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Portsmouth, New Hampshire Fire
Congress passed an act to provide financial assistance to Portsmouth, New Hampshire that was devistated by a fire. This is the first example of a Federal agency assisting a local disaster. -
FDR and the 1930s
The Franklin Roosevelt administration played a major role in Emergency Management in the 1930s. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Bureau of Public Roads were both given the authority to make disaster loans available. The Tennesse Valley Authority was created for hydroeletric power, and also to reduce flooding in that region. -
The Flood Control Act
The Flood Control Act of 1934 gave power to the US Army Corps of Engineers to design and build flood-control projects. -
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Civil Defense and The Cold War
The rise of the Cold War and threat of Nuclear Attack helped span Emergency Management and the Civil Defense programs across the nation. Programs and acts such as Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), and Office of Defense Mobilization, which was part of the Department of Defense, The FCDA had little staff or financial resources, and it's main responsibility was to provide technical assistance. The Office of Defense Mobilization was for the mobilization and stockpiling supplies. -
Office of Emergency Preparedness
After a series of hurricanes in the mid-late 1950s, the incoming Kennedy Administration decided to change the way the federal governement involved itself with disasters. In 1961, the Office of Emergency Preparedness was formed for this reason. This office was within the White House, although, Civil Defense matters remained in the Dept. of Defense. -
The National Flood Insurance Act and the NFIP.
After a series of major natural disasters in the 1960s, Congress was interested in the unavalibility of flood insurance on homeowner insurance. Therefore, they passed the National Flood Insurance Act, which created the National Flood Insurance Program. This allowed communities to obtain subsidized low-cost floor insurance, but also restricted future development in floodplains. -
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1970's and Emergency Management
In the 1970's, Emergency Management was spread among various departments, including, The Dept. Of Tresury, Dept. of Commerce, HUD, General Services Administration, and Nuclear Regulatory Dept. -
Flood Insurance Act
George Bernstein, who was brought in by Nixon to run the Federal Insurance Administration, purposed to make a change that would make purchasing flood insurance mandatory to all homeowners loans that was backed federally. This change became the Flood Insurance Act of 1972. -
Disaster Relief Act of 1974
Because of various major hurricanes in the past and the San Fransico Earthquake of 1971, The Disaster Relief Act was passed.The Disaster Relief Act of 1974 established the process of presidential disaster declarations. At one point, more than one hundred federal agencies oversaw disasters and emergencies. This was later named the Stafford Act. -
Reorganization Plan number 3
On June 19, 1978, President Carter sent to Congress the Reorganization Plan Number 3. This plan was to consolidate emergency management, mitigation, and response activities into one agency. This gave birth to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). FEMA acquired The National Fire Prevention Control Administration, Federal Insurance Administration, Federal Broadcast System, Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, Federal Disaster Assistance Administration, and the Federal Preparedness Agency. -
FEMA offically formed
FEMA was offically formed on March 31, 1979, by Executive Order 12127. Executive Order 12148, mandated the reassignment of agencies , personell, and programs to FEMA. -
Ronald Reagan and FEMA
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Colonel Louis O. Giuffrida as Director of FEMA. -
Stafford Act
In 1988, Congress passed an amended version of the 1974 Disaster Relief Act, Known as The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) -
FEMA in trouble
In 1989, 2 major incidents occured. Hurricane Hugo hit the east coast of the United States, ultimately causing over $15 Billion in damages and 81 deaths. FEMA was slow to respond. Shortly after, The San Franscico Bay area was hit with the Loma Prieta Earthquake, as the World Series was going on in Oakland. FEMA was not ready. -
New FEMA director
President George H W Bush named Wallace Stickney as director of FEMA -
New Life into FEMA
In the incoming Clinton Administration saw that FEMA was in trouble. Congress was wanting abolishment of the Agency. President Clinton saw need for FEMA, and appointed Director James Lee Witt. Witt was the first director that had prior emergency management experience. He reformed the entire organization, destroying bottlenecks in the policies and actions, promoted customer service, and regained trust with the citizens. -
Project Impact
Project Impact : Building Disaster Free Communities is an ongoing project for FEMA. Established in 1999, Project Impact is a movement to mainstream emergency management and mitigation into communities. It asks all communities to go back to the roots of emergency management. It is helping establish partnerships to all parts of the community to help assist each other in time of disasters. -
New FEMA director under George W Bush
The incoming Bush party replaced the FEMA director with Joe Allbaugh. Allbaugh got a rocky start, with one of his policies cutting Project Impact. Shortly after this, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook Seattle, WA. Seattle was one of the most successful Project Impact communities. After this, Vice President Cheney asked Allbaugh why Project Impact was being eliminated. Allbaugh replied that he questioned Project Impact's effectiveness. Congess put funding back into Project Impact. -
September 11 Attacks
The 9/11 attacks had proven the strength of FEMA. Within minutes, the National Response Plan was activated. Everything went as expected as the Response Plan was activated in VA and NY. -
Dept of Homeland Security
Almost immediately after the attack, President Bush created the executive order that created the Office of Homeland Security within the White House. Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania was sworn into this office with title Assistant to The President. -
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3
In March of 2002, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3, which creation the nation-wide 5 color threat alert system. -
Homeland Security Bill
After the 2002 election, the Republican controlled Senate and House gave President Bush the power he needed to instate the Homeland Security Bill, this allowed the DHS to absorb multiple agencies. This was also shown in President Bush's Reorganization Plan. -
Homeland Security Opened
Jan 24, 2003, The US Department of Homeland Security opened it's doors, with 179,000 Federal Employees, and 22 existing agencies. -
Allbraugh steps down
In a memo to FEMA staff, Joe Allbraugh stated he was reigning from FEMA. Michael D. Brown, undersecretary from the Emergency and Preparedness Dept, was brought in as FEMA director. -
Tom Ridge Resigns
November 30, 2004 - Tom Ridge Resigns from The Department of Homeland Security -
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Post-Katrina Changes
After Katrina, the 109th Congress passed a number of acts to make changes for future emergencies and disaster responses. This were:
- The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006
- The Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2005 (SAFE Port Act)
- The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards of 2006
-The Federal Judiciary Emergency Special Sessions Act of 2005
- The Student Grant Hurricane and Disaster Relief Act
- The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act 2007 -
Chertoff new Homeland Security Director
On Feb 16, 2005 Michael Chertoff was unanimously voted by Senate to becomes the new DHS Director. -
Six-Point Plan
On July 13, 2005, Chertoff released his six-point reorganization plan for DHS. He aimed to streamline efforts, including:
- Increase preparedness
- Better transportation security
- Strengthen boarders
- Enhance Information Sharing
- Improve Finances
- Streamline organization -
Hurricane Katrina
The National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service saw that Katrina had turned west, threatening LA and MS. Earlier FEMA exercises had predicted the danger of New Orleans in hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center warned that by the time Katrina made landfall, that it could become a Cat. 4-5. The NWS confirned that New Orleans was at risk. The final outcome overwhelmed FEMA, with 1,856 deaths, 705 missing, over $100 billion in damages, $35 billion insurance losses. -
New FEMA director
W. Craig Fugate was appointed as FEMA director in 2009
