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The Conversation USA

History shows why FEMA is essential in disasters, and how losing independent agency status hurt its ability to function

  • Written by Susan L. Cutter, Distinguished Professor of Geography and Director of the Hazards Vulnerability & Resilience Institute, University of South Carolina
imageFEMA workers help residents who lost homes in the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires apply for aid.Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

When the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s urban search and rescue team resigned after the deadly July 4, 2025, Texas floods, he told colleagues he was frustrated with bureaucratic...

Read more: History shows why FEMA is essential in disasters, and how losing independent agency status hurt...

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