FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
The Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for
coordinating emergency planning, preparedness,
risk reduction, response, and recovery. The
agency works closely with state and local govern-
ments by funding emergency programs and pro-
viding technical guidance and training. These
coordinated activities at the federal, state, and
local levels ensure a broad-based emergency pro-
gram to insure public safety and protect prop-
erty. FEMA is prepared to respond to all types of
emergencies, including natural disasters such as
hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, and human-
caused events such as toxic chemical spills, prob-
lems at NUCLEAR POWER plants, and nuclear war.
FEMA came into the national spotlight in
the aftermath of the SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS,
where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Cen-
ter in New York City and seriously damaged the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Shortly after
those attacks, FEMA fully activated the Federal
Response Plan. The agency’s Emergency
Response Team was immediately deployed to
the attack sites.
In the weeks following the attacks, FEMA
employees worked relentlessly in a massive res-
cue and recovery effort at the World Trade Cen-
ter site. More than 1,500 employees of FEMA
and more than 6,500 other federal employees
took part in the effort. Tens of thousands of tons
of debris were removed from the site in New
York and taken to a landfill on Staten Island.
Several hundred bodies were discovered,
although few people were found alive in the first
days following the attack. The clean-up effort
continued into 2002.
FEMA also established programs to assist
victims of the attacks. The agency designated
more than $11 million for crisis counseling
funds to assist victims and others affected by the
attacks in New York City. FEMA likewise estab-
lished assistance and benefits programs for vic-
tims of the attacks, including mortgage and
rental assistance for those who suffered financial
hardships due to the attacks. In March 2003, the
agency announced it had released $250 million
in grant money to state and local government
agencies for costs associated with pensions given
to the surviving spouses and children of police
officers and firefighters killed in the collapse of
the World Trade Center.
FEMA was established in the EXECUTIVE
BRANCH as an independent agency pursuant to
REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 3 of 1978 (43 Fed.
Reg. 41, 943), and Executive Orders No. 12,127
(March 31, 1979) (Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency) and No. 12,148 (July 20, 1979)
(Federal Emergency Management).
FEMA has ten regional offices, which are the
primary means by which the agency’s programs
are carried out at the state and local levels. The
regional directors are the FEMA director’s prin-
cipal representatives in contacts and relation-
ships with federal, state, regional, and local
agencies; industry; and other public and private
groups. They are responsible for accomplishing
within their region the national program objec-
tives established by the agency, and they work
with the director to develop national policy.
FEMA developed the Federal Response Plan,
a program for quickly responding to any type of
catastrophic disaster. When, for example, an
earthquake causes substantial damage and dislo-
cation to a city or region, FEMA moves emer-
gency teams into the area and coordinates
efforts to restore public services and to provide
food and shelter for those displaced by the nat-
ural disaster. FEMA’s TELECOMMUNICATIONS
and computer systems are used as a hub opera-
tion providing support services for day-to-day
emergency activities. FEMA also works with
state and local governments to develop emer-
gency response plans and to provide training
and technical support to these agencies through
its Emergency Management Institute.
FEMA includes the Federal Insurance
Administration (FIA), which administers the
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and
the National Crime Insurance Program (NCIP).
The NFIP makes flood insurance available to residents of communities that adopt and enforce
the program’s floodplain management regula-
tions to reduce future flood losses. Over 18,000
communities participate in NFIP, a self-support-
ing program requiring no taxpayer funds to pay
claim or operating expenses. The NCIP author-
izes the FIA to sell crime insurance at affordable
rates in any eligible state. The NCIP offers pro-
tection to home and business owners against
financial loss from BURGLARY and ROBBERY.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is
another FEMA agency. The USFA provides lead-
ership, coordination, and support for FEMA’s
activities in the areas of fire prevention and con-
trol, hazardous materials, and emergency medical
services. The USFA develops and disseminates
fire safety information to the fire service and the
general public. Through its National Fire Acad-
emy, the USFA develops and delivers training
and education programs to fire service person-
nel. The USFA is also responsible for the activi-
ties of the National Fire Data Center, and for the
management of the National Emergency Train-
ing Center, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The
USFA works closely with the public and private
sectors to reduce fire deaths, injuries, and prop-
erty losses.
FEMA’s External Affairs directorate serves as
the focal point of contact for the public, the
media, public interest groups, state and local
government organizations, Congress, and for-
eign governments. The directorate provides the
director, the director’s staff, and the agencies
within FEMA with advice on how to develop
and execute programs in the areas of congres-
sional affairs and public and intergovernmental
