Wasn’t the reason that Katrina was such a disaster in New Orleans, because the local government failed to take adequate precautions, because they felt they can rely on the federal government? But the federal government was not in position to make those preventative measures. Doesn’t FEMA actually make the disasters worse?
I'm assuming that's a rhetorical question. :-)
Doesn’t FEMA actually make the disasters worse?
Its existence certainly does, but then I've never seen a top-down system work as well as one that has organized from the bottom up. Even armies have found that giving soldiers more discretion on the battlefield works to an advantage as long as they are of similar mind and have the information they need.