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Cuppa GAO: Coffee With Our Experts: Disaster Assistance

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There have been many natural disasters in the US recently. Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires has hit the country and affected millions of people. The government plays a huge role in the recovery process. They must provide assistance and aid for the disaster victims and get people the help that they need. In the video “Cuppa GAO: Coffee With Our Experts – Disaster Assistance”, they discuss federal disaster assistance efforts and challenges. They discuss how the federal government responds to natural disasters. One way that the government responds and get people the aid they need is by direct help. The Coast Guard searches and rescue disaster victims and The Department of Defense and military delivers supplies. It is very important …show more content…

FEMA supports state and local governments during the disasters in a number of ways. The video states that they provide urban search and rescue teams to help people get out of their flooded houses. They provide logistical support, getting commodities like food and water where it needs to go. FEMA also supports with money, “they provide money to help in rebuild local infrastructure and give money to help citizens get back on their feet and get their homes.”(U.S. GAO, 2017). FEMA supports state and local governments with assistance and …show more content…

The federal department that spent the largest amount of money on disaster relief between 2005 and 2014 was the Department of Homeland Security. Their total obligations between 2005 and 2014 was $145,641,028. They provided the most disaster assistance out of the seventeen federal departments. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website, the following are some of the assistance they provide during disasters. They assist people with temporary housing, assisting with money to rent a place to live or a government provided housing unit. The DHS also assists with repair, “Money is available to homeowners to repair damage from the disaster to their primary residence that is not covered by insurance.” (DHS, 2015) The DHS also assists with replacement, money is available to homeowners to replace their destroyed home that is not covered by their insurance. The DHS also assists with other important needs to disaster victims such as disaster-related medical, dental, funeral, and burial costs. “Clothing and household items; tools required for your job; and necessary educational materials” are also assisted by The Department of Homeland Security to disaster

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The Stafford Act was enacted in 1988 and determines how and when the federal government is allowed to intervene in a natural disaster. It also defines the type of assistance to be provided as well as the distribution of funds among the federal, state and local governments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating the assistance identified in the Stafford Act. However, FEMA has to answer to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than making their own decisions. The authors describe how our current governmental system isn’t well equipped to deal with major devastation such as Hurricane Katrina.

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There became an obvious need for immediate assistance from the National Guard and the Active Duty Army to stop looters, crime, and other chaos that ensued shortly after the flood. Gaining assistance from state controlled National Guard units was not overly difficult. Unfortunately, use of Federal soldiers comes with the stipulation that “the Governor of the affected state must request use of the resources of the DoD”. (Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance) The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco and her staff were already failing to control and lead emergency efforts.

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Before the First World War, the Red Cross introduced its “first aid, water safety, and public health nursing programs” (Who is Clara Barton, 2008) In regards to natural disasters, they provided relief for the Great Depression during the 1930s and also the during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which was the largest Red Cross Response in it’s history. Here they provided millions of people with food, shelter, and money to get back on their feet, emotional support, etc. Their first congressional charter was received in 1900 and the second in 1905. Then their third was adopted in May 2007 which “restates the traditional purposes of the organization” which includes being a form of communication between those in the American armed forces and their families as well as providing an international and national disaster relief and mitigation (Who is Clara Barton, 2008).

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Personnel and equipment come into the devastated area from all over the country, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (Bell, 2006, p. 26). 2005 brought the largest national response to natural disasters. Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita affected numerous states. The states affected were unable to help themselves, as would be responders were now victims. In addition to the lack of responders, the local infrastructure was decimated and local and state officials were unable to respond.

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Establishing the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, a grant making agency that distributed federal aid to the states for relief, gave protection to the citizens and states through the means of funding. This act is very beneficial to the countries’ people and the countries’ states and I believe is

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For instance, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided direct relief to those in need

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This provided relief because they could pay for the necessities that they needed. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration gave money to the states to help provide relief to individual states’ problems and emergencies. Another important agency is the Civil Works Administration. They provided jobs as a relief for the long winter, and gave people money and resources to use when the most needed it. All of these agencies contributed a huge part to give them relief because it gave people a sense of relief during the harsh times and make them feel more comfort.

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Lastly even though people blame here and there, I think it also the responsibility of state-trained the entire citizen and tell them the evacuate route in the case of emergency. Only if victims had some emergency equipment and resources for them at home they would not have to suffer as they did suffer in Katrina. Personally I always have emergency kit and the first aid box, food and stuff for the emergency at home , even

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Every eight minutes, the American Red Cross responds to an emergency. The staff assists the victim however possible. Helping the community is the main goal of the association. Shelter, food, and clothing are provided during natural disasters. The International Organization all began with the work of Clara Barton.

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More and more authorities continue to be taken away and have been spread across many agencies within DHS. “FEMA no longer manages a comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and the agency function that President Carter and the Governors envisioned in 1979 no longer exists” (FEMA, 2013). The sole focus has turned to terrorism disaster preparedness and FEMA has become somewhat dismantled and lost its ability to provide the command and control that it had prior to the move to DHS. This will prove to be a major flaw and will again, show the failure of FEMA in the next occurrence of natural disaster the United States faces. There are other agencies within the DHS that need to be scrutinized as

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Some of these roles may include advocacy, collaboration with other professionals regarding the creating of crisis response plans, providing education related to mental health and resilience, holding leadership roles on multi-disciplinary crisis response teams, serving as media liaisons, assessing the needs of those affected by disasters, providing crisis intervention and support, and assisting with death notifications. Furthermore, CMHCs may fulfill the following roles and responsibilities when assisting those in

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Americans help each other after disasters strikes in many different ways like, when they take the people who have been hurt to red cross. Americans like to help people that need it, not only because they want to be on the news or even the newspaper but actually like taking care of people. A little bit of americans don’t like to help others but most of us do and people don’t get that we’re a country together and we need to stick together and help one another. Our country helped each other when the planes hit the twin towers on September 11, 2001 everyone was in tears and helped each other through everything that hey were going through.

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Hello governor Scott, Hurricane Charley has recently struck our area we are in a state of emergency and in need of support to fix our beloved city. Since the hurricane, we have had problems with people being evacuated from their homes and troops being allowed to enter the area . A person’s individual rights are not absolute, if we could do what we wanted with no limit, this country would be in utter chaos. Citizens with rights would interfere with other rules, ignoring them and would eventually lead to havoc. I am sure we can agree that the government must balance our rights with what is best for the general welfare of others.

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The creation of DHS to some extent undermined the roles and responsibilities of FEMA. The independence of FEMA was undermined, thus explaining the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA lacked funds and resources to undertake her roles and responsibilities of Emergency Management (George et al, p.19). As a result, over 1,800 lives were lost and tens of thousands were displaced. Restoring FEMA’s independence took center stage during Obama’s administration; however, DHS claimed, FEMA was its fundamental organ (George et al, p. 24).

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Each newly formed department did not communicate with each other and making up their policy as they handled an event. President Carter created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1978 to consolidate the multiple agencies within the government to handle disasters (Haddow, Bullock, Coppola 2014). This consolidation contributed to the expertise of each unique specialty to communicate more efficiently in a time of a

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