Federal Agencies help serve the United States by protecting our well-being, and making sure that we run at full efficiency. Agencies provide services to the people of the United States for many reasons. The EPA helps the environment, the FDA makes sure our food is safe to eat, and the DEA limits drug usage, and smuggling. All of these agencies have a specific job to do. An agency doesn’t deal with another agencies problems, unless they work together. One agency in particular is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which is under the executive branch. FEMA is an integral part in keeping our nation safe. Founded on April 1st, 1979 by then president Jimmy Carter to prevent hazards, …show more content…
These hazards can range from hurricanes, to tornados, to mass shootings, and to terrorist attacks. FEMA is there to grant relief to those affected by these tragedies. FEMA makes funds for organizations to create dams, flood gates, and shelters. FEMA helps before a disaster strikes by evacuating homes, and warning people of the imminent danger. The agency works with the Red Cross to help the citizens who were injured in earthquakes, and other disasters. The agency also works with terrorist attacks. If an act of terror were to happen in the United States, FEMA would be there to help the citizens. The main job of FEMA is the welfare of the people. They will do everything in their power to prevent disasters from happening. They will limit the loss of life, and homes from …show more content…
Two of the biggest ones were Hurricane Katrina, and Superstorm Sandy. In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck Mississippi, and Louisiana. This Hurricane left thousands of people without homes for months, and there were many casualties. Electricity was down, and people didn’t know where they were going to get their next meal. Luckily, FEMA was there along with the Red Cross to take care of the needs of the people. FEMA helped the citizens find homes, and helped them rebuild their lives, while the Red Cross was taking care of the injured. Another disaster happened in 2012 to the Atlantic coast. Superstorm Sandy hit with wind speeds of over 115 mph. Over 280 people died. Major cities were without power for weeks. The streets were flooded, and once again the people were in desperate need of help. Just like before, FEMA was there to protect the citizens. The agency takes approaches to aide people before, and after a disaster. They will prevent it as best as possible, and lend a hand when it a disaster has impacted
Royer, Jordan. “Hurricane Sandy and the importance of being FEMA”, Crosscut.com, Crosscut.com, Web. 1 Nov 2012, 3 May 2014.
In 2003, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was rolled into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FEMA’s responsibilities are to prepare, protect, respond, and recover from diminish all hazards. There was a mass coverage about the failure for FEMA to act immediately to Katrina, but once they were able to get things organized such as giving food and water, and setting up the tent and shelters communities can be strong and move on.
The Coast Guard, for instance, rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action. Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely
On August 29th 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 storm, slammed into the Gulf Coast. In it’s wake, Katrina left a trail of destruction that killed over 1800 people and cost an estimated 108 billion dollars in damages, making it the most destructive natural disaster in US history. Right in the path of the most powerful part of the storm was the city of New Orleans. (Hurricane Katrina)
The 109th Congress questioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after Hurricane Katrina. Congress called for mandatory reports from the white house, Inspectors Generals, the Government Accountability Office, and others. A common denominator in all of these findings were that some of the losses brought by Katrina were caused, at least in part, by deficiencies within FEMA; such as: questionable leadership decisions, organizational failures, and inadequate legal authorities. As a result of these findings, Congress further utilized their control strategies to reorganize FEMA, and restructure the way responsibilities were handled following emergencies. Congress passed the “Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act of 2006” in order to accomplish these revisions. This newly enacted bill reorganized FEMA, expanded its authority, established new leadership positions and position requirements within FEMA, and imposed new conditions and requirements on the operations of the agency. Congress also utilized the appropriations process to influence this portion of bureaucracy by enacting supplemental appropriations, one-time waivers of requirements and temporary
Hurricane Katrina a catastrophe that changed lives of many peoples, people were left without food and water for days. That storm itself did a great damage lead to the massive flooding,
New Orleans by far felt the biggest effect of Hurricane Katrina. Many people were rescued but had nowhere to go and the government was not prepared for the disaster. There was no plan for recovery. Communication failures were one of the major problems which included power failures and broken telephone lines. Homes were destroyed and many were left stuck on the roof of their broken homes. Most of the city’s major roads and buildings suffered extensive damage. Countless people were left unemployed and homeless. Above all, the worst effect caused by Hurricane Katrina was the final death toll of 1,836 people with 705 still reported
.... The rescue teams did not have good communication, which resulted of many not being able to trace where people needed to be saved. Many personnel of FEMA were said to have lacked knowledge of their duties and therefore were not able to do their job in assisting and planning relief. The Superdome was overcrowded and undersupplied. While it was shelter for many during the storm, it was a nightmare after. People were sleeping next to dead bodies, and were left for multiple days without food or water. When finally aided, they were forced to evacuate the city and go wherever the buses and planes would bring them. Families were separated. While it is expected during a catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina that there will be loss of life, there was a significant amount of lives that could have been saved if emergency procedures were better planned and carried out.
