Now that some time has passed, what SHOULD be the mission of FEMA?

FEMA, in past times has been seen as a benevolent agency that swoops in when there's a disaster, and provides the citizens with help. During the WTC attacks, they were already IN New York for training, so they were helpful in the aftermath, but what exactly did they DO..or do they DO now?

We KNOW they failed miserably in NOLA, and in FL this year. What SHOULD their role be?

It's unlikely that we will see an event like Katrina/NOLA anytime soon, so drastically changing their focus based on that specific event might not be a good idea, but after re-watching the Katrina Hearings of Dec 6th, it's apparent, that the republican congress thinks that their only mandate should be to collect money and then make excuses later.

Should they be "in charge" when a disaster occurs? Before the disaster (hurricanes & floods)


Are they responsible for bringing in heavy equipment (the right kind)? Do they commandeer or own their own vehicles?


Perhaps ice & water should not be their main focus, since they seem to have water & ice in N. Dakota, when it's needed in the south primarily. If a hurricane happens in Florida, why not get ice & water from Georgia or S.Carolina. The recipe is not that complicated, and it would make more sense to "buy local" when time is of the essence.

Is FEMA's goal to restore people to their former status, or to just feed them and get them out of harm's way?

How should FEMA interact with the NGOs who usually get there first, and seem to do a better job?

What about the Nat'l Guard? Is FEMA over them? or the other way around?

It seems as if the goal of congress and the admin is to siphon money into FEMA, and then to use as little as possible during the ONLY reason for their existance.

Do we even NEED FEMA?.. Why not just allocate the money they would receive in a general disaster fund, and then release funds to the states when it's needed?

I think before Heckuvajob Brownie took the helm FEMA was probably a very capable agency. I don't have answers to your questions but did ponder some of those issues (you may be familiar with the event) and wrote a piece on my own experience. It follows:

It’s Black and White

While reading the all-too-occasional reports about the continued plight of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, I find myself reflecting on my own experience with disaster. My husband and I lost our home and virtually everything we owned in the 1996 Harmony Grove wildfire that consumed nearly 9,000 acres and 120 homes in north San Diego County. One of our neighbors, a husband and father of two young children, lost his life in the blaze.

Even in the face of total destruction it felt like a privileged disaster, really. Like a good neighbor, my insurance company’s slogan was there in the form of a disaster strike team, a relocation expert to assist us in finding housing for ourselves, our dogs, cats, and a horse; and an agent bearing money so we could replace toiletries, our acrid smelling clothes, and begin to get back on our feet. All this assistance provided much-needed relief and occurred within 48 hours of our loss.

The local Home Depot sent truckloads of shovels, rakes, and other tools. The Red Cross handed out refreshments, work gloves, trash bags, and other useful items. Perky FEMA reps stood ready, clip boards in hand, making themselves available for anyone in need, and for months afterward roadside signs directed people to centers for free trauma counseling. The death of my neighbor, the lone fatality, evoked a county wide outpouring of grief, compassion, and intense media interest. These acts of kindness provided solace for his family and comforted others like my husband and me, whose losses, though great, paled by comparison.

Contrast this with the ongoing experience of Gulf Coast survivors: Over 90,000 square miles leveled and as many as 250,000 homes destroyed. Nearly four months after Katrina, the putrid odor of rotting human bodies and dead animals, still among the debris, permeates the air. Families continue to be separated, incommunicado, many living in makeshift tents and burning what remains of their homes and belongings for warmth. Over 6,000 people remain missing, indicating they most likely perished in the disaster, but mainstream media stays silent about this fact. Why?

Here, the Red Cross, FEMA, broadcast reporters, and newspaper accounts referred to people like my husband and me as “victims". Our insurance company viewed us as “clients”. Why then, have those suffering from Hurricane Katrina universally been referred to as "refugees”? A possible answer emerged when even CNN’s Wolf Blitzer lamented their fate, saying, “They are so poor, and so black.”

The magnitude of this disaster offers no excuse for the circumstances of it. Weary evacuees haphazardly scattered across this country call FEMA every day for help while it sits on $37.5 billion it doesn’t know how to spend, and now Congress, in its wisdom, seriously mulls taking back $2.3 billion!

Yes, adequate insurance counts for much but so do political will and overt racism. My husband and I, both white, live a stone’s throw from one of the ten wealthiest communities in America. Could these facts account for our privileged disaster?

You posted


I am convinced that Karl Rove's electoral calculations determined how many New Orleanians went where (so as not to tilt close elections).

(from the perspective of a Red Cross Disaster Services Volunteer and a veteran of the United States Coast Guard)

Background - The Incident Command System Click on this link and read about California's "Incident Command System" and the modifications into FEMA's National Incident Management System (NIMS).

The Incident Command System is a proven Command Structure/System.
This is a scalable "on scene" - "boots on the ground" - "real time" emergency management system. Works for one engine company at a trash fire to Katrina.

In Katrina, National Incident Management System (NIMS) was implicitly (and hopefully explicitly) implemented. Admiral Thad Allen was "apparently" the "Incident Commander" and General Russ Honore was "apparently" the "Operations Officer." (click over to to see what I'm talking about).

The "Incident Commander" is not a "political" position - it is an "operational" - "hands on" position. I see the role of FEMA as:

a) A source of logistic support for the "Incident Commander"
which is a massive job - don't fool your self

b) An implementer of "Mutual Assistance Agreements" between states.
c) A promulgator of training materials for emergency responders.

