My research on FEMA is mainly related to Katrina, somewhat outdated, but 15 years ago the GOP-led report on Katrina is full of unevidenced ideology that govt is bad at disasters (& everything else) & private sector is better; that moral hazard is an important consideration ergo
https://twitter.com/SarahSaadian/status/1450166152135598081
rebuilding money was carefully rationed, tied to previous value (rather than building more resilience) and sometimes to insurance too (even though the people without insurance needed more help). This kind of ideology, and the prioritization of assets over humanity, are deeply
built in to disaster response in the US. Ideology evolves but it's sticky, particularly with career civil servants who have learned the hard way what gets funding from congress and what slashes it. Also, FEMA was badly damaged by the creation of DHS, with a torqued "all-hazards"+
approach that really meant "terrorism is the real focus". It has somewhat recovered but there is NOT a consensus in the US of what govt responsibility is in a disaster.
I have so much I could say about this and also tons of references but I feel like I've put them in here so many times. But the way we *conceptualize* disaster response in the US is so problematic and very tied in to how we think about poverty & blame and it's stupid and inhumane.
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