Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Social Research Paper

Would the capabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be more efficient if it were an independent agency?
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Would the capabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be more efficient if it were an independent agency?
Introduction
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) came into being through an executive order signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Its mandate was to ensure that the country could prepare for, prevent, adequately respond, and fully recover from any forms of disaster (Birkland & Waterman, 2008). Therefore, FEMA coordinates government relief programs by assisting local and state governments in carrying out activities to aid their citizens in case of natural, human-made, or any forms of terror. While the 1979 executive order merged several disaster-related agencies into one forming FEMA, it joined several emergency preparedness agencies creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003 (Cooper & Block, 2007). This was aimed at ensuring there was a coordinated and centralized line of action to national security whenever there were emergencies in the country. This research will thus study the responses by different state and federal bodies tasked with emergency management during Hurricane Katrina that occurred in New Orleans in 2005.
Research Question
How effective would the capabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be as an independent agency?
Hypothesis
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be more efficient as an independent Agency as compared with its merger with other agencies.
Research design
This study will use a case study research design to carry in-depth research of the research problem. Through this design, it will be possible to take a few researchable cases involving FEMA, thus narrowing the research down into a manageable part. Therefore, it will enable a greater understanding of the issue under study through a contextual analysis of events and their relationships. Additionally, this design also allows the analysis of contemporary problems and situations, thus allowing the application of a variety of concepts.
Analysis
Comparison of Responses to Hurricane Katrina in 2005
FEMA (DHS)
FEMA was an independent agency from its inception in 1979 up through to its merger with several agencies in 2003, forming the Department of Homeland Security. Hurricane Katrina displayed inefficiencies in the emergency response system, with some individuals revealing the inadequacies. The storm that hit New Orleans city killed approximately 1,800 people with substantive losses in property damages raking up in hundreds of millions (Cooper & Block, 2007). While FEMA was not solely to blame for the failures, the federal government was expected to take charge and show its leadership at that point in time.
Firstly, there were adequate warnings provided beforehand to government officials thus were aware of measures to be taken. However, a lot of confusion rocked the entire federal officials tasked with this duty. The large number of institutions under the National Response framework brought about problems with undertaking the responses required (United State...