Federal Emergency Management Agency

A series of devastating fires struck the port city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, early in the 19th century. The 7th U.S. Congress passed a measure in 1803 that provided relief for Portsmouth merchants by extending the time they had for remitting tariffs on imported goods. This is widely considered the first piece of legislation passed by the federal government that provided relief after a disaster.

Between 1803 and 1930, ad hoc legislation was passed more than 100 times for relief or compensation after a disaster. Examples include the waiving of duties and tariffs to the merchants of New York City after the great fire of New York in 1835. Similarly, after the collapse of the John T. Ford Theater in June 1893, the 54th Congress passed legislation compensating those who were injured.

After the start of the Great Depression in 1929, President Herbert Hoover had commissioned the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932. The purpose of the RFC was to lend money to banks and institutions to stimulate economic activity. The RFC was also responsible for dispensing federal dollars in the wake of a disaster. The RFC can be considered the first organized federal disaster response agency.

The Bureau of Public Roads was given authority in 1934 to finance the reconstruction of highways and roads after disasters. The Flood Control Act of 1944 also gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authority over flood control and irrigation projects and it thenceforth played a major role in aiding recovery and reconstruction after flooding disasters.

Federal disaster relief and recovery was brought under the umbrella of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1973 by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973. At this time, the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration was created as an organizational unit within HUD, and it was this agency that would oversee disasters until its incorporation into FEMA in 1978.

Prior to implementation of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 by E.O. 12127 and E.O. 12148, many government agencies were still involved in disaster relief; in some cases, more than 100 separate agencies might be jockeying for control and jurisdiction of a disaster.

Over the years, Congress increasingly extended the range of covered categories for assistance, and several presidential executive orders did the same. …

Since March 2003, FEMA has been organized under Department of Homeland Security, though its relationship to DHS remained politically contentious. During congressional debate on the Homeland Security Act of 2002, some called for FEMA to remain as an independent agency. Following the failed response to Hurricane Katrina, critics called for FEMA to be removed from the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-295) affirmed FEMA's status as a permanent agency and consolidated the Department of Homeland Security Preparedness Directorate under FEMA as the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The Administrator for Federal Emergency Management reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

FEMA comprises a central Office of the Administrator, ten regional offices (see regional map, below), a national FEMA Office of Response and Recovery, an Office of Resilience, and the U.S. Fire Administration.

Under the Office of the Administrator are the Office of External Affairs, Office of National Continuity Programs, Office of Policy and Program Analysis, and Office of Mission Support.

The Office of National Continuity Programs (formerly the National Continuity Programs Directorate and before that the Office of National Security Coordination (ONSC)) is responsible for developing, exercising, and validating agency-wide continuity of government plans as well as overseeing and maintaining continuity readiness including the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center. ONSC also coordinated the continuing efforts of other Federal Executive Agencies.

FEMA's Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, a division of the Office of Resilience, manages the National Flood Insurance Program.

Under the Office of Resilience's Grant Programs Directorate, FEMA administers the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) which provides funding to state governments, local governments, Tribal governments, and Territorial governments along with specified Urban Areas and counties along international borders to invest in security enhancements. HSGP is broken out into three primary grant programs: State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP), Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and Operation Stonegarden (OPSG). …

FEMA's Mitigation Directorate is responsible for programs that take action before any disaster occurs, in order to identify risks and reduce injuries, loss of property, and recovery time. The agency has major analysis programs for floods, hurricanes and tropical storms, dams, and earthquakes.

The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds rebuilding after a current disaster in a way that reduces the impact of a similar future disaster.

FEMA works to ensure affordable flood insurance is available to homeowners in flood plains, through the National Flood Insurance Program, and also works to enforce no-build zones in known flood plains and relocate or elevate some at-risk structures.

Pre-Disaster Mitigation grants are available to acquire property for conversion to open space, retrofit existing buildings, construct tornado and storm shelters, manage vegetation for erosion and fire control, and establish small flood control projects. Critics say this program is underperforming because it is starved for funding compared to disaster response and recovery, the process of applying for a buyout is unreasonably slow, and is wasting taxpayer dollars because the National Flood Insurance Program has paid to reconstruct some properties up to 18 times. 1% of NFIP-insured properties are responsible for more than one quarter of the money the program has paid out.

In April 2026, FEMA announced funding of close to $21 million to Oregon and Washington for flood mitigation, as part of its over $250 million allocated towards flood mitigation projects countrywide.

FEMA's emergency response is based on small, decentralized teams trained in such areas as the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team (DMORT), Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), and Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS).

FEMA's National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) is a multiagency center located at FEMA HQ that coordinates the overall Federal support for major disasters and emergencies, including catastrophic incidents in support of operations at the regional level. The FEMA Administrator, or their delegate, activates the NRCC in anticipation of, or in response to, an incident by activating the NRCC staff, which includes FEMA personnel, the appropriate Emergency Support Functions, and other appropriate personnel (including nongovernmental organization and private sector representatives). During the initial stages of a response, FEMA will, as part of the whole community, focus on projected, potential, or escalating critical incident activities. The NRCC coordinates with the affected region(s) and provides needed resources and policy guidance in support of incident-level operations. The NRCC staff specifically provides emergency management coordination, planning, resource deployment, and collects and disseminates incident information as it builds and maintains situational awareness—all at the national-level. FEMA maintains the NRCC as a functional component of the NOC for incident support operations.

An example of NRCC activity is the coordination of emergency management activities that took place in connection with the 2013 Colorado floods.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) provide medical care at disasters and are typically made up of doctors and paramedics. There are also National Nursing Response Teams (NNRT), National Pharmacy Response Teams (NPRT) and Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMAT). Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) provide mortuary and forensic services. National Medical Response Teams (NMRT) are equipped to decontaminate victims of chemical and biological agents.

The Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces perform rescue of victims from structural collapses, confined spaces, and other disasters, for example, mine collapses and earthquakes.

These teams provide communications support to local public safety. …

FEMA Corps, who range in age from 18 to 26 years old, is a cadre dedicated to disaster response and recovery. It is a new partnership between The Corporation for National and Community Service's AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) and FEMA. The Corps, described as a "dedicated, trained, and reliable disaster workforce", works full-time for 10 months on federal disaster response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness efforts across numerous sections. Over 150 members of the inaugural FEMA Corps class graduated in June 2013, at the Southern Region AmeriCorps NCCC campus in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Pacific Region campus in Sacramento, California and the Southern Region campus both support a FEMA Corps class annually. The Corps work in teams of 6 to 10 people and follow the traditional NCCC model of living together and traveling together. In addition to working with FEMA, Corps members must perform AmeriCorps responsibilities such as Physical Training three times a week, National Days of Service, and Individual Service Projects in communities throughout the United States. Members receive $6.10 a day for food ($15 a day when deployed to on disaster project) and a living stipend of approximately $3,500 over 10 months (Approximately $175 every two weeks). Team leaders receive a larger stipend of approximately $10,000 over the course of 10 months (Approximately $500 every two weeks). The Segal AmeriCorps education award is distributed to Corps members who successfully finish their term of service, completing 1,700 or more total hours. The amount of a full-time Segal AmeriCorps Education Award is equivalent to the maximum value of the Pell Grant for the fiscal year in which the term of national service is approved, and can therefore change between different classes.