Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Preface
About the Author
Chapter 1: Disaster Management in the United States
The Champlain Towers Collapse
The Fundamentals
Emergency Management as a Profession
Disasters as a Field of Scientific Research
Presidential Disaster Declarations
Fundamental Challenges of Emergency Management
Phases of Emergency Management
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 2: Theories of Public Policy and Management Helpful in Disaster Studies
Normative Political Theories
The Role of Theory in Emergency Management
Theory in Disaster Recovery
Knowledge Codification and Knowledge Diffusion Issues
Data Analytics and Emergency Management
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 3: A History of U.S. Disaster Policy
The Cold War and The Rise of Civil Defense
Nationwide Emergency Management
Federal Emergency Management Organization Before FEMA
The Birth of FEMA
Disaster Declaration Issues
Disaster Law, Policy, and Public Relations from Reagan to Clinton
The 9/11 Attack Remakes U.S. Disaster Management
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 4: Presidential Declarations of Major Disaster or Emergency
The U.S. Constitution and Emergency Powers of The President
The "Policies" And Laws That Established Presidential Disaster Declarations
The "Process" Followed in Requesting Presidential Declarations
The President's "Power" to Decide
The "Politics" of Presidential Declarations
"Paying" For Presidential Disaster Declarations
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 5: Social Justice, Climate Change, Civil Unrest: Buffalo, NY & Portland, OR
Buffalo's 2022 Mega-Blizzard
Snow in Meteorological Terms
Survival and Political-Social Controversy
Response to the Blizzard and its Effects
Public Works and Sheltering
Equity and Social Justice Issues
Social Equity and Portland's Bureau of Emergency Management
Social Equity as a Focus of Local Hazard Mitigation
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 6: Intergovernmental Relations in Disaster Policy
The Political Geography of U.S. Subnational Governments
Ways in Which America's Governments Formally Cooperate and Plan
Ways in Which America's Governments Formally Cooperate and Plan
Home Rule and Municipalities
Federal-State Agreements
The Regional Geography of FEMA
State Government Homeland Security, Emergency Management and Military Departments
The Frameworks and The National Incident Management System
Intergovernmental Disaster Management Challenges
Government Contractors and Disaster Management
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 7: Civil-Military Relations and National Security
Civil Defense to Homeland Security
The Military's Role in Disaster Response and Recovery
The Military, Homeland Security, and Disaster Policy
Posse Comitatus
Homeland Security, National Security, Federalism
State Homeland Security
Operation Stonegarden
The Emergency Management Performance Grant Program
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 8: FEMA in Peril
FEMA and a Re-elected President Trump
FEMA at Risk
Partisan Politics, The President, and Congress
Why Partisan Polarization Abounds and Moves toward the Extreme
Presidential Executive Orders
FEMA Loses BRIC
FEMA's Quandary
FEMA and the DOGE Chain Saw
What Trump's Evolving Changes to FEMA Mean for State and Local Governments
Presidential Disaster Declarations: Uncertainty Abounds
FEMA and the Emergency Management Profession
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 9: The Pandemic, A Hurricane Rebuild, & Two City Burning Wildfires
The Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020-2023: FEMA'S Role and Experience
Trump1, Biden, FEMA, and the Pandemic
Mobilization and the Response to COVID-19
FEMA, The CDC, and the U.S Health Care System
Hurricane Idalia Case Study: A Homeowner's Recovery Experience in St. Petersburg, Florida
Lesson #1: Stay informed, get online, join your neighborhood Facebook (Meta) group before a storm, and prepare for post-disaster contractors
Lesson #2: Understand insurance, public and private, and become a quick study in matters of government disaster assistance to individuals and households
Lesson #3: Know how disaster insurance works and appreciate the rules that insurers impose
Lesson #4: Mortgage Companies, the Rebuilding Experience, and Homeowner Flood Mitigation
Postscript: A Year Later, Hurricanes Helene and Milton Re-damage the Homeowner's Newly Repaired House
The Lahaina Fire Disaster, Hawaii, August 2023
Conditions Leading Up to the Disaster
Impact Assessment of the Lahaina Fire Disaster of August 2023
Physical Impact & Economic Consequences
The Palisades and Eaton Wildfires Los Angeles County, California, January 2025
Causes of Casualties in the Wildfires
Summary
Key Terms
Chapter 10: Conclusions and the Future
Is U.S. Disaster Policy Morphing into Something Different?
Policy, Politics, and Institutions
What Is Happening To Federal Emergency Management?
Follow the Money
Biden, Trump, FEMA, and Why Budgeting Matters
Political Upheaval and DHS
For-Profit Contractors, Whistleblowing, And Science Integrity
Summary
Key Terms
Glossary
Notes
Master Bibliography
Index
