Friday, September 30, 2022

Was FEMA Prepared for Hurricane Ian?

As we see the damages and tragedy Hurricane Ian has caused Florida, many people are wondering, how those affected by this are being taken care of. Peoples lives have been flooded and washed away with the hurricane, leaving them cold, hungry, tired and homeless. Luckily, there is an agency called FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), apart of the US Department of Homeland Security. Their purpose is "to serve our country before, during and after disasters." They have billions in funding and direct aid, millions of units of food and water, and plenty of temporary housing

The new head of FEMA, Deanne Criswell, has had a lot on her plate since fulfilling this role in April 2021. While the last head of FEMA was ridiculed for his lack of preparation concerning Hurricane Katrina as well as other incidents such as, misplacing $250 million in food and supplies for Puerto Rico after hurricanes, Irma and Maria. 

While the agency doesn't have the greatest track record, Criswell and Biden worked closely and extensively on prepositioning supplies ahead of Hurricane Ian's arrival. Indeed food, water and shelter are important for these people in this time of need, they will still need money to recover all of the damages. 

Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, had many complaints about FEMA's efforts during a flooding there this past summer. He was concerned for his people as "not enough people were being approved" for aid claims. While Hurricane Katrina accumulated about $186.3 billion in damages, Hurricane Ian is only looking to be about $25-40 billion, which is still a crazy number but not even close to Katrina. I believe FEMA had the proper amount of time and resources to be prepared for this tragedy, but I am interested to see how ready they actually were. 


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