Tag

#FEMA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency — responsible for disaster preparedness and response. Incidents involve the dismantlement of FEMA capabilities, politicization of disaster aid, and reduction of emergency preparedness infrastructure.

2 incidents

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

FEMA Dismantlement — Budget Cuts, Mass Layoffs, and Destruction of Disaster Response Capacity

A systematic effort to dismantle federal disaster preparedness and response capacity through budget cuts, mass layoffs, program terminations, and structural reorganization. FEMA's workforce has already shrunk by one-third, with plans to cut it in half. The disaster response workforce faces a 41% cut and the surge workforce an 85% cut, leaving the country dangerously unprepared for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Hurricane Maria and the Federal Abandonment of Puerto Rico

Maria caused the largest blackout in U.S. history and destroyed Puerto Rico's infrastructure. The Trump administration delayed FEMA resources, deployed far fewer personnel and supplies than comparable mainland disasters, slow-walked waiver of the Jones Act, sent paper towels rather than aid at a critical moment, and accused Puerto Rican officials of corruption when they asked for more help. A Harvard-led survey estimated 4,645 excess deaths and a George Washington University study commissioned by Puerto Rico estimated 2,975; Puerto Rico's initial official count, repeated by federal officials, was 64.