FEMA: Levels of Planning

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FEMA: Levels of Planning In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been under fire. Why did so much go wrong? Why were we were so unprepared? It appears that good contingency planning was not in place. Contingency planning is necessary in every organization, especially one that deals with environments that are so volatile. Without having solid contingency plans in place and the people necessary to operate them, FEMA will not be able to effectively respond to any national emergency. FEMA is a disaster relief agency. Their mission is to provide assistance for any kind of disaster that may occur (i.e. fire, flood, Hurricane etc.). When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the gulf coast, people all over the world were wondering where and when FEMA was going to aid the people of these cities. This incident alone has made us want to evaluate the effectiveness of contingency planning in this government agency. This information will give more insight as to what the importance of improving or re-evaluating the government's mission is for this relief agency by evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and trends that have an integral affect on how and when FEMA provides relief for the disasters that occur. FEMA offers many services to people all around the world for disaster relief. Their motto is "helping people before during and after disasters". (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) In order to implement the services they offer guides such as the "State and Local Guide (SLG) 101".(FEMA, 2005, First Responder) This guide helps states and towns in their individual planning in the event of an emergency and offers people "FEMA's best judgment and recommendations on how to ha... ... middle of paper ... ...ber 12 & 17th, 2005, from http://www.FEMA.com.html Kitfield, James (2005). Allen's Wrench. Retrieved December 13, 2005, from Policy Central database. Kondracke, Morton (2005). Katrina Is a Warning: U.S. Still Unprepared for Terrorist Attacks. Retrieved December 14, 2005, from Roll Call database. News & Trends Articles (2005). FEMA Grows to Include the Peace Corps. Retrieved December 17, 2005, from http://www.firechief.com/newsitems Ornstein, Norman (2005). Congress Should Share a Big part of the Blame for Katrina Response. Retrieved December 14, 2005, from Roll Call database. Preston, Mark (2005). Collins, Lieverman Plan Hearings on Response. Retrieved December 14, 2005, from Roll Call database. Young, Diana (2005). Pharmacy Teams Lack FEMA Support. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 62, 2321-2325. Retrieved December 13, 2005, from EBSCOHost database.

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