Discussion:
The Federal Disaster Assistance Act of 1950 (P.L. 81-875) defined the roles and responsibilities during natural disasters. Once the president issued a disaster declaration, federal relief resources could flow to the affected areas for response and recovery. The president would then delegate administrative control of relief efforts to the Housing and Home Finance Administration. This law also instituted the federal role in natural disasters as a supportive role, while instituting primary responsibility for disaster response and recovery with local and state governments. How had this changed by 1978? Why did it change? Do you agree with the change? Why, or why not?
PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE WITH MY CLASSMATE RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS)
CLASSMATE'S RESPONSE
In 1950, Congress passed the Federal Disaster Relief Act authorizing the President to provide supplementary Federal assistance when a Governor requested help and the President approved the request by declaring a major disaster. During President Carter's administration (1976-1980), the Federal government undertook an extensive evaluation of its disaster response and recovery programs to determine which of them could be combined to increase efficiency and save money. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979, combining under its roof a number of emergency management programs that had been administered by different agencies.
It changed so one entity could coordinate Federal emergency authorities, including the administration of disaster response and recovery programs. FEMA could assume the role of the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration and assume responsibilities from the Federal Preparedness Agency, the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, the Federal Insurance Administration, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the U.S. Fire Administration. I agree with the concept of having an agency in charge of emergency management but FEMA needs to be separate from Homeland Security.