Noem said last week she was planning to eliminate the agency but did not elaborate on what that meant.
Spokespeople for FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster relief agency, did not respond to questions about whether FEMA’s services would be cut entirely or reshuffled elsewhere.
Carrie Speranza, president of the USA Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers, told The Hill that if FEMA is shut down, she would be “fearful for this next hurricane season and what that means for survivors.”
“You’re talking hundreds of thousands of people that will be impacted with very little resources to help,” Speranza said.
FEMA helps support communities before, during and after disasters. This includes helping localities with coordinating during a storm, conducting some search and rescue operations and providing funding to help communities rebuild.
“The first time people see people in FEMA jackets is when we start going knocking on doors to make sure that we register people so they’re eligible for individual assistance,” said Pete Gaynor, who led FEMA under the last Trump administration. “But we have been there from the beginning.”
Gaynor said that while the agency could be reformed, it should not be eliminated.
“I think we can always do a better job in the way we deliver services,” he said. “But if we’re not doing it, I’m not sure who does it, because I think the thing that we’re really good at is coordinating different agencies.”
“FEMA is that glue that holds it all together,” he added.
Eliminating FEMA would be “fraught with great risk, especially for those states that are not well versed in responding to and recovering from disaster,” he said.
Read more at TheHill.com.
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