6:10 am August 29th 2005. Similar to December 7th 1941 and September 11th 2001, this is a day that will be remembered as a day of fear and uncertainty and a horrific aftermath. August 29th is the day that Hurricane Katrina made its second and most deadly landfall on the Southern United States. Released on September 5th 2005 an estimated 11.9 million Americans were affected by Katrina between Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (U.S. Census Bureau). With only a few days to gather all that they could, thousands if not hundreds of thousands Americans had to evacuate their homes and leave the life they knew. Sadly for all of the ones that could not pick up and leave had to ride out the deadly power of Katrina and hope of emergency aid. With some areas flooded to almost 25 feet of water there was many health ( sewage and waste flooding streets, no food, no water, etc) and public safety issues( high floods, collapsing homes, etc) that would have to be handled immediately for those that were needing rescued and for everyone to come home and rebuild. Right away there were several public emergency groups dispatched to help with the aid and recovery. Once the government got involved more appeared. Being that it is almost the 5 year anniversary of Katrina the question is how effective were these efforts?
The lack of response dates back to the merger of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed in 2002 “in response to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001”(Adamski, p4). The function of DHS is to provide a “unified defense structure against the threat of terrorism and other potential hazards” (Adamski, p4(Homeland Security Act of 2002)). In 2003 the Bush administration reformed FEMA and it was moved under the umbrella of the DHS. With that, the merger changed the mission of FEMA, from its primary focus of disaster response to counter terrorism. Removing FEMA from an independent agency which handled disaster response, and merge with DHS which responded to counter terrorism, according to Adamski, the merge sparked concerns that the coverage of natural disasters would...
The mission of FEMA is “to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards.”[1] FEMA intends “to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of ‘A Nation Prepared.’”[2]
Every year many natural disasters happen around the world. In New Orleans, and several other states, a devastating hurricane struck. High speed winds and major flooding caused many people to lose their homes and even their lives. Many people have heard of hurricane Katrina, but not everybody knows what caused it and the affect it had on the United States.
... people were given a choice, FEMA Camps or jail”. In the article it also talks about the FEMA centers not existing according to the news and media. “Staffing 240 bed, 24 hour, and razor wire topped FEMA camp that was supposed to be used in case of a disaster according to FEMA. Remember, these areas do not exist according to the news media” The media and news are all in partners with Homeland Security; this is how homeland security tracks our every movement.
Natural Disasters can occur anywhere at anytime. Some are more predictable than others, but they all bring hardship to everyone’s life. Examples of natural disasters are Earthquakes (Haiti 2010), Tornadoes, Tsunami, Hurricanes, Wild Fires, Winter Storms, Heat waves, Mudslides and Floods. Regardless of what kind of disaster occurs, bottom line, everyone needs to be prepared mentally and physically to deal with the aftermath. Education is the first step to prepare you to deal with any major disaster. Three of the major disasters that can potentially disrupt normal day to day operations in our lives, are Hurricanes, Tsunamis and Tornadoes.
In early 2001, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a report of the three most likely disasters to hit the United States. Among these likely disasters to hit the United States, one of them was a hurricane striking New Orleans, the other two; a terrorist attack on New York City and a major earthquake hitting San Francisco.(course pack) However, very little was done to prepare for the deadly storm that would four years later leave New Orleans in a devastated mess.