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FEMA

September 12, 2005

FEMA

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the subject of today's Family First Site. A lot of those discussions have focused about how slow it was in responding to the recent hurricane natural disaster in the gulf coast of our country. Some of the criticism was deserved, and some of it wasn't. What did become clear was that there a lot of misunderstanding about what the mission of this department really is, and how it is supposed to function. So I thought a visit to the official website would be in order.

The name of the site is FEMA, which stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency - 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. Many do not realize that it can trace it's roots 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.

Over the years, the agency (under different names) has grown to be the major source of federal government intervention in disasters that have occurred in our nation, both natural and man-caused. It tells how in past disasters, there was no unified response to disasters. Earthquakes would be the responsibility of one department, while hurricanes would fall under another. It was President Carter's executive order in 1979 that unified these different response agencies into what is today known as FEMA.

This site explains what the agency is, how it functions (like any government agency, you can be sure there is some red tape and bureaucracy), and, most important, what it can do to help Americans who have suffered. There is a lot of information on what we can all do to be prepared for disasters, as well as what we can do to minimize the after affects. The site is available in both English and Spanish. The information can be read on the Internet, and most documents can be downloaded and printed as well.

Hurricane Katrina was a terrible disaster, one that rivals the hurricane that wiped out Galveston Texas in 1906 (6000 died in that one). But as a nation, we can and will learn from the mistakes that occurred with this hurricane. No one could have imagined the damage that would occur, and it is hard to be prepared for the unimaginable. What we need to do now is help our fellow Americans get their lives back together, and to get ready for the next event that will occur. We have come a long way since the events of September 11th, 2001, and Katrina shows that we have a long ways to go. But the system is in place to get us there. What we need to do is understand it, and work within it.


http://www.fema.gov/index2.shtm

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Written by mayor at September 12, 2005 01:32 AM

Comments on “FEMA”

So far, there are 6 comments on this entery. Why not add yours!

  1. Gloria on September 12, 2005 01:47 PM

    FEMA REALLY SUCKED WITH THEIR EFFORD AFTER AND BEFORE KATRINA. BUT WHAT COULD YOU REALLY EXPECT FROM A FORMER HORSE TRAINER THAT GOT BUDDY TREATMENT WHICH IS HOW HE GOT THE JOB. THIS BLOWS THERE WHERE SO MANY WELL QUALIFIED PEOPLE THAT WOULD HAVE HAD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING TO WHAT WOULD AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE. THIS WAS OUT OF THE BOX AND SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOT TO THIS POINT THEY THE BIG HEADS NEW OF THE POSIBILITY OF THIS YEARS AGO AND LOOK WHAT THEY DID WITH IT NOTHING. I AM NOW TO BELIEVE THAT 9/11/01 DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN AS WELL, AGAIN THEY WHERE WARNED!! HELL THERE WE BOOKS WRITING THAT SHOWED WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BOOKS WRITING YEARS AGO IF THE BOOK WRITER NEW THEN YOU CAN NOT TELL BE THAT THE GOVERMENT DID NOT KNOW OF SUCH POSSIBILITIES THE DISASTER DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN!! BUT IF SOMETHING ELSE LIKE THIS HAPPEN I HOPE THE PRESIDENT WOULD END HIS VACTION EARLY. HOW ABOUT THAT HE FINDS OUT WHAT HAPPEN AND HE STAY ON HIS VACTION FOR 2 OR 3 MORE DAYS AND THEN HE FLY OVER THE CITY TO SEE THIS IS WHAT YOU ALL PUT IN OFFICE AND WHAT HIS MOTHER SAID MAN THAT HOW FAMILY HAS A LOT TO LEARN. GOD BLESS AMERICA

  2. Russell on September 12, 2005 06:53 PM

    Hello I sign up and can not get that free online book Wasup.
    R

  3. June on September 16, 2005 08:43 AM

    It is abundantly clear from reading your summation of FEMA above that you are trying to defend Bush's inexcusable lack of action regarding hurricane Katrina.

    You probably elected this good ol' boy because he said family values were critical to him. Why don't you Bush supporters ever look beyond his politically motivated words?? This man allowed his daughters to drink (excessively) underage DURING HIS FIRST TERM AS PRESIDENT. To this day, they are seen at bars (Jenna in particular) drinking and being rude to staff. DOES THIS REFLECT GOOD FAMILY VALUES???? And what about the covered up fact that Laura killed her first boyfriend while drinking and driving?? And what about Bush's complete lack of compassion towards Mrs. Sheehan? Finally glimpses of his TRUE persona. An overindulged, insincere, elitist.

    Back to your defense of FEMA. I quote, "No one could have imagined the damage that would occur, and it is hard to be prepared for the unimaginable."

    Are you kidding???

    Everyone, local, state and federal, knew that if a 3+ hurricane hit, the levees were likely to fail. This has been known for many years; it was in the National Weather Service bulletins and warnings PRECEEDING the hurricane; and the ONLY people I have seen say anything to the contrary were Bush and Chertoff. Both of whom made public statements that "no one knew the levees would breach" I absolutely hold people in the primary federal positions to coordinate response to the situation responsible for disseminating an untruth to make themselves look better.

    The LA Governor DID, despite the deliberate anonymous Administration leaks to the contrary, BOTH declare a LA State of Emergency and ALSO make a formal, written request to the FEDERAL GOVT - specifically addressed to the President - for assistance. She did this as per FEMA regulatory requirements, by directing the request through the Regional Director. She specifically references asking for assistance under the Stafford act and note for purposes of the National Response Plan that she states, "I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be byond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments..."

    Also, a great National Geographic article about the result of a hurricane in New Orleans:

    http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/index.html

    "...Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States..."

    The bottom line is that the people who were killed/left without meds or food in the hurricane WERE NOT BUSH SUPPORTERS. How is it that he had troops with guns on the ground immediately to protect looting of businesses, but food and meds took 5 days??? His and his administration's priorities were abundantly clear. Conveniently for them, there will be fewer democrats to vote in the next election. And now he is apologizing for the delay - of course, easier to ask for forgiveness than to do the right thing to begin with.

    I hope this has opened the eyes of some of you who really believed Bush had Christian, family values. The man is a fraud and makes those claims only for political gain!!

  4. Paul on September 27, 2005 01:31 PM

    Right on, June. I couldn't have said it better myself. Preach on, sister.

  5. Paul on September 27, 2005 01:32 PM

    Right on, June. I couldn't have said it better myself. Preach on, sister.

  6. Thomas on February 11, 2007 11:18 PM

    Everyone needs to stop blaming everyone else, and look at what they could have/should have done. There were a number of orders to leave the cities with the highest threats, and people did not. Even when helicopters responded to the cities after Katrina hit, people still refused to leave their houses. The government cannot be expected to do much at all without the support of its citizens, and in this case, the citizens failed their government, not the other way around. People need to start taking responsibility for themselves, instead of expecting someone else to hold their hand. These were grown adults who should have known better than to sit around when they were told to leave. Disregaurding a direct order of the government used to be considered treason, and now people act like the government is at fault for people who are too ignorant to do what they are told. They should be ashamed of themselves, leeching off the government, refusing to listen to reason. This was not a tornado or tsunami, those are relatively random acts of nature. We knew that Katrina was going to happen, we knew it was going to be as devastating as it was, so there's no excuse for not leaving. Those of you blaming the government need to take a long hard look at who is really to blame, those who said to get out, or those who refused to do so. The answer is obvious and clear, and if you can't get it, you're probably the same type of person who would sit at the bottom of a lakebed when a hurricane was on the way. I hope you can swim.


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