Resource Management Project

In Government class we chose a resource that is mismanaged in the world such as water or energy. I chose the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After researching we wrote an abstract and other things we got to choose. I chose an OpEd and a lesson plan.

Abstract
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is just as much of a mismanaged resource in the U.S. as water or energy. The agency’s purpose is to coordinate a response to a declared disaster in order to provide aid. However, the agency is known for having slow inefficient responses during more than one emergency. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, FEMA was criticized for their slow response caused mainly by lack of experience and preparation from the head and staff alike. There was confusion among FEMA workers as to what the plan to take care of the people of New Orleans was, which resulted in them doing almost nothing for days and leaving people lost, starving, trapped, and even victims of violence. In response to the poor reaction, in 2006 Congress created a law that would set minimum qualifications for future heads of FEMA since the one at the time, Michael Brown, who George W. Bush selected, had no prior emergency management experience. The law called for “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and “not less than five years of executive leadership." However, Bush decided this law would try to limit his authority. Despite this though he still did sign the bill and decided it was an important part of the legislation, which was to protect the American people. Hopefully this step will prove to be part of the solution that is changing FEMA’s emergency response system in order to make it more efficient. FEMA needs to revamp their system further by instead of focusing on waiting for a plan, focus on what is truly the most valuable—human life and take such measures as deploying rescue teams to save as many as possible first.



Letter to Official



Dear Senator:
No matter what state a country is in, disasters can strike at any time. Some countries will be worse off than others but the U.S. has the resources to avoid this. This is a country blessed with many resources but in many cases it has been made obvious we do not manage them correctly. In this case, the mismanaged resource at hand is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA started in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter merged all emergency-related government agencies into one. So, we now have an agency built around reacting to disasters that happen in our country but they are not doing a good enough job and what happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is prime evidence. Instead of quickly reacting and sending much needed help such as food, water, rescue teams, communication assistance, all of which the agency could provide, they did nothing and waited around confused. This was mostly caused by the lack of experience among the head of FEMA and staff alike. To avoid a problem like this first the agency must set requirements for how experienced members need to be (which has already been done through a law George W. Bush passed in 2006) and make human life the priority in a disaster situation by taking such measures as deploying rescue teams to save as many as possible first. During a catastrophe like Katrina, there is no time to wait around for a plan or someone to take charge. This country is far too strong to have its citizens fall victim to disasters we can easily be prepared for. So, I implore you to take this into consideration.
Sincerely, Matt LaPage – Student at High Tech High





FEMA Lesson Plan
Lesson Objective

The objective of this lesson is to teach students to learn what their government is (or is not) doing to protect them during emergency situations. They will then take the information they gather and use it to develop their own opinions on how FEMA should act, if they even see fit to improve it.

Materials Needed

Computers with access to internet

Lesson Setup

Give the students background on what FEMA is and is supposed to do to prepare them for their research on different disaster situations in which FEMA took action or failed to take proper action. Break students into groups.

Lesson Opening

After the students are in groups, have them get on computers to research past disaster situations that have happened in the United States in which FEMA responded and have them choose which they would like to research. Up to two groups may have the same disaster to research if each group has a different opinion on FEMA’s response (or lack thereof).

Lesson Body

Have students take notes in the form of answers to the following questions:
1. What happened during the disaster itself? Give a brief summary.
2. How did FEMA respond?

Closing

After the students have gathered some information have them discuss among themselves about their opinions.

Lesson Practice

Have the students write rough outlines organizing their thoughts for a small essay that is explained in the next section.

Assignment/Evaluation

The students will then write mini-essays answering one of the following questions:

What should FEMA have done in the situation you researched?

Did FEMA respond the way they should have? Why?

Plans for Future Lessons Based on Assessment

To get deeper into the subject have the students write essays on what the government should and should not be doing for the people. Where is there a line, if any?





Opinion Editorial
For those of you who do not know, the U.S. government has an agency that specializes in organizing a response to disaster situations to provide aid and it is known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. In theory, an agency like this is quite an asset. Unfortunately on more than one occasion, FEMA has proved to be less than efficient. The failure they are most well known for is their response to Hurricane Katrina. People in New Orleans were left homeless, injured, starving, stranded, and even victims of violence for days after the category 5 storm hit. The bigger problem was that FEMA was in fact on the scene, they just didn’t do anything. Some cases reported that members of the agency turned trucks filled with resources away from the disaster area. The reasoning behind it apparently was that FEMA was acting the way they were trained to. The agency is based around organizing specific plans before acting, such as waiting for an official call from the mayor of the city where the disaster is happening to actually classify it as a disaster before doing anything. Somewhere in waiting for plans and commands, confusion ensued among staff and the head of FEMA at the time, Michael Brown, alike. There was confusion on what to do, who was in charge, who was authorized for what, when to do certain things and so on and so forth. In response to this, in 2006 George W. Bush passed a law that has minimum requirements regarding experience for the head position of FEMA. Still though, the agency has continued to be subject to criticism, with good reason of course. More recently, in the midst of the 2007 California wild fires FEMA called a press conference to “ease the minds” of the people questioning what they really are doing to help. It turned out however they staged the conference and FEMA members posed as members of the press and preceded to ask softball questions. All real press was contacted only fifteen minutes beforehand in order to avoid the agency having to be put on the spot. This country has many resources and is quite capable of taking care of its people in these situations so there is no reason the well funded, trained agency that is built for the sole purpose of providing aid during a disaster can’t do its job properly. What needs to happen is that “higher-ups” in the U.S. government need to pay more attention to how FEMA gets things done, because Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the agency that houses FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security even is reported saying how “dumb” and “inappropriate” the fake conference was. Besides more superior involvement, FEMA’s emergency management system needs to change. An agency based on providing aid during disasters should not make specific plans and orders priority when something much more valuable is at stake—human life. FEMA has different specialized teams that are trained and therefore quite capable of saving lives as proved by their quite efficient response to the attacks on 9/11 where 25 of the 28 Urban Search and Rescue teams were dispersed at the WTC site and Pentagon just minutes after the first plane hit the first tower. They just need to not be held back by all of the so-called organization. What needs to happen is that teams should be sent out at the first sign of a threat and when disaster strikes the teams should focus first on saving as many human lives as possible whether that means safely evacuating them or providing resources like water, food, and shelter. Hopefully someday we will no longer have to worry as much about these disasters if FEMA does what they were meant to do because if we can’t trust our own wealth and capable government who can we trust?