1. The national response framework is the document that describes how the federal government, states and localities, and other public and private sector institutions should respond to disasters and emergencies.
2. Federal agencies that are part of the federal government become involved in responding to a disaster when effective response and recovery are beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments.
3. The Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) is initiated by the governor of a state or territory or by the chief executive of a tribal government. This is after placing a request to the President who can then declare a major disaster. This occurs when effective response and recovery are beyond the capabilities of the local governments.
4. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the federal department with primary responsibility for coordinating disaster response. Within the DHS, FEMA has the lead responsibility.
5. Major disasters within states, territories, and tribes receive funding from the federal government through the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF).
6. The 14 Emergency relief functions are transportation, communication, transport works and engineering, fire fighting, information and planning, mass care emergency assistance housing and human services, logistics management, public health and medical service, search and rescue, oil and hazardous material, agriculture and natural resources, energy, public safety and security and external affairs.
7. The year 2017 has been estimated to be the costliest year ever cumulatively in damages from weather and climate-related disasters costing the United States over $300billion in disaster assistance programs.
8. After the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Post-Katrina Act).
9. The Post-Katrina Act clarified FEMA’s roles and responsibilities as the primary federal agency responsible for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and provided additional authorities to federal agencies to address the shortcomings of Katrina.
10. Mission assignment for FEMA refers to workloads that FEMA issues that direct another federal agency to utilize its authority and the resources granted to it under federal law in support of direct assistance to state, local, tribal and territorial governments.
11. A FEMA prepositioned contract refers to contract obligations for different federal departments for the procurement of goods and services in response to a disaster.
12. The types of employees that work for FEMA are permanent part-time employees, temporary part-time employees, temporary incident employees, and permanent full-time employees.
13. The types of disaster recovery assistance that FEMA provides include:

• Housing Assistance which can cover financial or direct support for temporary housing, home repairs, replacement of a primary home, and in limited locations, permanent housing construction when needed due to disastrous effects.
• Other Needs Assistance which includes financial assistance that is in charge for uninsured or underinsured, disaster-related needs.such as transportation, funeral, medical and child care assistance. Some types of support are dependent on an applicant’s ability to secure a Small Business Administration disaster loan.
• Rental Assistance which is a financial grant provided to homeowners and renters whose homes were made uninhabitable or inaccessible by the disaster, however, this helps to assist with expenses to rent temporary housing due to a lack of available resources.

14. The following are the specific provisions:

• Texas – housing recovery for the 6600 applicants whom FEMA found were eligible. FEMA has approved the following direct housing options for qualified applicants in Texas: Permanent Housing Construction Repairs, Direct Lease, Multifamily Lease and Repair, Manufactured Housing Units, and Recreational Vehicles.
• Florida – FEMA authorized the use of recreational vehicles, purchased directly from commercial dealers, for use as temporary housing, in addition to manufactured homes.
• Puerto Rico – all five individual assistance (IA) programs are approved that is the Individuals and Households Program, Crisis Counselling, Disaster Legal Services, Disaster Case Management, and Disaster Unemployment Assistance.
• The US Virginia islands- here the shortage of housing is addressed by local officials through unique ways for example structured tens which are used in military operations.
• California – FEMA in partnership with California authorities established a Housing Task Force to determine how to provide direct housing assistance to thousands of applicants promptly. The task force is also examining options to convert campgrounds into temporary housing.

15. The following are the specific challenges experienced:

• Texas – Local officials in Texas, noted that debris removal was a challenge, but indicated that they were able to make progress through internal efforts and coordination with FEMA.
• Florida – Local officials in Florida, highlighted debris removal as the most significant challenge they experienced early in the recovery. There was also a shortage of debris removal contractors.
• US Virginia Islands – According to FEMA officials, challenges were supporting the debris removal operation because local officials did not want to burn the vegetative debris.
• Puerto Rico – According to Puerto Rico officials, local officials may experience challenges with reimbursement for debris removal activities and may face resource constraints.
• California – the debris removal contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created recovery challenges due to the lack of flexibility in contracting requirements, according to local officials.

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