Federal Emergency Management Agency ( Fema )

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is a federal agency connected to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with the goal of helping America prevent, prepare, and recover from all forms of disasters, whether they are natural or man-made. The agency was founded 37 years ago, in 1979, when it was finally decided that federal action needed to take place in order to respond to and aid the United States during times of disaster. It was signed by Jimmy Carter on April 1 and has been in effect since then, with the main mission of, “to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of ‘A Nation Prepared.’”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979 from a series of disasters, which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. FEMA is a federal agency that coordinates the response to a disaster in the United States. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall affecting many citizens in New Orleans, activating the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The common obstacles that the federal system of government encounters with are communications and funding.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for “consolidating existing federal government response plans into a single, coordinated national response plan.” (GAO Reports. 2007.) The Homeland Security Act of 2002 allows them to handle all sorts of disasters from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. DHS also “Operates the Federal

Throughout its history, FEMA has had two main missions. First, FEMA’s mission is to enhance the federal government 's capacity to deal with and survive foreign attacks. The main types of foreign attacks that FEMA is tasked to respond to relate to terrorist attacks and nuclear war. The second mission of FEMA is to assist state and local authori¬ties to respond to man-made and natural disasters that are to enormous for the local and state resources to respond to efficiently. While national security focuses more on civil defense, state and local authorities are more focused on natural disasters such as hurricanes, storms, floods and potential nuclear power accidents. These divergent focuses really presents FEMA with huge challenges since federal security authorities’ main objective is quite different from state or local authorities’ focus. Considering that FEMA designed the Federal Response Plan, the agency has the challenge of balancing these interests while working on its two key missions.

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.

(FEMA) - Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA’s mission for 37 years is to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and to recover disasters with a vision of “A Nation Prepared”. To rescue and attend all victims, suppress any secondary fires that might have resulted in, secure police the disaster area, and begin the process of restoring order. FEMA also coordinates the federal role is preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of responding to, and recovering all domestic disasters, whether natural or manmade including the acts of terror. In 1803 The Congressional Act was passed; the act was intended after the first piece of disaster happened, which would be, the New Hampshire FIre of 1803. FEMA provided assistance

FEMA takes over for state and local governments whey they tell FEMA what they need.

The United States at this time was the target of a series of different natural disasters. Ranging from the “Ash Wednesday” storm which accounted for well over $300,000,000 in damages to an earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter scale and in turn resulted in multiple tsunamis that rolled down the pacific coast and resulted in over a hundred losses of life (Maria). These kind of disasters did not let up in the 60’s and 70’s as the United States was hammered with a series of massive earthquakes and hurricanes. Legislation recognized there needed to be a solution and so in response the Disaster Relief Act was created giving presidents more power in their declarations at the time of the disasters. Since the first government intervention in 1803 until 1970, more than one hundred federal agencies were in some manner involved in some aspect of responding to the emergencies when they took place. The overlap between state issued programs and federal installed policies was concerning. That is why in the year 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed into order the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA). As of present day, this is the program we all now look to in times of a disaster. They strive to support not only the citizens but also the first responders to ensure we can work together to improve, build and sustain our capability to recover from all hazards that are associated with these emergencies. FEMA does not work completely alone however, and in 2001 homeland security stepped up its role in dealing with disasters (Haddow). It was the terror attacks on September 11th that sparked their involvement and their coordination with FEMA made for quick and effective decisions during one of the United States’ time of greatest

The events of September 11th, 2001 forever changed the organizational make-up of Emergency Management. Prior to 9/11, FEMA was the premier organization in the United States that dealt with any sort of disaster management. While FEMA was not without its own particular struggles early on, it had grown into an effective program; often emulated by other Governments for its effectiveness. As the primary Emergency Management function for the United States it was afforded a cabinet level position; thus allowing direct access to the President (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2011). Functioning as its own entity, FEMA was also able to spend its money as they saw fit, develop its own hierarchy, and most importantly; decide which natural disasters/emergencies to focus a majority of their resources on. Unfortunately for FEMA all of that was lost with the creation of The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2011), “In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when the Department of Homeland Security was established and FEMA lost its status as an independent agency, emergency management became a minor player” (p. 343). The shift from a focus on natural disasters, to a focus on terrorism has been detrimental for FEMA. First and foremost, FEMA lost its cabinet position and the direct line to the President that it was afforded. While funding was accelerated to DHS in quantities never before seen in emergency management, FEMA, being a subordinate of

The Federal Emergency management Agency came under the helm of the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2013 in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks (fema.gov). FEMA’s mission as a result of the attacks changed from preparing for natural disasters and hazards to ensuring the nation’s first responders are well equipped to deal with weapons of mass destruction (fema.gov). Notably FEMA is most known for helping millions in need in times of disaster and turmoil. Unfortunately they will always be known for their lack of preparation during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in Louisiana in 2005. The organization failed to do what it set out to do and as a result millions of people were displaced and many lost their lives.

The Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002 because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. FEMA was integrated into the DHS so that they could ensure there are effective plans in place to quickly resolve catastrophic events. In compliance with one another, they manage at government levels bioterrorism, chemical or radiation emergencies, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks.

In its current form, the federal emergency management agency, commonly known as FEMA, represents a sizable federal agency employing approximately 7500 people located throughout the country, and among 10 regional field offices. Such extensions include national emergency training centers, and a domestic preparedness-training center. FEMA has associations with partnerships consisting of local, state, tribal, and other relevant federal agencies. FEMA associations can extend to private and

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).

Currently, the main agency for disaster relief in the USA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency which was formed in 1979 under the United States Government. This organisation has received a lot of criticism in the past for their dealings throughout category 3+ hurricanes, for example, Hurricane Katrina in 2005. FEMA is currently situated under the Department of Homeland Security and receives its funding from taxes throughout the USA. ii. The USA and Atlantic Hurricanes Atlantic hurricanes form between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer.

An Office of Emergency Management is in charge of the training and planning to secure a plan for preparedness, to act in response to and convalesce from damages that affects the Department and to ensure that the Office of Emergency Management's mission continues. It is going to be an either local, tribal, state, national or international level agency that holds the responsibility of recovering from all manner of disasters. A major goal of the Office of Emergency Management is in being recognized as the Department that is a center of epitome in management, during an emergency, and continuity planning. An Office of Emergency Management can also be referred to as an Office of Disaster Management. In order for effective emergency management procedures