The
Federal Emergency Management Agency (
FEMA) is an agency of the
United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two
Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and
state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a
state of emergency and formally request from the president that FEMA and the
federal government respond to the disaster. FEMA also provides these services for territories of the United States, such as
Puerto Rico. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency and/or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset, for example; the 1995
bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the
Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003
return-flight disaster.