When a natural disaster strikes, the response is never fast enough for the people involved who are suffering. In the aftermath of a widespread disaster like Hurricane Helene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) work on the ground may not be visible in the foreground. That’s because FEMA is a disaster coordination agency that works with a large and complex network of disaster relief organizations.
FEMA employs more than 20,000 people in Washington, DC, and in its ten regional agencies. During a disaster, it also uses thousands of contractors, who can help with logistics, debris removal, temporary housing and specialized services.
At a time when FEMA is juggling responses to two hurricanes, the agency has had to quell rumors circulating on social media about its response to Helene, how it is spending money and how it is distributing aid. In some ways, it’s nothing new: FEMA’s response has been surrounded by criticism for more than three decades. Looking back to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, there were calls for the “dissolution of FEMA” after its slow federal response. With the evolution of social media and the proliferation of unverified information, the agency has become more proactive in its reporting than ever before. It has posted 12 messages on its website in the past week to debunk misinformation.
The evolution of federal disaster response.
Congressional funding for disasters dates back to 1803, when funds were appropriated to support local recovery after a devastating fire in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Over time, the web of disconnected agencies involved in coordinating and distributing resources in times of disaster became too complicated and the need for coordinated federal assistance to disaster victims became apparent. At the same time, there was increasing pressure to create a more organized system for state and local emergency managers (formerly called civil defense directors) who needed a “one-stop shop” when disasters occurred. President Jimmy Carter’s executive order on April 1, 1979 established FEMA. The agency opened its doors just days after the nuclear accident at Three-Mile Island.
Just as FEMA emerged from a crisis, it continues to evolve and be redefined by major disasters. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 engulfed FEMA and 21 other agencies under the newly created Department of Homeland Security, eliminating FEMA’s cabinet position. This added level of bureaucracy between FEMA and the president proved ill-advised during Hurricane Katrina, and contributed to the federal government’s delayed response. Following a post-Katrina review, Congress passed legislation that significantly reorganized FEMA, and confirms that it is an independent agency reporting directly to the DHS Secretary. The FEMA Administrator was elevated to advisor to the President on all national matters related to emergency management, and the agency was given greater authority and a clearer role in emergency management. The law also emphasized preparedness for all types of disasters, including terrorism.
Under the current structure, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell reports to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. FEMA is organized into 10 regions in the United States. FEMA Region IV is the primary region affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and includes the Carolinas and Florida and much of the Southeast. A regional approach allows FEMA administrators and their staff to develop relationships with groups of states facing similar hazards and ensure that partnerships are developed before disasters occur. Each FEMA region has a Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC), which provides initial response coordination between different levels of government for a specific incident. Once the disaster is federally declared, a FEMA federal coordinating officer establishes a Joint Field Office (JFO) in each state’s disaster zone to work with a state coordinating officer to manage the federal and state response.
When does FEMA become involved in disaster relief?
It is important to understand that disasters are local events. Every place – whether a village, town, city, parish, county or other political jurisdiction – provides the first response to a disaster.
When the magnitude of the disaster reaches a threshold requiring more resources than any one locality can provide, local officials declare formal emergencies or disasters and request assistance from other local jurisdictions and/or the state. If government officials determine that additional assistance is needed, they will declare a disaster and request federal assistance. Once the President declares a disaster, federal resources are deployed through a mobilization process led by FEMA. State governors, through their emergency management agencies, are requesting specific resources and integrating federal resources into state and local operations. This will be done initially through FEMA’s regional centers until the establishment of a field office, where state and federal emergency management personnel work side by side to coordinate resources. States can also assist each other with personnel such as the National Guard, equipment and other resources under the Emergency Assistance Compact established in 1996.
Federal resources coordinated through FEMA are intended to support the state and local community in managing a disaster. FEMA is not a “takeover” agency, and local government officials maintain control of their own communities by requesting assistance up the chain all the way to state, regional, and federal levels.
Does FEMA do all the relief work on the ground?
Not necessarily. Help from FEMA may not come from people with “FEMA” on their shirt; it may seem as if aid is being mobilized from across the country in military, public and private partnerships. These efforts are the result of FEMA coordinating and directing resources to the local and state levels. For this reason, local first responders and state emergency management agencies may require disaster volunteers to work through an organization to help disaster victims.
Much of the assistance comes from nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and other nonprofits that provide human services to disaster survivors. These organized groups, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service—have a mission in the relief network, follow safety and legal guidelines to operate in disaster areas, have background check staff to avoid scammers, and do the work of mass feeding, running shelters, managing donations, home repairs and more.
Are food and clothing donations helpful after a disaster?
After a disaster strikes, donations of all kinds pour in, but the space they take up is significant in a disaster area where safe space is limited. All donations of goods must be stored, coded, inventoried and placed in a computer system so that when local responders request twelve pallets of water, the inventory is maintained. When donations don’t go to a designated distribution center, semi-trucks can clog highways while waiting to be unloaded, preventing requested resources from flowing to the scene and creating bigger problems for the response process. This was one of the lessons learned from the response to Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992.
How is FEMA funded and how are the resources spent?
FEMA is funded each year through congressional budget appropriations; more funding comes from additional additional appropriations. Congress is providing these additional appropriations in response to major disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and President Joe Biden has asked Congress to provide additional funding to FEMA to avoid a shortage by the end of the year. In 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma all struck in a span of less than 90 days, Congress appropriated another $68 billion in additional funding.
FEMA assists both governments and individuals/households through the Disaster Relief Fund, a single spending account under FEMA. The funds are used for many actions related to disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery: repair, replacement, and improvement of damaged infrastructure; clearing debris; providing critical services; covering the costs of home repairs, property replacement and other household needs; and implementing projects to reduce future disasters and repeat damage. For example, FEMA offers disaster survivors an upfront payment of $750 to cover essentials while the agency assesses an applicant’s eligibility for additional assistance. On a larger scale, FEMA assistance will go toward short- and long-term recovery projects until the area is deemed to return to normal in terms of population and economic recovery.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 provides statutory authority for most FEMA programs and federal disaster relief and is the legal mechanism through which state and local governments submit requests for funds.
The Stafford Act describes the categories of assistance offered to individuals and households under federally declared emergency or disaster declarations. Although residents’ own insurance is the primary expected means of covering property damage costs, needs such as housing assistance, home repairs, food, relocation assistance, legal services, case management, crisis counseling, transportation services, loans and unemployment assistance are all covered. provisions of the Stafford Act.
In addition to FEMA support, insurance companies should also get a boost in communities as adjusters come in and conduct damage assessments on affected properties.
The potential for an independent FEMA.
As disasters become more frequent, costly and complex, several groups and advocates of FEMA strongly believe that the FEMA administrator should be reinstated at the Cabinet level and that the organization should be removed from the Department of Homeland Security. To this end, a bipartisan bill was introduced in 2023 by Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves and Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (former head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management) which would make FEMA an independent Cabinet-level agency again. While in the past FEMA could deploy resources for different disaster seasons, such as wildfires and hurricanes, natural disasters now happen more simultaneously, straining the response when multiple major disasters are declared at once.
“There is no doubt that FEMA will be busier in the future than ever before and this move will help reduce unnecessary red tape and make FEMA faster,” Moskowitz said.
Read more at De Uitzending
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