FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA - a former independent agency that became part of the new Department of Homeland Security in March 2003 - is tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from and mitigating against disasters. FEMA can trace its beginnings to the Congressional Act of 1803. This act, generally considered the first piece of disaster legislation, provided assistance to a New Hampshire town following an extensive fire. In the century that followed, ad hoc legislation was passed more than 100 times in response to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters.
FEMA coordinates the work of federal, state, and local agencies in responding to floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. FEMA provides financial assistance to individuals and governments to rebuild homes, businesses, and public facilities; trains firefighters and emergency medical professionals; and funds emergency planning throughout the United States and its territories.
FEMA also has responsibilities in the event of a severe accident at a nuclear power plant.
[1] [2]
FEMA has responsibilities in what it defines as four domains of emergency management:
- Mitigation: Reducing the severity or likelihood of the hazard.
- Preparedness: Ensuring you have the capability to respond to the hazard.
- Response: Immediate actions taken to save lives, property, the environment, and the economy.
- Recovery: Subsequent actions taken to restore property, jobs, and services.
Rationale
Throughout the 19th century Congress enacted over 100 separate acts to provide local assistance in response to various natural disasters. The first half of the 20th century saw the expansion of federal disaster assistance via programs scattered among various federal agencies such as the Bureau of Public Roads and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hurricanes Carla, Betsy, Camille, and Agnes as well as the Good Friday Earthquake and the San Fernando Earthquake prompted legislation expanding the federal government's role in disaster aid.
FEMA's disaster mission is regulated by Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Significant amendments to the Stafford Act were introduced in Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. [3]
Organization
FEMA was created through Executive Order 12148, by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. It organized into a single agency several emergency management programs spread throughout the federal government, including:
A banner on the seal for the agency included the motto Pace Ac Bello Merita, Latin for Service in Peace and War.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton elevated FEMA to a cabinet-level agency.
In March 2003, FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security, within the Emergency Planning and Response Directorate. FEMA manages the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Flood Insurance Program
Numerous free home study courses on emergency preparedness are available on FEMA's website.
The telephone number of FEMA is: 877-568-3317 (provided by President Bush in September 2005, to help people displaced by Hurricane Katrina to reunite with relatives.)
List of FEMA heads
As director of the agency:
- Gordon Vickery (acting), April 1979 - July 1979
- Thomas Casey (acting), July 1979
- John Macy, August 1979 - January 1981
- Bernard Gallagher (acting), January 1981 - April 1981
- John W. McConnell (acting), April 1981 - May 1981
- Louis O. Giuffrida, May 1981 - September 1985
- Robert H. Morris (acting), September 1985 - November 1985
- Julius W. Becton, Jr., November 1985 - June 1989
- Robert H. Morris (acting), June 1989 - May 1990
- Jerry D. Jennings (acting), May 1990 - August 1990
- Wallace E. Stickney, August 1990 - January 1993
- William C. Tidball (acting), January 1993 - April 1993
As director of Cabinet-level agency:
As Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response within DHS
After the formation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the official title of the head of FEMA became Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response. This position includes additional responsibilities beyond FEMA including the oversight of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Incident Response Team, or NIRT.
Disaster Response
Andrew
It took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Florida, after Hurricane Andrew hit in August 1992. FEMA received extensive criticism for its delayed response, summed up by the famous exclamation, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one?" by Dade County, Florida, emergency management director Kate Hale. (FEMA had previously been criticized for its response to Hurricane Hugo, which hit South Carolina in September 1989.)
Katrina
There was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three days.
FEMA was widely criticized for its failure to respond quickly enough to, and for its poor handling of, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. In the aftermath of what some called one of the worst domestic humanitarian disasters in US history, the news media began to focus on the US government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Criticism of FEMA's response, as well as allegations that FEMA director Michael Brown blamed the victims of the disaster in his public remarks have continued to contribute to debate the agency's response to the hurricane.
[5]
(See also criticism of Michael Brown.)
Critics included New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, who said that the FEMA managers were "the most incredibly stupid bunch of people. Where are they?" in response to relief efforts in his town.[6]. FEMA was criticized for denying relief efforts the right to enter the disaster areas, stating that it was "not a part of the plan".
During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, questions were raised about whether too much emphasis was placed on FEMA's responsiveness to terrorist attacks and consequently not enough placed on responsiveness to natural disasters, following the reorganization of FEMA under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. Michael Brown has resigned because of the criticism in FEMA's response to Katrina.
Criticism
In 1997, James Bovard criticized FEMA for subsidizing rebuilding in places that are vulnerable to natural disasters, asking, "[D] we really want to help rebuild homes and government property in areas that should never have been built on in the first place?" He also claimed that localities are less likely to fund their own snow removal if they know the federal government will bail them out in the event of snow emergencies[7]. Moreover, he said that FEMA is used by incumbent presidents to shore up political support[8].
The Cato Institute's Handbook for Congress argues that private companies could perform the tasks carried about by FEMA, and that this would encourage home construction in safer areas[9]:
- Any time there is a natural disaster FEMA is trotted out as an example of how well government programs work. In reality, by using taxpayer dollars to provide disaster relief and subsidized insurance, FEMA itself encourages Americans to build in disaster-prone areas and makes the rest of us pick up the tab for those risky decisions. In a well-functioning private marketplace, individuals who chose to build houses in flood plains or hurricane zones would bear the cost of the increased risk through higher insurance premiums. FEMA's activities undermine that process. Americans should not be forced to pay the cost of rebuilding oceanfront summer homes. This $4 billion a year agency should be abolished.
FEMA does encourage disaster victims to reduce future losses by considering "taking steps to rebuild safer and smarter," advising them to[10]:
- Take measures to reduce losses in the future.
- Encourage community to participate in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
- Consider buying flood insurance.
Some critics, particularly in the anti-government far right, believe that the powers extended to FEMA upon declaration of a federal emergency either are or will be the basis of a dictatorship in the United States. This is dismissed by most as a conspiracy theory. Other conspiratorial rumors focus on FEMA's supposed cover-up of events surrounding specific disasters, including the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and the September 11th attacks of 2001.
South Florida newspaper Sun-Sentinel has an extensive list of documented criticisms of FEMA during the four hurricanes that hit the region in 2004.[11] Some of the criticisms include:
- When Hurricane Frances hit South Florida on Labor Day weekend, (over 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County) 9,800 Miami-Dade applicants were approved by FEMA for $28 million in storm claims for new furniture, clothes, thousands of new televisions, microwaves, and refrigerators, cars, dental bills and a funeral even though the Medical Examiner recorded no deaths from Frances. A U.S. Senate committee and the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security found that FEMA inappropriately declared Miami-Dade county a disaster area and then awarded millions, often without verifying storm damage or a need for assistance.[12][13]
- FEMA used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by the 2004 Hurricanes, the state's coroners have concluded. Ten of the people whose funerals were paid for were not even in Florida at the time of their deaths.[14]
FEMA in fiction
In The X-Files movie, Alvin Kurtzweil tells Fox Mulder that FEMA is involved in the global conspiracy involving aliens.
In the video game Deus Ex, Walton Simons is the director of FEMA.
See also
References
External links
Referenced By
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