Emergency Management. Disaster Correlation Assignment

Emergency Management
Ronald M Reeves Jr
Columbia Southern University
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 FEMA Spending for some Major Declarations from years 2000-today
Natural disasters have taught people how to adapt to drastic changes in the environment. On the one hand, past experiences of these calamities have made the Federal government allocate more budget for disaster risk and reduction strategies as well as implement specific systems that would allow for a quicker and more effective response against these calamities. On the other hand, disasters have also caused the citizens to be more proactive in their response by being resilient and changing their lifestyles in a way that would reduce its harsh repercussions. In the succeeding sections of this paper, the author would discuss some of the common calamities that the United States had faced in the past as well as the response of the government towards these disasters.
Disaster Correlation
The United States government has a series of protocols that correspond to various calamities that occur within its territories. While most of these protocols are enough to meet frequent natural disasters, recent events in the 2000s have continuously shaped how the government responds to these disasters.
For example, during the Midwest Floods of 2019 and the severe flooding in South Dakota in 2011, a sudden increase in water levels around the river and tributaries have occurred, forcing residents to evacuate without preparation. Before the calamity, however, the affected states were unprepared since the Flood Protection Standards have been rescinded. This made it more difficult for state governments to allocate budgets and respond accordingly to the situation. Estimates show that it caused around $2.9 Million, and $109 Million have been allotted by the Federal Government, respectively, to act as a buffer to its economic damages. Nevertheless, this led FEMA to improve its flood prediction protocols by considering sea-level rise, climate change, and population growth that could affect the susceptible areas in the United States CITATION Moo19 \l 1033 (Moore, 2019).
Aside from floods, another natural calamity that the country has suffered from are typhoons and hurricanes. On the one hand, government institutions have always sought to reduce the effects of storms upon the person and property of its citizens. In 2005, for example, three category 5 hurricanes - Katrina, Wilma, and Rita – have devastated states around Gulf Coast, thereby causing an estimate of $1.2 billion in property damages CITATION Moo19 \l 1033 (Moore, 2019). Before the hurricane, however, FEMA’s disaster communication centers have been overwhelmed by the number of natural calamities that are happening somewhere else in the United States. Thus, when the typh...