I have two ideas!
1) Completely shut down FEMA. Fire all employees and complete abolish it.
2) Contract with Wall Mart to formulate ration disaster relief plans and let them implement and supervise all disaster relief.
I bet Wall Mart employees could figure out how to get water, baby formula, diapers, blankets, food, gas, and generators to those who need it. And...Get the power on in, debris removed, cellars pumped, city services restored, and insurance forms filled out record time.
No one in fed land will ever step up and state that FEMA by charter is only a coordinating entity and is not equipped or staffed to execute any sort of direct expedient intervention in the wake of any disaster. The bigger issue is that DHS was conceived of as just that sort of agency when the Bush people originated it in the wake of 9-11. The concept for DHS was an agency that could manage and provide expedient response to up to three near simultaneous and geographically dispersed nuclear detonations. This included hard wiring US military assets through FORSCOM into the matrix. The appropriate structuring and staffing for this sort of robust response was never done. Apparently Congress balked at the price tag and the armed forces didn't like being subordinated operationally to an untested and new civilian entity. The DOD response was more or less ‘if you want us go through the coordination channels through the White House’. The Bush people in the midst of two large military operations simply were not willing to go through the big fight that getting DHS to be what it was supposed to be, especially with that dope Tom Ridge as the first DHS chief. The Dems didn't have the sense or interest to try and do what was needed to be done so DHS is still just an unmanageable poorly organized bureaucracy that is pretty much unmanageable. While FEMA is a weak reed attacking it for what it never was or , as currently chartered, will be is just chasing a red herring.