F.E.M.A.: Federal Emergency Management Agency - What it means and who qualifies?

If you are ever involved in a national disaster the initials F.E.M.A will become very familiar to you.  F.E.M.A is the US Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.  In the event of a national disaster, F.E.M.A takes action to provide victims with shelter, food and necessities they may be left without.  But F.E.M.A’s efforts during a disaster do not stop there.  F.E.M.A is also in charge of training and sending emergency specialists to assist victims, putting into action flood insurance programs, and overseeing the federal response to the emergency that has occurred.  If you are ever involved in a national emergency, you will be glad F.E.M.A is there for you.

                                                                                                                                  F.E.M.A uses a disaster life cycle to describe what they are responsible for.  The disaster life cycle begins when a national disaster occurs.  National disasters can take the form of a variety of things from hurricanes to earthquakes to terrorist attacks.  Indeed, the initials F.E.M.A were heard often following the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Southeastern United States.  Once the disaster occurs, F.E.M.A’s first step is responding to the disaster.  The response includes helping the disaster victims get necessary items to survive during such trying times.  Food, water, and vital medications are provided to the victims while medical care and temporary shelter are offered as well.  Following the initial response, recovery begins to take place.  This is the second step for F.E.M.A in the event of a disaster.  Recovery includes helping communities rebuild themselves after they have been ravaged by disaster.  F.E.M.A assists disaster victims with the rebuilding of community buildings such as schools, police stations, and homes.  If flooding has occurred F.E.M.A officials work to clear the area of water, debris or any other disaster remnants.

 F.E.M.A’s next step is mitigation.  Mitigation allows recovery to occur within safe means.  If certain areas of the community are unstable for buildings to be built on due to the possibility of future disasters, buildings are cleared from that area.  If an earthquake has occurred, mitigation helps in engineering new buildings that will safely stand on the land.  Once the disaster area has been successfully rebuilt, F.E.M.A moves to the risk reduction portion of the disaster life cycle.  It is at this time that F.E.M.A helps people of the disaster area with planning for future disasters and reducing their risk of loss.  Flood insurance is one of the major risk reducing offerings by F.E.M.A that helps people in the event of a disaster like a major flood.  The following steps of the disaster life cycle are prevention and preparedness.  In these life cycle steps, F.E.M.A assists communities in preventing future disasters if possible.  Of course, many national disasters that occur are natural disasters and cannot be stopped.  In this case, the preparedness comes in handy.  By being prepared for future hardships, citizens can better deal with the aftermath of a national disaster.

In the event of a major national disaster there are a number of people who qualify for F.E.M.A assistance.  F.E.M.A requires all qualified citizens to fill out an application to apply for F.E.M.A aid.  Those who feel that they qualify can find applications on the F.E.M.A website and also readily available in most post-disaster areas.  In order for most of F.E.M.A’s special disaster aid programs to go into effect, the President of the United States must sign a declaration of major disaster.  If your home was destroyed in the disaster applying for F.E.M.A aid can get you disaster housing.  This can help in giving you a place to call home while you get your life back on track.  If you are without food or water, there are often plenty of F.E.M.A and American Red Cross volunteers on hand in disaster areas providing victims with food, water, clothing, etc.  If you have lost your job as a result of the disaster you are able to apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance.  F.E.M.A also offers victims low cost legal help at Disaster Recovery Centers set up following disasters.

No matter what region of the United States you live in, national disasters may threaten your livelihood.  The best thing you can do is to prepare for anything, but rest assured that when disaster strikes, F.E.M.A would be there for you.