FEMA "fits into" the Incident Command System - FEMA Does NOT "Run The Show"
Under the "Incident Command System" FEMA is NOT "in charge" when a disaster occurs? FEMA is a resource.

As a "resource" of the "Incident Commander" they are responsible for going through "Mutual Assistance Agreements" and implementing bringing in heavy equipment which they borrow from other states, and from DOD.

The NGO's work for the "Incident Commander" - when I, as a Red Cross Volunteer, arrive on scene - I check in with the "Incident Commander."

The National Guard "works for the Incident Commander" (who may be a National Guard General Officer). The Guard reports to the Incident Commander - not to FEMA.

Historically, FEMA was a clearing house and implementer of FHA-SBA aid. This should still be a post-disaster mission, i.e., to work with the FHA and SBA to restore people to their former status. As to feeding and sheltering and evacuating- again, FEMA provides support to the "Incident Commander."

During the Disaster Operation FEMA is a source of lots of heavy duty emergency equipment for the Incident Commander.

I have been brain washed by the Red Cross in California, the , and - and too many years in the Coast Guard --- the "Incident Command System" is a proven, rigorous, scalable, robust system for mass disasters.


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The ones who actually DO the hands on work should be the ones to critique and help them get their shit together.. It has to be done before the next hurricane season..

You and I both live on the "Rim of Fire" - I am right between the San Andreas and Hayward-Calaveras Faults, and in the Alviso Flood Plain (Coyote Creek, Guadalupe River).

The local Fire Station has a map of the Fault Lines on the wall.

and since you cannot anticipate when a quake will hit, we just have to roll with the punches:)

...except for one thing. Maybe it's just the way I read it, but you seem to indicate that FEMA has the staff and authority to actually DO something in the way of relief. They do not. They cannot get trucks anywhere. They own very little in the way of equipment, and they do not provide drivers. It might be better to think of FEMA as a broker. They facilitate planning for disasters, with resulting disaster plans and negotiated contracts between entities. When disaster is declared, FEMA facilitates and coordinates in accordance with the adopted disaster plan. If one of the parties in the plan refuses to do his part, FEMA does not have the authority to override. They can refer the matter for investigation and possible prosecution (if a crime results), or they can precipitate a lawsuit for breach of contract.

As to what they SHOULD be doing, that is a matter open for debate. If you want them to be responders, then you have a LOT of questions to answer. How to interface with the National Guard, who under State control during a disaster? (The National Guard is only under Federal control for insurrection (on domestic soil), or to support the active military (abroad).) How does it become a responder, if the State is ultimately in charge? How do you overcome the problem of getting the available resources to where they are needed? Katrina showed that the problem wasn't enough resources, but logistics. So to help in the logistics, you want FEMA to what? Warehouse more resources? Where?

As for the block-captain idea, it is obvious from our experience with Katrina that that idea won't work. What do you do if your block captain isn't around? People wouldn't follow the orders of police or National Guard. Why would they listen to a block-captain? How does a block-captain know what to do, when he doesn't know the extent of the problem - where to evacuate to, etc?

1. The Incident Command System (Go to the California Department of Forest), and
2. The FEMA CERT materials.

Note: If you have enough "depth" the "Neighborhood Captain" system works pretty well.

every city in every state would be required to come up with a disaster plan in which two people in different households (in case one was incapacitated or killed) on every block were designated as "block captains."

After being designated, they would go to each house or apartment on their block and find out how many people lived there, who had a car, who had a place to go out of town, who was disabled.

The block captains would then pair each disabled or frail elderly person who needed help with a neighbor whose responsibility it would be to help that person evacuate. If the helper had a car with room, fine. If not, the helper would report that to the block captains.

Without revealing anyone's individual information, the block captains would then report to the city disaster management office in the form of "We have x number of people living on our block, y number who have no place to evacuate to, z number who would need to be bused out, xx number who are disabled or frail elderly living alone." In no case would any individual's specific information be passed along.

In the event of a disaster that required evacuation (hurricane, fire, flood), it would be the city's responsibility to dispatch buses or vans to each neighborhood, and the block captains would see to it that those who needed transportation got on. (In most areas, you wouldn't need a bus for each block. The bus could park at an intersection, and people from the surrounding four blocks could get on.)

If anyone refused to leave, the block captains would make a note of that and write down the address, so that rescuers would know how many bodies to look for.

If no evacuation was necessary or feasible (as in an earthquake or tornado), the block captains would be responsible for checking up on everyone on their block and relaying damage reports and the neighborhood's needs to the next level of government.

In a non-evacuation disaster, the city and state government would use the reports from the block captains as the basis for where to send what kind of help--medical personnel, utility crews, National Guard, food, water, tents, whatever.

Each sector of the city would have a designated evacuation area, probably in a town at least 50 miles away. This would have to be coordinated federally, because a fifty mile radius could extend into other states. Any building that received federal funding (schools, hospitals, recreational facilities, even post offices and airport terminals) would be designated as an emergency shelter and would store relief supplies. People who had no relatives or friends outside the city who could take them in would automatically go to their neighborhood's designated evacuation area, so that people who knew one another would be kept together.

These are just some thoughts inspired by the Katrina disaster, and as you see, I've already given the matter more thought than Michael Brown ever did.

Here it is .

After Katrina, my and the kids took the CERT training (when my wife "graduated" they gave her a ride in ladder truck:hi: )

They all regarded the training very highly.

Meanwhile - the kids are on an evacuation alert due to the floods out here in the SF Bay Area.

He was the best FEMA director ever!

like party favors to pals. These are life and death jobs..Qualifications matter!