The terrorist attacks on September 11 2001 were a sad day for our nation, yet it showed the vulnerabilities in the Americans emergency management system. President Jimmy Carter made a good effort with the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but as 9/11 proved FEMA was not equipped to management terrorist threats. The nation needed something fay beyond what FEMA could offer, which lead to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
Historically, major disasters have always prompt change in the American culture take for example the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor enhanced Americans drive towards technology and Science. But September 11 reinforced the need for a unified response an organized agency to prepare the public for future terrorist attacks and natural disasters. The Department of Homeland Security focus on gathering information and breaking it down to prevent future terrorist attack , terrorism now became the agency top priority and hazard disaster management was left as a low priority. The new direct of the DHS change the field of emergency management. As a result, more schools started offering emergency management
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Hurricane Katrina shift the position of the Department of Homeland Security from making natural disasters an equally as important as terrorism. This even showed that disaster planning requires a great deal of collaboration. The Department of Homeland Security who swallowed up FEMA where not quick to react to Hurricane Katrina because all their focus was spend on planning for a prevent terrorist attacks. The failure of the disaster response system resulted in over 1,200 lives lost in Louisiana and Mississippi. FEMA failed to work closely with its State and local counterparts and communications between these partners and the public were strained at best. Now the focus on natural disaster is just as important as terrorist