Unfortunately the "system" is set up to milk the public and cater to their close friends so they get all the glory... The LAST thing they want is able bodied Americans who can show up, get the job done without wanting medals to pin on their jackets, help the victims and then go back home so their presence does not add to the problem....... There are layer after layer of downright BS in FEMA, The Red Cross, Salvation Army and a few other orgs who advertise they are the front line to disasters.. In EVERY event they turn out to the most ineffective............ And yet they consistantly are recognized to the masses of sheeple as the "go to" groups in times of need..........
As you probably have guessed, I am a career emergency manager.
There is no "system".
All disasters are local, and are managed and commanded by the local jurisdiction and state.
The local and state agencies are supported by FEMA, Red Cross, etc, to fulfill the missions that the STATE has asked them to perform, provide the resources the STATE requests, under the command and control of the STATE.
If FEMA sends 100,000 bottles of water to a town, it's because the STATE requested it. If they don't, it's because the STATE did not request it. FEMA cannot do
anything until the STATE asks them to.
FEMA has
never advertised themselves as a front line or first response agency, because they are not.
Further, if FEMA is coming in, it's because the disaster is beyond the scope of the state to handle, which means (by definition) that things have already gone to hell in an handbasket, you are
way behind the curve, and trying to catch up (in other words, you're already stalled and spun in, and are trying to rebuild the plane from the wreckage).
In bad incidents, in essence, FEMA comes in after the wheels have come off, can only do what the state asks, when usually no one has a good handle on what's going on. They have no authority to make decisions, because the STATE is primary. They cannot move resources or bring things in on their own authority, because the STATE has to ask first.
And the states are sometimes slow to ask, because they have to pay 25% of the cost.
By the way, when the wildfires in CA a few years ago displaced 500,000 people, what other organization besides Red Cross could mobilize hundreds of trained people and thousands of pounds of supplies and set up shelters on no notice?
When Houston needed to turn the Astrodome, Reliant Arena, and the Reliant Convention Center into a shelter for 75,000 people in 48 hours, what other organizations besides Red Cross and Salvation Army could do it?
During the 2005 hurricane season (including Katrina), Red Cross mobilized a
quarter million personnel, and ran almost
2000 shelters.
During Katrina alone, Salvation Army worked a
million hours, served
13 million meals, and provided pastoral services to a
quarter million people.
But keep blaming FEMA, Red Cross, and Salvation Army if it makes you feel better.
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