From FastCompany: Trump Wants to get rid of FEMA- the Future of Disaster Relief Would be Grim.  An excerpt:

“Trump’s moves to limit FEMA’s scope appear to be rooted in political retribution. His executive order alleges FEMA staff have selectively administered hurricane aid based on political affiliation—a false rumor that the president himself helped spread during the Helene aftermath, and which the agency has worked hard to debunk. That same allegation resulted in multiple physical threats to FEMA workers last year in North Carolina and Tennessee. The chairman of the Republican National Committee was one of the first people named as a member of the FEMA review panel that Trump tasked with deciding the agency’s future.”

From the Conversation: Amid LA fires, neighbors helped each other survive – 60 years of research shows how local heroes are crucial to disaster response

As wildfires swept through neighborhoods on the outskirts of Los Angeles in January 2025, stories about residents there helping their neighbors and total strangers began trickling out on social media.

Accounts of Hollywood stars clearing streets for emergency vehicles to get through and raising money for fire victims were widely circulated. But there were many other examples of less-famous people helping older neighbors to safety, and even showing up with trailers to evacuate horses.

Businesses, including fitness centers, opened their facilities so evacuees could shower or charge their phones. Organizations that routinely work with homeless populations quickly mobilized their members to help ensure people living on the streets and in camps could get to secure, safe locations away from the fires and hazardous air quality.

From Inside Climate News: Why Is ReBuild NC Involved in Disaster Management in Western North Carolina? The state’s new governor said the troubled agency, which fumbled hurricane relief in the east, wouldn’t go to devastated mountain areas after Hurricane Helene. But ReBuild NC has done just that. Excerpts:

“It’s been four months since Hurricane Helene flooded and flattened thousands of square miles of western North Carolina. Recovery will likely take decades, and possibly longer, if FEMA is dissolved.

That could leave the state government to fund and manage a complex $60 billion recovery and rebuilding program.

But since 2016, North Carolina has bungled recoveries after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, as ReBuild NC overspent its $779 million federal budget by more than $220 million, and ran out of money to complete the work.”

Trump’s plan to eliminate FEMA is a very bad idea; by Jack L. Rozdilsky, York University | The Conversation | January 27, 2025,  An excerpt follows:

“It takes a perverse set of skills for a president to act in a way that squanders the opportunity to genuinely exhibit compassion for disaster victims while also lowering the morale of emergency workers at the same time.

Trump’s announcement to overhaul or eliminate FEMA — especially in the midst of an ongoing disaster — is unreasonable and foolish.”

From the NY Times; author is VT Senator: Don’t Kill FEMA. Fix It.

“No state or municipality — not Vermont, North Carolina or California — has the capacity to respond on its own. Climate change will continue to worsen and communities across America will feel the pain of weather crises. Climate denialism and policies by the new administration that roll back progress made in the past four years will only exacerbate this problem.

That makes it all the more urgent for the federal government to show up in a time of crisis and not play politics with its response. All Americans deserve to know that Washington will have their back when disaster strikes. FEMA was one of President Jimmy Carter’s legacy achievements. Today, it employs more than 22,000 people, including more than 12,500 members in its emergency-response work force, a record. We owe it to Mr. Carter to improve FEMA, not tear it apart only weeks after his passing.”

From ABC News: Can Trump ‘terminate’ FEMA? Not so fast.
Eliminating the agency would need congressional action.

“On Friday, while touring North Carolina neighborhoods that were ravaged by Hurricane Helene, the president said he was planning an executive order that would “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of them.” His order would create a task force that would look for reforms, according to sources.

However, Trump’s authority does not give him the power to terminate the agency unilaterally, according to federal laws. Doing so would require congressional action.”

The Diva has been involved in emergency management work since before 1979, which is the year that FEMA was formed. I remember that the driving force behind its formation was pressure by a group of governors who met with President Carter and asked him to do something to make the process of obtaining federal help/assistance for major disasters easier. At that time, a governor would have to approach at least 5 federal agencies to get the assistance needed to cope with a major disaster.

In my opinion, before abolishing FEMA, and the other components of the Dept. of Homeland Security, Trump Administration officials should carefully weigh alternatives.

From CNN: Everyone agrees FEMA needs to change. The question is how.

” Even before the Los Angeles fires, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was under assault on all fronts.

Increasingly frequent weather disasters have strained its workforce and drained its Congress-funded coffers. And, since the first Trump administration, the agency has had further strain from bankrolling Covid recovery and paying states to shelter migrants.

Disaster-ravaged Americans speak of being thwarted by bureaucracy and red tape in their lowest, darkest moments. Republicans are calling for the agency to be overhauled and President Donald Trump on Friday suggested maybe FEMA shouldn’t exist. “

From HSToday: California Governor Signs $2.5B Relief Package for LA Wildfire Recovery. Announcement comes day before Donald Trump will visit fire-torn areas and amid criticism around state water supply