Federal Emergency Management Agency
Mission: suport citizens, work together, build, improve, prepare, protect, respond, and recover from ALL hazards (hurricane, earthquake, tonado, flood, spill, act of terrorism)
FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Team of: federal partners, state, tribal and local officials, private secorts, non-profits, faith-based groups, and the general public
FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Team of: federal partners, state, tribal and local officials, private secorts, non-profits, faith-based groups, and the general public
Government and Galveston.
Galveston had faded from the national news for many reasons. One reason is that it happened a long time ago and technolgoy wasnt as developed as it is today. Another reason involves FEMA. FEMA and other federal agencies whom are responsible when it comes to dealing with disasters, want there to be an appearane of success and completion. FEMA began to talk about taking away the financial support for removal of debris. This was very unhelpful toward the people of Galveston because this sort of financial support was needed for a much longer time. Galveston (and the Gulf coast) still require years of work in order to fully removal most of the debris. Without financial support, FEMA isn't doing their job as well as they could. Survivors should have gotten more help, but instead, they set up shelters (temporarily) along the shore. There were so many people who lost their home and had to join this shelter that observers referred to it as the "White City on the Beach." Although, the War Department dispateched raitons and tents in order to help the numerous homeless survivors. In response to the hurricane, the city government was transformed into a commission government where small groups are responsible for one part of governance. The city was also helped byt eh Red Cross when Clara Barton provided the people with additional aid from oversees. President McKinley also got involved as he ordered troops and supplies to the city.
Government and Katrina.
Unlike with Hurricane Katrina, FEMA was successful in the transitional days after Hurricane Ike. FEMA helped manage traffic, distribute supplies, and helped with the immediate trauma of the storm. With Hurricane Katrina, FEMA failed and acted similarity to President Bush when Baghdad was intruded by us, Americans. FEMA's failure was related to the time when "Bush landed on that aircraft carrier and proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.” That was before we realized how far we were from accomplishing anything." Due to the failure of the Hurricane Protection Project of New Orleans, government officials have called for hearings and committees to investigate the decision and engineering of the collapse of the flood protection system because it should have held against Katrina's storm surge. The government didn’t perform up to the expectations that the citizens of Katrina had hoped for. Part of the reason why the government will perform badly, is due to its small budges and the extracted of money from taxpayers. People want a government to take care of them, but that’s a promise that isn’t ever fully credible. The government has been involved in and continuously assured that they planned to help with all hurricane-related service on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
in New Orleans while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have managed the levees and other forms of flood protection. Although, after putting trust in the government, after the emergency system failed and thousands of people were abandoned, the citizens of Katrina received a “rude awakening.” The problem was not just the agencies that were run like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but the fact that private businesses would put profits before people. Some companies were helping people by supplying desperate people with necessary goods, while FEMA was recovering from the shock that followed after the levees had failed. Not only did levees and Corps fail, but so did FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security as well. During Hurricane Katrina, President Bush was in office and spent a large amount of his time focusing on the war in Iraq. Many people disapproved of this because they felt that Bush should have spent more time focusing on homeland problems rather than problems abroad. Although he did grant Katrina $1.9 billion, hundreds of millions of dollars had also gone to unrelated water projects (approved by the Corps) and after inaccurate economic analyses. In reality, Katrina was the place that needed the most attention, and help, which they felt the government did not give them. They also blamed the state and local governments for the same crime: they made people dependent on them, took on many serious tasks, but yet failed miserably as well.
Quotes.
Pam Dashiell
Quoted by Pam Dashiell, president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association in New Orleans:
“Our politicians never cared half as much about protecting us as they cared about pork.”
The Post emphasized, “In fact, more than any other federal agency, the Corps is controlled by Congress; its $4.7 billion civil works budget consists almost entirely of ‘earmarks’ inserted by individual legislators.”
Above: FEMA helps Tennessee with a flood in 2010
Click the links below to learn more about Hurricane Galveston and Hurricane Katrina, as well as how they connect and how the government effected each of them.
Galveston
Galveston Blogs
Katrina
Katrina Blogs
The Governments Involvement in the Hurricanes
The Comparing and Contrasting of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Galveston
