefficient. There were numerous flaws and errors in the relief plan proposed to the government which in turn led to delayed relief to victims in need. The immediate response phase after Katrina lasted roughly 12 days. During this time, “victims were evacuated, rescued, sheltered, and received medical care from first responders, charities and other non-governmental organizations, and private citizens”(McNeill, 2011). The fact that the U.S. government organizations were not the first responders to the disaster is shameful for our country.

The Hurricane Katrina disaster highly challenged the operations of FEMA thereby leading to great changes in the agency. The Storm that is ranked as the third most intense U.S. landfalling intense caught the FEMA and at large the Department of Homeland Security unprepared thereby leading to severe losses. The hurricane claimed more than 1200 individuals and a total property of around $108 billion, of which could have minimized if FEMA could have carried out its operations effectively (Bea, 2006).

The first thing I propose FEMA does is find out what people really felt went wrong during Hurricane Katrina. You heard a lot in those days of how FEMA should have reacted and what they did not do to help the people. During this horrific storm people were all over the place along with FEMA because nothing like that had occurred in a very long time. For example, for the state of Florida it is very common to encounter hurricanes with all levels of damage, and in reality, Louisiana

The High Frequency (HF) radio band is defined as the range of frequencies in the radio spectrum between 3 and 30 megahertz . Military organizations have used HF radios for both strategic and tactical communications for more than 80 years. However with the development of satellite communications (SatCom) use of HF communication were de-emphasized and fell in to disuse. In contrast to this importance of HF communication still existing for military applications. The militaries around the world must have a robust long range communication system that does not rely on existing communication infrastructure in emergencies, since the satellite comms and other comms infrastructure will present most lucrative targets for the enemy.