Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Emergency management was institutionalized in 1979 with the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It purposes is simply the creation of plans through which communities can reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Five Federal agencies that dealt with many types of emergencies consolidated to form FEMA. Since that time, many State and local organizations have changed the names of their organizations to include the words: “emergency management”. The name change indicates a change in orientation from specialized preparedness for single or narrowly defined categories of hazards toward an all-hazards approach that includes potential threats to life and property through environmental and technological hazards,

Often this involved preparing for enemy attack. The United States preparedness for man-made and natural disasters requires identifying resources and expertise in advance, and planning how these can be used in case of a disaster incident. However, preparedness is only one phase of emergency management. If indeed preparedness is just one phase of emergency management, then what are other phases of emergency management and which is the most important aspect? So also if the purpose of emergency management is simply the creation of plans through which communities can reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters, how and who then sees to it that in the event of huge man-made or natural disaster, communication and coordination is being facilitated between all responders (including all levels of government with public, private, and nongovernmental

The purpose of NIMS is to provide a common approach for management of incidents (National Incident Management System). There are several components of the NIMS. These components include preparedness, communication and information management, resource management, command and management, and ongoing management and maintenance (ICS 100.b). For example, in a man-made disaster situation, where a large bomb was detonated in a highly populated area, the NIMS would be utilized as follows. The first step in the NIMS involves training and preparing for different types of incidents. The second step involves communications. Communication lines and channels will already be labeled or assigned for all agencies responding. During the Boston Marathon Bombing man hunt, because there were so many agencies responding and talking on the radio, first responders had to start using plain talk on the radios, therefore, reducing confusion amongst the many different first responders. The resource management stage, involves having the necessary amount of resources, including personnel, equipment, and various