What year was the federal emergency management agency (fema) formed?

Dating back to the Congressional Act of 1803, Emergency Management has seen many changes and an every evolving array of emergency situations and disaster types that must be prepared for, responded to, recovered from, and mitigated against. While emergencies and disaster start and end at the Local level, Federal actions have had a direct impact on the focus of Emergency Management, organizational support and funding avenues. Emergency Management continues to evolve in a more interconnected world that faces new challenges, such as cyberattacks, while continuously reviewing best practices to help ensure the most efficient and effective response possible.    Below are just some of the milestones in Emergency Management’s history.

Congressional Act of 1803: One of the first examples of the United States Federal government proactively addressing a local disaster.  The Act enabled the government to provide assistance to a New Hampshire town after an extensive fire.

American Red Cross (1881): Clarissa Harlowe Barton founded the volunteer organization, which has grown into one of the world’s largest volunteer networks. The organization promotes a cooperative effort to protect and enhance lives of individuals in the wake of personal and large scale disasters.

First Federal Mitigation Efforts (1900): Funds provided by the U.S. Federal Government raised the elevation of Galveston, Texas 17 feet and to build a seawall to protect Galveston from future floods.

Flood Control Act (1917): Floods on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other rivers in the northeast led to the Flood Control Act of 1917, the first act aimed exclusively at controlling floods. In 1934, a version of the legislation increased the authority of the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build flood control projects.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC): On January 22, 1932, the US Congress established and authorized the agency to originate disaster loans for repair and reconstruction of certain public facilities following an earthquake, and later, other types of disasters. The 1953 RFC Liquidation Act terminated its lending powers in an effort to fulfill President Dwight Eisenhower’s vision of limiting government’s involvement in the economy. By 1957, its remaining functions had been transferred to other agencies.

Bureau of Public Road: In 1934, the agency was given the authority to provide funding for highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters.       

Disaster Relief Act of 1950: Authorized the President of the United States to issue disaster declarations. As a result, the declaration permitted federal agencies to provide direct assistance to state and local governments in the wake of a disaster.

Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950: The threat of nuclear war and its subsequent radioactive fallout precipitated numerous defense legislations.  The Act provided the basic preparedness framework to minimize the effects of an attack on the civilian population and a plan to respond to the immediate emergency conditions created by the attack.

Establishment of the National Weather Service (1950’s): Following the devastations of Hurricanes Hazel, Diane and Audrey along the eastern seaboard and gulf coast, the National Weather Service was created in Miami, Florida to attempt to track potentially dangerous weather events.

Office of Emergency Preparedness (1960): As a result of a series of disasters (Hurricane Donna, Hurricane Carla, and a 7.3 Montana earthquake) the Kennedy administration established this agency to oversee the seemingly growing risk of natural disasters.

National Flood Insurance Act of 1968: The legislation was prompted by the unavailability or prohibitively expensive flood insurance coverage.  The Act resulted in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):  By 1970, over 100 federal agencies and thousands of state and local entities were involved in risk management and disaster response efforts.  The scattered, fragmented, and decentralized concept led to duplicated efforts, confusion, and political power struggles. FEMA was created to centralize efforts and minimize disorder.

The Disaster Relief Act of 1974: Federal legislation that was passed into law that established the process of Presidential Disaster Declarations.

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90): In the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the law created comprehensive prevention, response, liability, and compensation policies for vessel and facilities that could cause oil pollution to U.S. navigable waters.

Federal Response Plan (1992): The plan aimed to provide a systematic process and structure for coordinated delivery of Federal assistance to address the effects of any major disaster or emergency declared under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

September 11, 2001: FEMA activates the Federal Response Plan as a response to the worst terrorist attack on the United States. The attacks can be identified as one of history’s turning points for the rapid advancement and coordination of emergency management.

Homeland Security Act of 2002: Was established as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks in effort to protect the United States from further terrorist attacks, reduce the nation’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage from potential terrorist attacks and natural disasters.  

National Response Plan (2004): Developed out of the need to implement common incident management and response principles. The NRP replaced the Federal Response Plan.

National Response Framework (2008): Through stakeholder feedback, a series of disasters, and subsequent lessons learned, the framework was developed to enhance the principles of the National Response Plan. The changes incorporated the concept that an effective incident response is a shared responsibility of all level of governments, the private sector and NGOs, and individual citizens.

