Overview
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a United States government agency established on 1 April 1979 to coordinate national disaster management and civil defence efforts. It operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices across the country. FEMA exists to help communities prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of natural and human-made disasters across the United States.
Mission and focus areas
FEMA’s core mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. It promotes hazard preparedness, response coordination, risk reduction, and recovery assistance through federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partnerships. The agency supports activities that strengthen community resilience, reduce losses from future disasters, and restore infrastructure and housing after catastrophic events. While FEMA does not specifically drive sustainable finance or ESG (environmental, social and governance) research, its mitigation and risk-reduction programmes contribute to longer-term resilience and community investment in safer, more sustainable infrastructure.
Structure and governance
FEMA operates through a central leadership and administrative structure that includes the Office of the Administrator and several specialised offices, such as External Affairs, National Continuity Programs, Policy and Program Analysis, Mission Support, and ten regional offices. Leadership reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the agency’s operations are carried out in coordination with multiple federal, state and sector partners. Hundreds of delegated staff support continuity, policy, logistics, planning and community engagement across the national emergency management framework.
Programs and offerings
FEMA administers key programmes including disaster assistance grants for individuals and communities, mitigation grants to reduce future risk, training and preparedness resources for emergency managers, and public information campaigns. It also publishes guidance, data sets, frameworks like the National Response Framework and core capability tools for planners and responders. These outputs support disaster readiness, response coordination, risk communication and long-term recovery planning.
Mission, values and history
Our mission
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during and after disasters, and our core values and goals help us achieve it.
