At FEMA, we employ more than 20,000 people nationwide. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we have 10 regional offices located across the country. We leverage a tremendous capacity to coordinate within the federal government to make sure America is equipped to prepare for and respond to disasters.
Mission And History
FEMA Today
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during and after disasters, and our guiding principles help us achieve it.
Strategic Plan
We’ve developed our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan to achieve three overarching goals:
- Build a Culture of Preparedness
- Ready the Nation for Catastrophic Disasters
- Reduce the Complexity of FEMA
We Are FEMA
The core values that guide our agency can be found in our capstone doctrine, “We Are FEMA.”
Publication One (Pub 1) helps us understand our role in the emergency management community and gives our agency direction in how we conduct ourselves each day.
History of FEMA
FEMA was officially created in 1979 through an executive order by President Jimmy Carter. Our history can be traced as far back as 1803.
On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security. Learn more about our history.
Structure
FEMA is comprised of Program Offices and Regional Offices located throughout the United States.
Our workforce can swell to over 50,000 active members during major disasters.
Learn more about joining FEMA in Careers.
States, Regions, Tribes and Territories
See disaster declarations, news and contact information by state, region, tribe and territory.
Newsletters
FEMA has several publicly available newsletters that we email to subscribers. The newsletters range from information for emergency managers to location or region specific material for the general public in that area.
Sign Up for Newsletters and See Previous Bulletins