FEMA document detailing additional pieces of the history and evolution of Emergency Management

https://training.fema.gov/hiedu/docs/chapter%201%20-%20intro%20to%20crisis,%20disaster%20and%20risk%20mgmt%20concepts.doc      

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a United States government agency with the purpose to coordinate aid and respond to disasters around the nation when local resources are insufficient. Commanding a budget of approximately $14 billion annually, the agency is headquartered in Washington D.C.

FEMA was created in 1978 as part of the Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3, and implemented in 1979 under executive orders signed by President Jimmy Carter. One of the early projects of FEMA was to create a series of tunnels and bunkers for the protection of U.S. government officials. The agency was shown in action in responding to the dumping of toxic waste into the Love Canal in Niagara, New York in 1978 and the Three Mile Island nuclear incident in Pennsylvania in 1979.

The agency was made to coordinate response to crises that would otherwise overwhelm resources of local and state authorities. In order to get FEMA assistance, the governor of a state must declare a state of emergency and make formal contact to the president of FEMA. This declaration is necessary to receive aid, except in the case of states that contain property or assets of the federal government.

FEMA coordinates with other federal agencies, non-profit organizations private sector companies when responding to disasters. When a disaster hits, FEMA collaborates and helps manage operations on the ground with agencies and organizations like the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, American Red Cross, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services and Defense departments.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order merging many separate, disaster-related responsibilities into an independent agency called the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In the 40 years since its creation, FEMA has undergone dramatic changes—most notably in 2003, when it became part of the newly created Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the events of 9/11.

In today’s WatchBlog, we explore what we have found as FEMA has evolved through the years, and what it can do to improve operations in the future.

The early years

A few years after FEMA’s creation, we reported on some problems FEMA faced in getting started. For example, in 1983 we noted that the agency didn’t have enough staff and had difficulties in defining its mission, goals, and objectives.

Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida in 1992. At the time, it was the most devastating and expensive disaster to hit the country. After that storm, we found that the federal government’s strategy for dealing with catastrophic disasters was inadequate. We noted that improving FEMA’s damage assessments, developing a disaster unit, and enacting legislation to aid in preparing for disasters would improve the nation's response to these events.

Recent disasters and response

Since the start of this century, the country has been struck by many major disasters that have reshaped how the government prepares for, responds to, and recovers from, disasters. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and is still considered one of the worst natural disasters to strike the country.

We made numerous recommendations after Katrina to help the government confront future catastrophic events—many of which were implemented. Among our recommendations were that DHS provide guidance and direction to other federal, state, and local agencies to ensure adequate preparedness, response, and recovery roles.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states and caused $65 billion in damage.

We reported afterwards that the federal government should develop a strategy to help the nation reduce future disaster risk. Our podcast from that time has more details.

After both disasters, Congress passed major legislation to reform FEMA.

Current challenges for FEMA

Recent large-scale disasters—such as hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the California wildfires—have created unprecedented demand for federal disaster help. In fact, the 2017 hurricane and wildfire season included 3 of the top 5 costliest hurricanes on record at the time. As of June 2018, Congress had appropriated over $120 billion in supplemental funding for response and recovery related to these disasters.

FEMA’s workforce also swelled during this time. We reported that, in October 2017, close to 14,000 federal employees were deployed in response to the disasters.

Listen to our podcast with Chris Currie, a director in our Homeland Security and Justice team, for more on what we found:

Tuesday, September 04, 2018

And watch our video, where Chris answers questions from the public and talks about federal disaster assistance efforts and challenges.

In 2018, more catastrophic hurricanes and wildfire disasters hit the country, requiring even greater federal disaster assistance. We have work underway now examining how FEMA responded to these disasters.

What’s needed in the future?

One of our open priority recommendations is for FEMA to develop a better way to assess whether states and local governments can respond to and recover from disasters without federal assistance. FEMA is working on this problem but does not yet have an estimated date for completing its efforts.

We also have other open recommendations to FEMA, including reviewing the number of staff it requires, defining its mission needs, and filling its skill gaps.

Further, FEMA has a role to play in one of our high-risk areas: limiting the federal government's fiscal exposure by better managing climate change risks. For example, we noted in our 2019 High Risk List report that FEMA has not completed a national preparedness assessment to help set priorities for grant funding.

As the 2019 hurricane and wildfire season approaches, FEMA will need to be ready. We will continue to review the agency’s efforts just as we have done for many decades.

Comments on GAO’s WatchBlog? Contact .